Interstate, SA breeders share beef-cattle interbreed ribbons

Greg and Sharon Fuller, Pine Creek stud, Cowra, NSW, and their daughter Christie Lee Fuller and her partner Gavin Iseppi, Diamond stud, have had considerable success in the past decade as exhibitors at Adelaide and made the 14-hour trip worthwhile, combining to win the all-breeds grand pair and junior pair.

"It is a good show with good atmosphere and good people, which is why we keep coming back," Christie said.

The Fuller's young bull, Pine Creek Top Prize T048 - a 16-month-old - tipped the scales at 792 kilograms with 124 square centimetres of eye muscle area.

It was sired by North American son Northern View SMW Gustov 3Z, which the stud owns the Australian marketing rights in and which also bred Pine Creek the supreme beef exhibit from the Sydney Royal Easter Show earlier this year.

Top Prize combined with a nearly three-year-old cow, DSK Pep Martina R77, which had an impressive bull calf shown by Diamond Angus, for grand pair. The calf was sired by Mytty In Focus - a popular United States Angus bull about a decade ago.

Three of the four judges had the Angus duo as their top picks from 11 other breeds, two points ahead of the reserve champions - the Murray Greys.

Ms Fuller said the cow, which was at its first major show, was "pretty special".

Pep Martina was bought as an unjoined heifer from Chris Knox and Helen Alexander's DSK stud at Coonabarabran, NSW.

"We wanted to introduce a new cow family and have done a bit of work with her, our hope was to get her through and win an interbreed for Knoxy," she said.

"She is going through to Melbourne."

Mr Fuller said Top Prize, which had been shown as a youngster at Sydney Royal Easter Show, would be used in the Pine Creek herd.

"We like to get our cattle out and seen and probably the best way to do it is to travel a few of the shows," he said.

In the Thomas Foods International all-breeds junior pair, Top Prize combined with Diamond MS Just Teasen T422, an eye-appealing daughter of Silverias Style 9093.

The win was even more convincing than the all-breeds pair with all four judges putting them first among 11 breed pairs.

Murray Greys, which had the largest number of entries of any breed at Adelaide, also turned the judges heads to be reserve champions in both the grand and junior pairs.

A 14-month-old bull, Bottlesford Triumph, exhibited by Darren Koopman and his parents Gerald and Jeannette, Mount Torrens, was a member of both reserve grand and reserve junior pair.

"We have used his sire (Bottlesford Pewter) extensively so he will be one of the lead bulls in our sale pens come late spring," he said.

The bull had plenty of performance weighing 622kg with 116EMA.

Katrina and Steve Sanders, Clare, had the other animal in the Murray Greys reserve grand pair with five-year-old cow Ballyvaughan Faith P11 and its third calf at-foot.

In the reserve junior pair, Triumph teamed up with Bottlesford Cristy T22, a young heifer shown by Jessie Thomson, Saddleworth.

It was fitting the Limousin breed was third in both the grand and all breeds pairs as it celebrates 50 years of the breed in Australia.

Judge Roger Evans, Tamworth, NSW, won the bottle of whisky, a tradition from the beef cattle committee, awarded to the judge whose card most closely resembles the final placings.

He commended the exhibitors for continuing to show their cattle in trying economic times and said it was a great "snapshot of the Australian beef industry" with British, European and Bos Indicus breeds represented.

"It shows the adaptability of our cattle in our different environments and within the breeds there are cattle to suit a diversity of markets and maturity patterns, which is good to see," he said.

Fellow judge Scott McKay, Newlyn, Vic, was impressed by the softness in the cattle on show.

"It is so important. It makes them easy-care cattle and also reduces the feed bills in dry times," he said.

There was a record number of led steer entries earlier in the week for the feature showing, but it was one of the smaller numbers of stud cattle with 224 head.

The Hann family, Nampara Angus stud, Kingston SE, are no stranger to interbreed success with individual animals in the champion all-breeds pairs previously, but this year they notched up a win all of their own - interbreed sires progeny.

Their trio, sired by United States bull Varilek Geddes 7078, comprised their reserve junior champion bull Nampara Geddes T168, led by Natalie Hann, as well as two heifers, led by Emily and Maddi Hann, which placed first and fourth in their classes.

All four judges selected the Angus as their top picks ahead of the team from the Koopman family's Bottlesford Murray Grey stud, Mount Torrens, with their Bottlesford Pewter progeny.

"We are pleased to win it. It is something that we have been working towards," Mrs Hann said.

"What we are about with our bloodlines is breeding consistent cattle and keep the quality up."

Mrs Hann said Geddes appealed to them for the shape and softness it was putting in its calves, while keeping the bone and thickness.

"Our first Geddes calves, including the reserve junior bull which had tremendous weight for age - 818 kilograms at 16-17 months with a 126 square centimetre eye muscle - will be for sale in our February sale," she said.

She said showing cattle was a great family experience. This year was their third time as exhibitors taking nine head to the show.

"It has been a great week for our family with our children really involved and very hands on," she said.