Feedlot Performance Confidence in the product saw the Queensland Region breeders conduct a Feedlot and Carcase Trial in 2021. The trial was for milk and two tooth Charolais cattle on a feed regime of 100 days. The cattle were then processed and graded under Meat Standards Australia (MSA) systems. Meat Standards Australia (MSA) is a leading eating quality grading program based on over 1.2million consumer taste tests by more than 170,000 consumers from 11 countries and takes into account the factors that affect eating quality from the paddock to plate. The program began in 1998, integrates more than twenty years of research and development with commercial outcomes. The program involves participation along the entire Australian red meat supply chain. (Source www.mla.com.au) The inaugural trial attracted fifty-four head from six breeders with equal numbers of steers and heifers. The cattle arrived at the Freestone Feedlot at Warwick in late May for the feeding component of the trial. The feedlot was very impressed with the performance of the pen, which included pure and crossbred Charolais genetics. The crossbred cattle in the trial had either Brahman, Ultrablack or Angus genetics in their background. A significant portion of the pen were pure Charolais. The average weight of the cattle on entry was 423kgs with the average exit weight of 603kgs. This was an average gain of 180kgs with the highest individual gain of 275kgs by a crossbred heifer. The top steer achieved a gain of 254kgs per day. The feed gain performance of the Charolais infused heifers is a valuable trait of the breed as not every heifer are retained for breeding.
Entrants in the Queensland Region Feedlot and Carcass trial were inducted into the feedlot on May 24th 2021 and were weighed out on the 11th September 2021.
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January 2022 Charolais Magazine
