Producers from across the north gained valuable insight into the article they're producing at the JBS Townsville Northern Grassfed Carcass Competition dinner held at the Raffles Room Rydges Event Centre in Townsville on the evening of August 3.
JBS Townsville livestock manager Simon Fraser said this competition, now in its second year, was open to producers from the North Queensland region.
"The competition allows these producers to enter their livestock into a competition where their cattle are processed at JBS Townsville and judged over a number of criteria in relation to the carcase on the hoof," Mr Fraser said.
The competition, which was instigated by Mr Fraser, and northern beef industry identities Bernie English and Greg Brown aims to provide northern producers who enter their steers and heifers with pasture fed carcase data feedback that those in the north usually don't receive.
"The night also allowed all in attendance to enjoy beef produced and processed in the local area."
Vendor numbers doubled from seven to 14, including two returning vendors, for the second competition, with nine pens of steers and five pens of heifers, entered this year.
As per Beef Australia 2024 National Carcase Competition specifications each vendor entered a Class Two pen of three heavy trade chiller steers or heifers, which were pasture fed.
Five breeds were involved this year, with five Brangus and three Brahman pens entered, while the Droughtmaster, Charbray and Braford were each represented by two pens.
The data across the entries showed that the 27 steers entered achieved a mean weight of 329kg, a mean marbling score of 295, and a mean meat yield of 58 per cent. On balance, the 15 heifers weighed 282kg, with a marbling score of 340, and a meat yield of 57.8pc.
Theo and Jenny Watson, Broadford Pastoral, Hughenden won the highest scoring pen of three for their Braford steers, scoring 238.6 points. The Rae family, Lisgar, Home Hill, matched their performance from last year by being named runner-up for their Droughtmaster heifers which scored 225.2 points. The Broadford Pastoral steers will be showcased at Palmer Collective, situated in the heart of the Townsville CBD.
The highest MSA Index pen award was won by Jim and Robyn Beattie, Yungaburra, with their Brangus steers achieving 60.47pc MSA. Bradford Pastoral was the runner-up for this award with their Braford steers scoring 59.5pc MSA. In all three entries registered in the top 25pc on the Queensland MSA Index, while the remaining 11 entries were in the top 50pc.
In a great showing across the board, all five breeds placed in the top five for either the highest scoring pen or highest MSA index categories.
The night also involved a blind taste test, for which guests ate samples of steak from the five breeds involved in the competition and then provided a rating, from one to 10, on a scorecard, based on taste, texture and flavour.
The Brangus entry came out on top, followed by the Droughtmaster, Charbray, Braford and Brahman. The Brangus breed was awarded the Star Hotels Champion trophy and Brangus beef will be showcased in the company's regional North Queensland hotels.
