Gympie Carcase Classic better than before

For the first time competition cattle were backgrounded for about 49 days prior to feedlot entry and Goldmix Stockfeeds’ Jo Offord said the difference in results from start to finish was outstanding.

“We had big problems with Bovine Respiratory Disease last year from the word go and we can now clearly link that to the cattle coming straight off mum,” he said.

“If you’re going to put cattle in a feedlot straight off a cow that has been producing good milk it will take that beast roughly four weeks just to turn around and adjust to the grain.

“The rumen is familiar with the protein in the cow’s milk and through backgrounding we can alter the rumen of that beast at a lesser extreme so when cattle enter the feedlot they start on grain much better.”

Mr Offord said last year’s issues with sickness were linked to stress, exacerbated when enforcing a swift transition from the cow herd onto grain.

“In comparison to last year the cattle ate 4.6 tonnes plus a bale of hay per day in the first three days without background and averaged 7kg weight gain in that time,” he said.

“Essentially they’d been trucked, some for long distances, and curfewed for their induction weight so the first thing they wanted to do when they entered the feedlot was gorge themselves.

“This type of system causes rumen bacteria problems that take 12 hours to break down and four weeks to rebalance but we eliminated that problem immediately this year by backgrounding.”

This year’s competition cattle were fed at Narelle and Noel Cheshire’s Windera Glen Feedlot at Windera, via Murgon.

Cattle were inducted and weighed before receiving a seven week backgrounding period on a good grass paddock prior to starting on the feedlot ration.

With an average weight of 319kg at the commencement of feeding, cattle began on a starter ration of 13.5 per cent protein and 10.5 megajoules of energy. The ration is also 15 per cent fibre to help keep the rumen moving after the grass diet, as well as 2.5 per cent fat, calcium and phosphate. The starter ration was fed for 14 days to ensure cattle started properly. 

At half way cattle averaged 403kg with an average daily gain of 1.78kg, compared to the 2015 results where cattle averaged 380kg at half way gaining 1.5kg on average daily. 

At the conclusion of 86 days on feed the 2016 carcase competition cattle weighed 451kg.  

Carcase competition overseeing judge Barry McIntyre said the 2016 event produced the best cattle in terms of even fat cover he had seen.

“This was the first year since I’ve been judging that everything covered. Most of the cattle had five millimetres and only five or six head didn’t have more than three millimetres,” he said.  

“The weight gain from the feedlot was fantastic- the backgrounding obviously played a significant part as well as having good weather mild weather conditions.

“The cattle were noticeably quieter to handle than in previous years and that goes a long way towards better yields.”

Having worked at Nolan Meats, Gympie, for 19 years, Mr McIntyre’s current role as boning room team leader lends him great credibility in judging the Gympie competition- a task he has undertaken for the last three years. 

Mr McIntyre said it was becoming more common to see high muscle measurements of more than 100 square centimetres in the competition.

“An increase in better yielding carcases is a good thing generally but it helps us in the boning room a great deal and the team behind the scenes have done a great job.”