Australian National Field Day Steer and Carcase Trial

Violet Hills entered two teams, by two individual bulls, of purebred steers in the 2014/15 trial. Both teams were out of heifers and were not suitable to be kept as bulls. In other words, they were the bottom of the crop!

After 100 days on grass they were inducted into Gundamain feedlot for a further 100 days. They were then slaughtered at the Teys-Cargill abattoir at Wagga and the carcases assessed.

One of our teams was over fat and was judged 6th, so this debunks some opinions that pure bred Charolais can’t put on good selvages of fat. The other team, by a different bull, had the correct finishing and muscling and was awarded first place for carcase quality and first place for saleable meat yield.

When the overall performance of the team was taken into account they were awarded overall first place and the John Sharpe Perpetual Trophy. This is the second time that Violet Hills has won the trophy in the last five years, with purebred Charolais steers.

The most rewarding aspect of the trials is the feedback that we get on the steers that we can relate to the sires in our breeding programme. We cannot stress enough the need to use Charolais that are appropriate for Australian markets and the environment you are going to use them in. The use of appropriate Charolais is the easiest way to make money in the cattle industry. If you have the right type, they can be used as pure breds or in cross breeding with terrific results.