Farmfest 2019 Cattleman's Cup claimed by Springside Simmentals bull

Springside Manager from Springside Simmentals, Pittsworth won the coveted award, which involves weighing and scanning the entries and using the date to calculate their carcase merit index.

Weighing in at 1066kg with rib and rump fat of 10mm, 4.9 per intramuscular fat and an eye muscle area of 134.3 square centimetres, the 36-month-old Springside Manager achieved a Carcase Merit Index score of 3736.8.

Sired by Woonnallee Dimension out of Springside Grianne, Springside Manager was first named as the champion bull and went on to claim the top award, over champion female, Donnalyn Cherie P2, a Red Angus 12-month-old heifer.

Stud principal Toni Rauchle said they had entered the Cattleman's Cup several times before, winning two years ago with a different bull.

"It's quite a prestigious award to win because it's against all the other breeds," she said.

"We actually have him for sale but if he doesn't get sold we'll put him in with our girls and in 10 months time we hope to have some really special Manager babies."

Ms Rauchle said they have had him scanned before and were very happy with his results at Farmfest.

"We're always told that the commercial breeder is looking for certain traits, with this sort of thing they can go through and see exactly what they're buying," she said.

Natural Ecosystems Group managing director Leon Martin, who presided over the competition, said Springside Manager reflected the quality of the animals that had been selected in his stud's breeding program.

"He had, for a European breed of cattle, the perfect amount of fat and perfectly even over the carcase... a huge accolade for a bull that's 36 months of age," he said.

"As time goes by, body shape changes so for a mature animal to still hold good figure...it had it as a young beast, it's still holding it, which is an excellent reflection on what that animal can do for the industry."

Mr Martin said with scanning you could pick up carcase qualities that it might not be easy to detect from a visual assessment and that he had seen a good adoption rate of the technology.

"Under the skin it's hard to assess the dimensions of muscle pattern and fat depth, people have their opinions on things but the actual measurements give you the certainty and also the variation of fat from the front of the carcase to the back of it," he said.