It may have been a foregone conclusion that Tony and Anna Lomax would take home the grand champion exhibit in the Bazadaise section, but that didn't make the exercise any less worthwhile for them.
With just three exhibits in the section, all from the Lomax's Carabeen Beef operation, grand champion bull Carabeen Pax faced off against grand champion cow Carabeen Mina and triumphed.
The 14-month-old bull sired by Carabeen Major from Carabeen Mystique, weighed 471kg with an average daily gain of 1.09kg, P8 and rib fat of 4mm and 3mm and an eye muscle area of 103 sq cm.
Judge Graham Brown said the hoof shape on the bull was one thing that brought the bull out slightly ahead of the female.
"I thought he was structurally very good... he's a handy calf, he's 470-odd kg which to me suggests he'll be a 750-800kg two-year-old," he said.
Mr Lomax said they started using Bazadais content in their paddock to plate business six to seven years ago.
"We started with Angus... but we needed something to improve what we were doing," he said.
"We looked around for a breed that we could put over the Angus to fill them up a bit more, give us a bit more yield and we came across these fellows here at the Ekka quite a few years ago."
From there they started breeding to select the genetics they were looking for, using estimated breeding values to find the best animals for their operation.