WHEN it comes to the show or sale ring you can usually guarantee that a high percentage of broad ribbon winners or sale toppers have eaten their fair share of grain and supplements to look prime.
But what if we told you that the champion pen of prime cattle at the Charleville Show last month was awarded to a pen of three Simbrah females in calf and averaging 785kg.
The cattle had come straight off of drought country and had been surviving on mulga with not one taste of grain to push them along.
Who is their owner you ask? He must have super powers you say?
Noel Mobbs, Gowrie Simmentals and Simbrahs, Charleville exhibited 12 head in the show’s prime cattle section including three pens of three cows and one pen of steers.
A pen of cows was named the champion pen of prime cattle with one of the females named Supreme Beast of the Show.
Mr Mobbs assured the Queensland Country Life that the cattle hadn’t had any special treatment and had simply been “brought in from the paddock”.
Their condition was one thing but the cattle’s temperament was also a superb surprise with Mr Mobbs able to rub over and move one particular female like it was a show animal.
It was neither a poddy calf nor a pet, Mr Mobbs said.
Mr Mobbs is well known in the Simmental and Simbrah community having run a stud for 34 years.
The Mobbs’ purchased Gowrie Station in 1981 along with a Simmental bull and 60 poll Hereford heifers.
Noticing that the straight bred cattle were being outperformed several Simmental bulls were purchased and crossed over bos indicus females.
The pleasing results saw them establish a stud in 1983 using the Simmental Brahman cross and they now run 1000 stud females on their 32,374 hectare property.
Mr Mobbs said today they mostly bred on a rough half cross ratio, being 60-40 or 75-25.
Three years after establishing a stud they began selling bulls to clients throughout south west and central Queensland along with Coolah, NSW and to the Gulf.
Clients in the Philippines even purchased cattle with 80 stud heifers used as tropical dairy cows.
Their aim is to breed cattle that are suitable to the requirements of most markets, fertile and easy handling cattle that are adaptable to various climatic conditions.
After receiving only 18 points (6.3mm) the night before the show on May 19 when forecasters had predicted flooding, Mr Mobbs said it would be another tough year.
No doubt his cattle and well-established breeding will be able to handle it.
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
