Elders livestock staff and clients have had a busy and successful week in Rockhampton at Beef Australia.
Elders is proud to be a Premier Partner of Beef Australia, the biggest event on the Australian beef industry calendar.
A number of cattle sales and competitions have taken place at the event, at which Elders livestock staff and clients play a leading role.
Kicking off the week was the Commercial Cattle Championship, in which producers compete to have their cattle awarded as the best in show, while also showcasing their herd to a national and international audience.
State Livestock Manager Queensland & NT Scott Mawn said it was a great day for Elders.
“We saw a tremendous yarding with 1700 head in total, and Elders had the majority of those cattle, which is a fantastic effort from the Elders team all throughout the state,” Scott said.
“The cattle were presented very well, and we were lucky enough to have some of our clients in the ribbons and placing.
“A special mention to Mac and Gayle Shann from Cantaur Park, who are great Elders clients, and they had a lot of success, with the champion pen of grain fed heifers and the champion pen of heifers overall. Well done to them.”
Mac and Gayle run a successful Droughtmaster stud and commercial herd 100 kilometres north of Moranbah. The pair showed 102 cattle at the Commercial Cattle Championship, predominantly made up of their Droughtmaster X Charolais steers and heifers across a number of weight ranges.
Gayle said that coming away from the showing with a couple of ribbons was very rewarding.
“There were a lot of quality cattle out there. It was a credit to the vendors, they have all worked tirelessly to continue providing quality genetics for commercial operations, and the showing this week really shows what good genetics can do,” Gayle said.
“We were lucky enough to come away with a win in the heavier heifer class, which went on to win the grand champion award for females.
“It is very rewarding for us and makes all the hard work and investment worthwhile.”
For Mac, the strong result at Beef Australia has created a great platform for the Shanns’ seedstock business.
“Bringing the cows down here to Beef Australia has certainly been a good marketing tool,” Mac said.
“It was one of the most humbling experiences of my career; to see abattoir buyers really battling for our stock, it was something I haven’t really seen before in the market.
“The sale had quite a few vendors, but they really pushed our cattle hard, which was humbling and a credit to the Droughtmaster breed.
Mac and Gayle will be holding the 23rd annual Monty Atkinson Genetics Sale (MAGS), in Charters Towers in November.
“We have put together a quality line of cattle for the sale, with around 100 bulls on offer, mainly Droughtmasters, but also around 30 Charmaster bulls available,” Mac said.
Beef Australia was also the perfect platform for the Elders team to hold the inaugural Elders Signature Wagyu Cattle Auction, which attained pleasing results. The top price bull was sold at $50,000, with an average of $25,166, and the top price heifer reached $60,000, with an average of $22,250.
Elders stud stock agent and auctioneer Lincoln McKinlay said he was pleased with the solid turnout for the sale on Tuesday night.
“It was a solid result that was very reflective of the market,” Lincoln said.
“Great to see bulls, females and genetics from central Queensland on display, which will now be making their way to southern Victoria.”