After more than two and a half months of judgement and scrutiny it was a Limousin-Angus cross team entered by Ravenhill family, Youngs Siding, that reined supreme and were announced winners of this year’s Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge last week.

The aim of the Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge, which was held for the first time last year, is to imitate a real life commercial situation of cattle entering the MSA graded, domestic, grainfed supply chain in WA.

The competition allows beef producers to assess the performance of their cattle through the supply chain, calculating whether their breeding objectives are aligned with market requirements.

It also allows for a comparison in performance between different breeds on an equal playing field.

To ensure this even playing field all the teams of three owner-bred cattle (two steers and one heifer) entered the feedlot on the same day and were fed the same ration, in the same pen

This year the heifers were fed for 76 days in their own pen and steers were on feed for a slightly longer period of 85 days.

Then to further ensure an even playing field on arrival at Harvey Beef all the cattle were processed on the same day and MSA graded on the same day by the same grader.

The heifers in the competition were processed nine days earlier than the steers due to the shorter time on feed.

At each stage of the supply chain (feedlot, processing and grading) objective and measurable data is collected on the cattle and this data is based on factors that effect profitability for the feedlot and the processor, as well as MSA grading which affects the eating quality for the consumer.

In the competition each animal is individually scored with 50 points allocated to the feedlot, 50 points to the processing section and 25 points for MSA grading to give a possible overall score of 375 points for the team of three.

As a result teams with the highest points are those which are both more profitable through the supply chain and produce a quality carcase.

The challenge run in association with the Albany Agricultural Society this year attracted 72 teams of all breeds from across the Great Southern and the South West as well as far north as Toodyay and Gingin.

Harvey Beef executive livestock manager Kim McDougall said the company was proud to be involved in the competition as the major sponsors, as it had real commercial relevance to the WA beef industry.

“It is a real life competition, based around commercial factors which affect all stages of the supply chain,” Mr McDougall said.

“It assesses and values cattle going into supermarket sector, which end up on the consumer plate.

“This makes it very relevant to the WA beef industry as there is no way of getting away from the fact that the supermarket sector consumes about 30 per cent of WA’s yearling beef turn-off, so it is a highly critical market to producers.”

Mr McDougall said Harvey Beef also liked being involved in the competition as it was based around producer’s aims and objectives and provided a great deal of feedback to help producers improve.

“Another positive aspect of the competition is it gets a friendly rivalry going between breeds and breeders and this can only be good for the betterment of the industry,” he said.

“The competition is a real credit to the organising committee, they have a great passion and drive to see it succeed and it has gone from strength in the last two years.

“Congratulations must also go to all producers who entered cattle this year and put their cattle to the test, I am sure the information they get out will inform and motivate them.”

With as much information and data as you could poke a stick at, there was one entry that stood out clearly from the rest when it ticked all the right performance boxes.

This was a Limousin-Angus team from Bevan and Rebecca Ravenhill, BA & RN Ravenhill, Youngs Siding, when it rose to the top of the challenge across all sections and took home the honour of being the best performing team overall and with it $5000 from sponsors Harvey Beef.

Mr Ravenhill said he was surprised when one of their team’s was announced the winner because at the midway point of the competition it was anyone’s competition to win.

“Obviously they finished off well and had great carcase and MSA performance, which is very pleasing to see, as it is recognition of our breeding objectives,” he said.

The winning Ravenhill team finished on 271.82 points out of a possible 375 to be 13.76 points ahead of its nearest rival and 83.95 points better than the competition average of 187.87.

The winning team’s feedlot data had the two steers and heifer record an average induction weight of 317.7kg.

At the final weigh-in, the Ravenhill team averaged 469kg, with the heifer weighing 420kg after 75 days on feed and the steers weighing 518kg and 468kg after 84 days on feed.

The average daily gain (ADG) of the team on feed was 1.84kg/day (the heifer recorded an ADG of 1.37kg and the steers 2.15kg/day and 2.01kg/day).

This meant they recorded an overall average weight gain of 151kg on feed.

In terms of profit in the feedlot the team also stood out and recorded an average profit figure of $183.19/head.

This profit figure helped the team score 98.173 points out of a possible 150 points in the feedlot, which ranked it first in this section of the competition as well.

The competition average for the feedlot section was 28.344 points.

When it came to the processing side of the competition the Ravenhill team finished on 113.803 points out of a possible 150 which ranked it in 21st position in this section.

When the team of three were processed they dressed out at an average 255.92kg which equated to a 54.61 per cent dressing percentage.

In final section of the competition the MSA grading the Ravenhill team ranked sixth overall with a score of 59.844 points compared to the competition average of 56.012 points.

The team averaged 63.83 for the MSA Index, 116.67 for MSA Ossification, 80 for MSA eye muscle area (EMA) and 360 for MSA marbling.

The winning team also contained the highest scoring individual steer overall (100.371 points) and the steer with the best feedlot performance (45.282 points).

This steer gained 181kg in the feedlot with an ADG of 2.15kg/day and recorded a profit in the feedlot of $253.58.

The winning team of three, which were dropped in April/May, were all by Halcyon Park Limousin bull, Halcyon Park Harlequin, and out of purebred Lawson Angus (stud registered) first calvers.

Mr Ravenhill said the Halcyon Park bull was chosen purely on its high growth and carcase EBVs.

The bull has growth EBVs of +25, +41 and +58 for 200, 400 and 600-day weight compared to the breed average figures of +17, +29 and +40 and carcase figures of +39 carcase weight (breed average +26), +3.5 EMA (breed average +3.5) and retail beef yield +1.7 ( breed average +0.7),

The Ravenhills have only been involved in the beef industry for five years following a farm succession plan where they moved away from the family’s dairy operation.

Today they run a co-operative breeding herd for Lawsons Angus and in addition Mr Ravenhill manages the Lawsons Angus beef business in WA which includes the stud’s 1100 head breeding herd at Hopetoun.

This year the Ravenhills will calve down 330 stud Angus cows and 300 commercial cows, which are mainly Angus, on their Youngs Siding property. Other Limousin members who placed in the competition were Kevin & Sue Nettleton of Unison Limousins, placing 3rd with Limousin & Lim-Flex.