Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge celebrates 10th anniversary with new format

The 2024 Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge competition has revealed a mid-term average daily gain of 1.82kg for the entire 203-entry draft with a pen of four steers from Narrikup-based Ravenhill Pastoral averaging the best at 2.33kg ADG. This year, the competition marked a major milestone as it celebrated its 10th anniversary as a revitalised and popular beef event. The HB Gate 2 Plate committee changed the format of the competition, from previously allowing entries of two steers and one heifer to a new scoring system based on teams of four steers with the best three making up each team’s final total score. This was aimed at allowing teams that had an underperforming animal to still be competitive. As always, the key focus for the Challenge was to provide a relevant and insightful competition for WA beef producers. Committee chairman Wayne Mitchell said the changes would add a new dimension to the event while still providing that valuable feedback and data that the event has offered during the past nine years. “Those important opportunities to network, educate and develop strong industry relationships will also remain and the committee is confident this new format will not affect the integrity of the Challenge but will make it an even better competition to be involved in,” he said. This new format had all 53 teams consisting of a total of 203 steers that weighed an average 336kg inducted at the Mt Barker Regional Saleyards on January 6 before transported to the Albany-based Willyung Farms with entry into the feedlot on January 15. The cattle would complete 84-days of grain finishing before being processed at Harvey Beef on April 9. The mid-term weighing of 197 steers (minus six scratchings) took place on March 25 with 14 days to go before final weights are taken. Ravenhill Pastoral’s team of four Limousin cross Angus steers averaged 308.50kg at induction and at mid-term weighed an average of 472kg — the highest overall team gain at 163.50kg. The four Ravenhill Pastoral steers recorded average daily gains of 2.16, 2.53, 2.36 and 2.30, but there were other individual steer standouts in the competition. A Black Simmental cross Simmental steer from the Natalie Kinnane-Meade team recorded a 2.83kg ADG, but the competition is based on average team performance only. Ravenhill Pastoral co-principal Ken Ravenhill, who runs 2000 dairy cows and a 100-cow beef enterprise, said his family’s steers had a combination of Morrisvale Limousin and Lawson Angus pedigree bloodlines. “Last year we placed third overall with those cross bred types, but this year we put some extra rumen development into the steers by backgrounding them eight weeks prior to induction,” he said. “The carcases should hang up well, with a bit more forward growth than last year’s team. “This competition has taught us that backgrounding cattle to set-up better feedlot performance is essential.” Also performing quite well at mid-term weighing was a team of three steers from WA College of Agriculture — Denmark that averaged a total weight gain of 159kg. First entries of Jersey cross Red Wagyu from The Dairy Beef Company were not far behind with a gain of 153kg for the four steers. Feedlot competition coordinator Sandy Lyon said the Challenge cattle were well looked after. “Number one is cattle health and welfare,” he said. “Cattle are walked every day to make sure they are healthy; mainly BRD can knock cattle very quickly. “The Gate 2 Plate cattle — combining a lot of cattle together — some cattle have immunities, some not. We have to give more attention to them, because there are many different variables with them.”