A TEN hour round trip to Biloela paid off beyond Darryl Adams’ wildest dreams after the young grazier found himself the winner of the Grand Champion Carcase at the Callide Dawson Beef Carcase Competition.
Mr Adams, Barjay, Maidenwell runs between 700 to 800 breeders as part of a family partnership with his grandfather and uncles on 4050 hectares.
The herd is a mixture of Hereford, Santa Gertrudis/Hereford-cross and some Blonde/Angus cattle.
He said taking out the big win in Biloela was “really exciting”.
“It was definitely worth the five hour drive,” he laughed.
“I can’t believe it really, it was something I didn’t expect.”
Mr Adams’ steer, a Santa/Hereford-cross, scored 22 MSA points with an Eye Muscle Area (EMA) of 120sq cm and a carcase weight of 410kg.
It was entered in class nine – single grain assisted steer.
The carcase scanned 9mm of fat on the rib and 13mm of fat on the rump.
It scored a total of 159.07 points.
Mr Adams said Callide Dawson was the second carcase competition he’s ever entered after participating in the Gympie Carcase Classic a few years ago.
“I knew he was a really good steer, but there was over 600 head entered and to come out on top of that is something you strive for in the industry,” he said.
Mr Adams is a fifth generation beef producer with three family generations at home on the property.
He said the steer was originally broken in as a show steer.
“I taught him the lead and did four local shows but he got too heavy so I decided to enter him in the carcase competition,” he said.
“He never won anything during the led steers, all the Limousins and the others beat him on their massive big hind quarter.
“But this is measurements – so that’s what means the most.”
Mr Adams said he hoped to return to the competition next year and said he would like to enter a few more head.
“I’ll definitely think about it,” he said.
“A lot of our cattle are grassfed as well, this guy was grainfed though.
“I’ll consider putting in some grassfed steers and heifers next year.”
Mr Adams said he was thrilled with the results of the night and said it was a good to be on the right track.