Charolais Win Ken McDonald Shield Brisbane Royal Show 2017
Milford
DSK
Moongool 28
January 2018 Charolais Magazine
The Ken McDonald Memorial Shield is a highly contested hoof and hook competition at the Royal Brisbane show. The Shield is contested by a team of three purebred steers entered in the led steer events. The team is selected by the respective breed societes and judged live for 150 points and as carcasses for 300 points. In the past fourteen years European breed steers have won this award 13 times with Charolais winning four of these. Most steers exhibited at Brisbane Royal are crossbred and not eligible for this competition. The Brisbane Steer show is widely regarded as the Premier led steer competition in Australia with close to 400 steers competing annually. RNA beef cattle committee chairman Gary Noller said numbers across the beef sections of stud, prime, led steer, carcase comps and Paddock to Palate were at record levels. He said “the led steer competition was just a few head from beating its record with steer sales now dedicated to offering potential exhibits. People might think that the led steer competition might be removed from the commercial reality but it’s the the elite of the elite,”. This year the Charolais team shown to the left exhibited by West Moreton Anglican College and Milford Charolais, DSK Charolais and Moongool Charolais won both the hoof and hook sections and Overall Shield. All three steers displayed excellent muscle and finish to win convincing the hoof section. On the Hook the three steers excelled. The steer exhibited by West Moreton and Milford Charolais which was also the Lightweight Champion Steer on the Hoof scored 85 carcass points from a possible 100. Dressing at 58.5% he scored maximum points for meat yield and 19/20 points for Eye Muscle Area.
The DSK Charolais steer also dressed well at 58.2% and also gained maximum points for Meat Yield and 18/20 points for EMA. Overall this steer scored 72 points for carcass judging. This steer achieved 92% of points available for fat depth & maximum points for Fat Colour. The Moongool steer achieved maximum points for Fat Depth at the Rib and Rump, Fat Colour and Meat Colour. This steer dressed at 56%. All three steers scored well for marbling. This carcass also won the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) Eating Quality Award for the Heavyweight section. Topping off a great show for Moongool they were awarded the Bayer Animal Health Award for High Point Achiever for Stud and Hoof and Hook competions. In the Junior Led Steer Competition West Moreton and George Massum exhibited the Junior Led Steer Champion Carcass with a Charolais cross scoring 88 points. PLC Armidale School exhibited the Reserve Champion Junior Led Steer Carcass with a Charolais cross scoring 87 points. On the Hoof, Tractor Charolais exhibited the Reserve Champion in the Junior Led Heifer Section. Charolais cross steers also performed well in Carcass classes with Murray and Nicole Nicholls winning the Carcass Class 401kg to 430kgs with a score of 86 points. Travis and Sara Worth placed second in this class with 85 points with their Charolais cross steer.