Angus and Angus influenced cattle have again proved their ability to meet MSA requirements by rising to the top in a number of categories in the 2016 Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge in Western Australia.
Run under the Albany Agricultural Society Inc., the Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge, the competition aims to reflect as closely as possible the real life situation of cattle entering the grainfed, MSA graded and domestic supply chain and reward those animals that not only meet requirements for carcase quality but are also profitable at each stage.
Teams of three head (2 steers and 1 heifer), all enter the feedlot on the same day and are fed the same ration, with heifers fed for 76 days and steers 85. Heifers are then processed nine days earlier than the steers and MSA graded.
Objective and measurable data is collected on the cattle at each stage of the supply chain (feedlot, processing and grading). This data is based on factors that affect profitability for the feedlot and the processor, as well as MSA grading which affects the eating quality for the consumer
The Ravenhill Family from Youngs Siding took out the overall winners’ award at this years’ event with their Angus influenced team.
The winning Ravenhill team finished with 271.82 points out of 375.
The average daily gain (ADG) of the team on feed was 1.84kg/day, with the heifer recording an ADG of 1.37kg and the steers 2.15kg/day and 2.01kg/day.
The winning team also included the highest scoring individual steer overall, 100.371 points and the steer with the best feedlot performance 45.282 points.