Beermullah’s clean sweep
The 37th annual Gingin Heifer Competition, held on April 8, saw Beermullah cattle breeders make a clean sweep of the top prizes for the Commercial Heifer class judged on the day.
In the hotly contested competition, 18 pens of the region’s best commercial heifers were assessed across 13 Gingin farming properties with another four entrants in the stud section.
The Clifton family, of Beermullah, took out the top commercial prize as first-time entrants.
Their pen of four 2020-drop future breeder heifers were shown by Angela Clifton and her daughter Shahni and son Jarrod.
The crowd of more than 60 were impressed with the quality of the pen of four Black Angus heifers aged 12 months that scored 94 points out of a possible 100.
Winner of the stud section was Gingin Speckled Park principal Tony Trainer, of Bambun.
He received the trophy for his pen of four Speckle Park heifers aged 12 months that scored 91 points.
The heifers were judged on their suitability as future breeders.
Points were awarded for temperament, structural soundness, femininity, carcass quality and evenness of pen.
This year’s judges were impressed with the quality of heifers.
Judges Alexandra Riggall and Clare King of Summit Gelbvieh, in Narrikup, judged both the commercial and stud sections of the competition.
The judges were selecting a type of female that demonstrated longevity as a breeder as well as contributing to all the essential carcase attributes of producing a good beef animal.
“We looked specifically at foot structure, pelvis set up and udder development and we wanted a female which also had good natural muscle and finish-ability,” Ms Riggall said.
“It was very tough to select our winners from such a high-quality selection of females and it was only the very small details that separated the top place getters.”
Taking over from George Gifford, new competition co-ordinator David Roe of Benalong Grazing said the competition continued to be a great day for local cattle breeders.
“Breeders take on board the judges’ comments to aid their selection criteria for their future breeders and this can only be good for their cow herds,” he said.
Mr Roe also extended his thanks to all competition entrants, and the generosity of sponsors who made the day possible.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails