Maidenwell Balycasheen Limousin steer wins grand champion carcase at Callide Dawson Beef Carcase Competition

Jason and Megan Livingstone of Balycasheen Limousin stud, Maidenwell, won the prestigious award, with their pure-bred Limousin steer.

Both were not present at the presentation dinner in Biloela last Friday night to accept their award.

The Livingstones run around 50-head, including 25 Limousin breeders, on a 65 hectare farm near Maidenwell.

Mr Livingstone said the win had come as a very pleasant surprise in a competition involving 520 top-quality cattle.

"It was a thrill and if we had known, we would have made sure that we got up there," he told the Queensland Country Life.

"We didn't expect our steers to be up there like that.

"It's a 10 hour return trip home for us and we honestly didn't think we'd win anything."

This was the Livingstones third time entering cattle into the Callide Dawson competition.

"We first entered cattle into the comp around 13 years ago and it has been a fair while since we put in entries again," Mr Livingstone said.

"It's quite a thrill really, because it's our first time that we've even won a ribbon up there.

"We were glad Girlie Goody accepted our award on our behalf. She's a great woman."

Their top Limousin carcase was entered into the single grain assisted steer or heifer (0-4 teeth) class 250-420kg dressed. .

The steer produced a hot standard carcase weight of 352.70kg and scored the best for eye muscle area in the overall class, scoring 104 sq cm for EMA.

He also scored 2 for marbling and had 8 millimetre P8 and 5mm rib fat measurements.

Mr Livingstone said steer had close to 150 days grain assist in the paddock.

"The steers were actually going to be sent to the Dinmore meatworks in early early May, but we decided we'd send them up to Theodore for the competition," he said.

"We knew cattle were going up there from Murgon, and we'd get the MSA feedback on them that way.

"We've got a Limousin stud as well but we've probably more focused on breeding a few commercial cattle to showcase a few steers."

The champion steer was sired by a Mandayen Jackaroo bull and he's out of Grenada Limousin female.

"A fair bit of our stud foundation goes back to the Grenada genetics," Mr Livingstone said.

"He'd be the first bullock that we've ever killed by the Mandayen sire.

"Up until then, we hadn't actually put any bullocks over the hooks by him, purely because we didn't have any numbers after the drought and we kept females."

Mr Livingstone said they normally grain assist their cattle out in the paddock, which they're also on creeping bluegrass and couch for about 120 days normally.

"At the moment, we're still recovering from the drought," he said.

"Because we're a small acreage, we grain assist in the paddock, which allows us to run a few more cattle.

"If we wanted to fatten on grass, we'd probably have to halve our numbers.

"It's probably a bit too wet. We're not feeding any additives or anything like that to the cattle in the paddock at the moment, but they're definitely not as good as last year, but a lot better than they were three years ago."

Mr Livingstone is a trade qualified butcher, and he attributed the comp success to the Limousin breed's carcase attributes.

"Being a former butcher, the fact that the Limousins got enough fat cover and that they've got enough bone without excess," he said.

"We're in the beef industry and it's all about those characteristics we're after."