The winner of the Nutrition Service Associates Feedlot Steer Competition was announced during the LEP Expo in Indonesia today by Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia Mr Paul Grigson.
The Agro Giri Perkasa Feedlot, known as the Juang Jaya Abdi Alam (JJAA) Feedlot in Lampung was named the winner after scoring a total of 96 points out of a possible 100 points for their group of Charbray and Brahman steers which originated from Newcastle Waters Station in the Northern Territory.
The competition, which had four feedlots and 80 cattle entered, was developed to evaluate the performance of Australian live cattle exports in Indonesian feedlots, to highlight the improvements made in Indonesia and to showcase the skill of the feedlotters, while connecting Australian producers with the Indonesian industry.
“Congratulations to the winning feedlot and the producers of the cattle for achieving such an impressive weight gain and participating in this industry initiative,” LiveCorp Chairman David Galvin said.
“The results will certainly help feedlots understand the role genetics can play and will help the producers understand how their cattle perform.
The steers were judged by Queensland producer Tania Hartwig, with assistance from Febrina Prameswari, a Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association student exchange program graduate, on a scaled criteria based on liveweight gain over 120 days on feed and visual assessment including fat cover, conformation, temperament and other visual traits.
The winning steers originated from Consolidated Pastoral Company’s Newcastle Waters Station and were bred from CPC’s in-house genetics program. None of the recorded weight gains have been disclosed.
“This line of cattle were pretty clear winners. They were an even line and I really think the genetic selection helped with the quality of cattle,” Ms Hartwig said.
“I think the carcasses will be high yielding, as they were extremely well-muscled and had even fat coverage, as well as extremely good temperament.
“The competition is a good promotion for Australian beef in general and it is a great opportunity for the feedlots to get feedback, as it isn’t very often they would be able to get this kind of data on the cattle they import.”
Consolidated Pastoral Company’s Chief Executive Officer Troy Setter said the team at JJAA who fed the cattle and the team at CPC who bred the cattle have done a great job.
“At JJAA cattle comfort and welfare is a goal and this leads to very good animal performance,” Mr Setter said.
“The feedlot competition is a great way to link Indonesian feedlotters and Australian cattle suppliers together to showcase what we can achieve together. The information from this competition allows feedlotters in Indonesia and cattle producers in Australia to benchmark performance and collaborate on how to improve performance of the live trade of cattle from Australian to Indonesia.”
“CPC with our joint venture partners Greg Pankhurst and Dicky Adiwoso who own JJAA are very proud of the team at JJAA who achieve such great results,” Mr Setter said.
Representatives from the winning feedlot will undertake a supply chain tour to Australia, to learn first-hand about the cattle industry and to share their Indonesian feedlotting experiences with Australian producers in the coming months.
