Ahern Brahmans took out a series of ribbons at the inaugural ABBA steer trial.

BRAHMAN breeders say the results of a recently completely steer trial have shown there are other options to marketing straight Brahman cattle, rather than selling feeders at discounted rates.

The results of the trial were presented at an event in Rockhampton at the weekend, with Gayndah-based Ahern Brahmans beating a field of 381 entries to win the campion pen. Ahern also won the highest individual weight gain and came sixth in the carcase competition.

With the aim of demonstrating the profitability of the lead of Brahman cattle, breeders were invited to submit five steers which were fed at Barmount Feedlot for 100 days and processed at JBS Rockhampton – with the best three steers going to the overall score.

Weight gain made up 26pc of the overall score and eating quality and yield each made up 37pc.

Australian Brahman Breeders Association president Reade Radel said the competition demonstrated that there are options for marketing higher quality Brahman cattle.

“It is pretty easy for us Brahman breeders to complain about the discount that we are getting when we sell feeders. But we need to recognise that while we keep selling them at that price we are actually part of the problem,” Mr Radel said.

“A trial like this shows that there is another option there and if we have the right genetics and the right growth pathways, there is performance to be had there with putting straight Brahman cattle onto feed for 100 days.”

Mr Radel said the trial demonstrated the potential for breeders to retain ownership of cattle and custom feed for 100 days.

“If you look at the results, some people are $200-$300/head and even close to $400/head better off than if they had sold those cattle as feeders 115-days-ago. That money is better in my pocket than someone else’s,” he said.

Geography has little impact on results

The competition had entries from Roma in Southern Queensland through the Charters Towers in the north with the winners spread across that geographical area.

Aherns finished with a score 561.81, with the reserve champions SE5 Investments scoring 552.9 and 3rd place Charters Towers-based Wallace Cattle Co scoring 545.43.

“There was quite a big spread, geographically, with how cattle performed which was encouraging because as long as the quality was there the cattle did the job,” Mr Radel said.

Brahman steers at Barmount Feedlot for the inaugural ABBA steer trial.

Potential for Northern Australian producers

With the cattle bred across a wide geographic area, Mr Radel said it showed Brahman breeders in Northern Australia that there was potential to sell to a wider range of markets than the traditional market.

“For producers in Northern Australia, I can understand why they would consider going into crossbreeding so they are not locked into the live export market – as good as the live export market is,” he said.

“When you get results like this where cattle are doing over 2kg/day on grain and eating 13kg, which is a terrific conversion rate, I think the sweet spot for Northern producers is to improve genetics because they will always find a home for those good quality Brahman cattle.

“But they have to be good Brahmans.”

Mr Radel said there was already examples of producers selling higher quality Brahman cattle to feedlots at a competitive rate.

“There would be feedlots out there buying the better-quality Brahmans at a similar rate to the crossbred rate if your cattle perform,” he said.

“That is one of the reasons why we started this competition so people can benchmark their cattle and identify the genetics that are performing.”

• Mr Radel said there was already plans to hold another competition next year, with details to come.