IT was a good thing Drew McKenzie listened to his wife Kerri when she insisted they look after her “special” selection.
The couple’s junior bull Hamadra Express snared the grand champion Droughtmaster bull ribbon at Beef Australia 2015 earlier this afternoon.
The 17-month-old Express showed a smoothness and muscle tone which caught the eye of judge Lawson Geddes, Couti Outi Brangus, and his associate judge, 15-year-old William Weir, Alice Springs.
Express is by Hamadra Bodacious out of Hamadra Holly Fox.
Mr McKenzie said it was some prompting from his better half which saw them hold onto Express as a weaner.
“He was my wife’s special,” he said.
The bull’s coat type and extreme length were the traits the breeder aimed for. Being a poll also gave him a few more runs on the board according to Mr McKenzie.
The stud’s reputation was further boosted when it went on to win both the exhibitor’s group and the sire’s progeny stakes classes, something Mr McKenzie took pride in.
“The breeder’s group and the sire’s progeny I take very highly because it shows a strength about them and shows where you’re going. It’s not just a one-off animal,” he said.
The senior cow, Heitiki Gretel from Tim Lloyd, Dellungra won the grand champion female ribbon with her unnamed calf at foot.
Gretel is by Swan Horsham out of Glenlands Monique.
Meanwhile, in the Santa Gertrudis judging Clifton couple John and Rosemaree McCarthy, who have only been breeding Santa Gertrudis for two or three years at their Rosehill stud, were among the big winners in the Santa Gertrudis ring.
They collected the grand champion bull sash with Graylyn J26, winning the heifer calf championship, the breeders group and the sires and dams progeny trophies.
The other big winners on the day were Scott and Wendy Ferguson, Glenn Oaks, Nobby.
They brought three head to Beef Australia 2015 and collected three broad ribbons, chief amongst them the grand champion female prize, with Glenn Oaks Harmony H36.
Judge Renee Rutherford, Redskin Droughtmasters, Morinish, had her work cut out for her in the Brangus ring, with 132 entries parading before her.
She awarded the grand champion female to Oaklands Miss Csonka, exhibited by the Hansen family from Oaklands Brangus, Kalapa. The cow and calf unit was described by Miss Rutherford as a 'complete breeding unit'.
Duarran Havelock, exhibited by Ian and Ann Galloway from Galloway Cattle Co, Roma, was awarded the grand champion Brangus male.