Narrikup stud celebrates Gate 2 Plate triumph

A Narrikup couple won top gong in this year’s Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge with their best feedlot performance cattle team of Angus cross Limousin.

Farm managers James and Casey Morris, who are principals of Morrisvale Limousin stud and renowned within the State’s cattle breeding circles, were ecstatic with the accolade during the award presentations last week at Albany’s Centennial Stadium.

Scoring 250 out of a possible 375 points through the three sections of feedlot, processor and Meat Standards Australia grading, Morrisvale Limousin, established in 1999, will now be engraved as the fifth win on the perpetual trophy.

“This being our first Challenge award, we were proud to represent the third in five wins for Angus cross Limousin cattle during the past five years of the competition,” Mr Morris said.

No doubt the prestigious Challenge trophy will take its place at the Morris family’s home, where walls express their devotion to cattle, with show-winning photos.

A standout being the formidable senior Limousin bull, Morrisvale Kept Secret, which was awarded grand champion bull at the 2017 Sydney Royal Show and had since been sold, with strong semen sales across Australia.

“Our Challenge team of two steers and one heifer has pedigree back to this sire,” Mr Morris said.

“This year was our second entry into the competition, after having a team in the inaugural Challenge, and I attribute our success to being commercially orientated — breeding cattle true to type with plenty of softness for the consumer market.”

The young couple, who have two children, Spencer, 11, and Libby, 13, run their own 100-head Limousin stud along with a 50-head commercial enterprise, as well as managing a larger operation.

Mr Morris was raised on Kidman Springs station in the Northern Territory, where Brahman cattle roamed, but after finishing his schooling at WA College of Agriculture — Narrogin, his interests turned to the productive Limousin breed.

“Limousin cattle cross well with any breed,” he said.