Technical Update

NORTHERN BIN STEER PROJECT UPDATE

By Paul Williams, Tropical Beef Technology Services

THE JOINT NORTHERN BIN Steer Project between Droughtmasters Stud Breeders Society (DSBS), Australian Brahman Breeders’ Association (ABBA) and a consortium of Santa Gertrudis Breeders with funding assistance from the Meat & Livestock Australia Donor started in 2015 and is now in its eighth year. The project has currently purchased ten cohorts of steers from Spyglass and eight cohorts of steers from Brian Pastures. The Northern BIN Steer Project is providing data which is assisting in the future implementation of genomically enhanced EBV’s through the “Single Step” analysis and a future Tropical crossbred analysis. This is possible as the Brahman and Droughtmaster steers (from Spyglass and Brian Pastures) and Santa Gertrudis steers from Brian Pastures have been run together since birth, having only been split during the joining period of their dams in the Repronomics Project.

To date the Northern BIN Steer Project has purchased 3,387 steers of which 1342 are Droughtmaster by more than 80 different sires, with a breakdown of breed and calving year shown in Table 1. The sires of the project steers are either proven sires with a large number of registered progeny (few of which have been performance recorded with BREEDPLAN) or young up and coming bulls. Of these steers 2586 have been carcase scanned and 2586 have carcase data collected in the Abattoir.

Data collected on the steers includes 400 day, 600 day weights, carcase scan at 600 day weight and prior to slaughter. Steers are also structurally scored at the scan prior to slaughter. MSA data is collected in the meatworks and a meat sample is taken and set the meat science lab at the University of New England (UNE) where Shear force and IMF data is collected.

Abattoir data has been collected on 1076 Droughtmaster steers and this is the first Droughtmaster Carcase data to be submitted to Droughtmaster BREEDPLAN. As a result of the data collected in this project Droughtmaster now have an EBV for Shear Force (tenderness). 2020 Kill Data

Spyglass No. 20 Steers

Spyglass number 20 steers were transferred to Warnoah Feedlot in November with an exit weight of 442kg for the Brahmans steers. The steers were weighed, and carcase scanned on the 19th of January for P8, Rib, EMA and IMF at Warnoah Feedlot. The Droughtmaster steers averaged 552Kgs with scans of P8 fat 11mm, Rib Fat6 mm, EMA 72. The steers were slaughtered at Teys, Rockhampton on the 9th of March with the Brahman steers averaging 333 Kgs and the Droughtmasters 343Kgs. The steers were sired by Breffni, Bryvonlea, Cashmere, Garthowen, Glenlands, Heitiki, Lisgar, Locano, Lynsey Park. Needmor, Oasis, Strathfield, Truvalle and Wajatryn breed bulls. Table 2 shows the raw averages and maximum and minimum for the Spyglass No. 20 Brahman steers.

Warraka There are currently 684 steers backgrounding at Warraka (Taroom) made up of Spyglass and Brian Pastures No. 21 and No. 22. Seasons permitting these steers will be turned off a mixture of grass and Leucaena. If the seasons do not permit the steers will be finished in a Feedlot. Table 1: Breakdown of steers origin and number per year Cohort Year Brahmans Droughtmaster Santa Gertrudis Beefmaster X Total Spyglass 2013 59 47 106 Spyglass 2014 95 66 161

Brian Pastures No. 20 Steers

Brian Pastures number 20 steers were weighed, and carcase scanned on the 2nd of February 2022 for P8, rib, EMA at Warraka. The Brahman steers averaged 606 Kgs with scans of P8 fat 13mm, Rib Fat 7 mm, EMA 72 cm2. The steers were slaughtered at Teys, Lakes Creek on the 18th of March with the Brahman steers averaging 321 Kgs, Santa’s 345Kgs and the Droughtmasters 331Kgs. The Droughtmaster steers were sired by Fairhaven, Clonlara, Comanche, Ivanhoe, Lisgar, Lynsey Park. Strathfield and Yaralla breed bulls. Table 3 shows the raw average and maximum and minimum for the Droughtmaster steers.

Spyglass 2015 99 107 Spyglass 2016 135 127 Spyglass 2017 111 105 Spyglass 2018 107 128 Spyglass 2019 131 118 Spyglass 2020 146 109 Spyglass 2021 99 81 Spyglass 2022 85 90 Brian Pastures 2015 55 37 63 Brian Pastures 2016 45 53 65 Brian Pastures 2017 50 42 54 Brian Pastures 2018 61 58 51

206 262 216 234 6 250 3 252 1 181 4 179 155 163 146 170 Brian Pastures 2019 73 54 81 208 Brian Pastures 2020 59 36 63 4 162 Brian Pastures 2021 47 40 56 143 Brian Pastures 2022 71 44 63 3 181

Total 1528 1342 496 21 3387

Table 2: Spyglass 2020 Droughtmaster Steers Slaughter results

Carcase Weight P8 Fat Rib Fat EMA IMF $ value Shear Force

Min 284 8 3 62 1.68 2370.57 2.2

Max 410 24 12 110 6.25 3443.16 5.8

Average 343 13 6 84 3.48 287.2 3.5

Table 3: Brian Pastures 2020 Droughtmaster steers Slaughter Results

Min Carcase Weight P8 Fat Rib Fat EMA IMF $ value Shear Force

284 6 3 68 1.33 2332.08 2.7

Max 384 23 10 93 4.96 3169.65 9.2