Matt and Deb Kelley have entered a team of 18 steers and heifers in the 2016 Sydney Royal Beef Challenge.
A team of 18 purebred steers and heifers have been entered in the domestic and export categories of the 2016 Sydney Royal Beef Challenge by Warragundi Beef.
Matt and Debbie Kelley, Warragundi Beef, Currabubula, NSW, have entered a team for the first time in the challenge to progeny test sires and benchmark the results against their own branded beef.
Their cattle are competing in the 70 day domestic and 100 day export class at the Wilga feedlot, Bellata, NSW.
“We decided after seeing how our Poll Herefords are performing through the MSA grading system at Wingham Beef Exports each fortnight and coming back through our shop, we thought it was important to represent the breed in the challenge,’’ Mr Kelley said.
“It will be a learning exercise for sure.’’
The cattle in the domestic class entered at 340kg liveweight or 10-12 months of age.
Mr Kelley said Warragundi Beef had considered value adding for some time and now has an established butchery at Quirindi.
Wurragundi’s 450-cow commercial herd supplies heifers and steers to both a natural pasture fed and 100 day grain fed brand.
“We decided we needed a mainstream butchery outlet to begin with,’’ Mr Kelley said.
“We are so happy with the results our Herefords are achieving – they are hitting great MSA numbers.
“The labels are going so well we are opening a second butchery in Armidale.
The couple value-add their own grain with an on-farm feedlot.
“We are taking 60 bodies a month and are aiming at 220kg – in the grid, 250kg carcase weight is the ideal supermarket weight,’’ Mr Kelley said.
“Being a domestic butcher, the smaller carcase weight enables us to cut nice T-bones of 400 grams.
“We are getting ideal fat cover with the Hereford breed – some of the Michelin star chefs we liaise with love the fat cover.
“There is no issue with the yield. Our area of focus is public feedback and that has gone way beyond what we expected.
“The Warragundi Platinum and Reserve range can be found at Quirindi, shortly at Armidale, soon to be on-line and we hope to be delivering to the Sydney metropolitan area by mid year.
“We will gradually increase our on-line sales throughout north western NSW.
“We wanted to create a niche for our daughter’s future beyond the farm gate but there is a point where the business can run away and not be a niche anymore.
“We are deciding how to handle that growth at the moment.’’
Warragundi plans to buy back progeny from commercial clients to bolster supply.
Mr Kelley said fat coverage across the loin area plus good carcase attributes made the ideal animal for the butcher.
“The cattle are marbling as well as any other breed and we are tracking IMF through to the kills.’’
Warragundi is making inroads into the Angus breed with many new clients using Hereford bulls for improved weight gain and temperament.
“The Black Baldy is a magnificent animal, either as a breeder, in the feedlot or finishing for the domestic or export trade,’’ Mr Kelley said.
“Herefords have a great doing and foraging ability, and temperament. There is no doubt they are as good as any other breed from an eating perspective
“They are beautiful to handle and perform well – it’s going to take some time to win space off Angus but it’s about keeping an eye on performance genetics which will get us back to the leading edge.’’