Wins for Salco Partners

Following on from the successful 2005-6 results, we again entered 2 pairs of steers into the Lardner Park grass fed steer trial, which commenced in June 2007 (see explanation and web site link for this competition further down this page). One pair was pure bred Salers, and the second Salers-Angus cross. This year we managed to do slightly better than the previous year, with the Salers-Angus cross pair taking out first place in the heavy domestic trade (270-310Kg hot standard carcass weight, P8 fat 8-12mm), just ahead of our purebred Salers which took second place. See 2006-2007 steer trial results


Gillian "chief farm hand" Rogers inspects the winning Salco carcass	A large eye muscle with a little bit of marbling from one of the Salers carcasses	Peter (right hand side of photo)with certificates for first and second place.

Overall this was an outstanding result once again demonstrating the growth potential and carcass attributes of Salers and Salers cross cattle.

In the Lang Lang Show a purebred black Saler steer was selected by the judge as Reserve Champion on the hoof, and then went on to achieve first in the breaking ox steer class (421-500Kg live weight) of the carcass competition. The same animal also won overall grand champion on the hook out of a group of 39 animals, with a carcass score of 89 points.

	Black Salers steer that was 2006 Lang Lang carcass competition Grand Champion Steer
	Hugh Bourke presents Cheryl Bass from Salco Partners with the grand champion ribbon.
	Eye muscle area 79cm, largest in the competition.

The Gippsland Field Days is a grass fed steer trial where cattle are entered in June each year for turn-off in either November for standard domestic trade (210-270Kg hot standard carcass weight, P8 fat 8-12mm), or January for heavy domestic trade (270-310Kg hot standard carcass weight, P8 fat 8-12mm). The objective of the competition is to demonstrate carcass requirements for domestic and heavy domestic trade markets in a situation where all steers receive exactly the same management for 5 or 7 months prior to turn-off. Steers are entered into the competition in pairs, with results being calculated as the average for the pair, rather than the best single animal. The overall winning pair in each turn-off is calculated from a combined score based 45% on weight gain during the trial, and 55% on carcass score on the hooks. More information on the Gippsland Field days can be found at their website.

Salco Partners won the heavy domestic trade competition with a pair of Saler-angus cross animals, while in the standard domestic trade competition our pair of purebred Salers had the highest combined carcass score and highest live meat yield. Of note was the weight gain for the Saler-angus cross steers, which at an average of 1.47Kg per animal for the duration of the trial was almost 10% more than the second placed pair. For a complete list of results, download the Official Report. Search within it for "Salco" to see the catergories won.

From a management perspective, we have found the Gippsland Field Days steer trial invaluable for teaching us to recognize market requirements for our Salers. Breedplan data helped us select animals that gave outstanding weight gains in the heavy domestic competition. For the standard domestic competition we had to select smaller animals from our spring 2004 calf drop to ensure we met the competition carcass weight range, and as a consequence could not pick the best breedplan performers. Despite this, the smaller pair still won the carcass and yield competitions. Our results confirm our belief that Salers have a significant role to play in the Australian beef industry.