Meeting the beef market - class at Gympie Carcass Classic
Big field of entries from properties all over Wide Bay and beyond
Gympie
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THE Gympie Carcass Classic is playing an increasingly important role in what is ultimately the most important part of the cattle grazing industry - the production of top quality beef.
The relationship between livestock in the paddock and beef on the plate can be a mystery for most of us and even cattle farmers benefit from getting together with each other and the customers, volunteer Jenny Zerner said yesterday.
She was hard at work, along with her husband and Carcass Classic treasurer Neville Zerner.
Mr Zerner was working with event co-ordinator, Hayden Pratt, who joined in the conversation about the live animals on display and the likely yield in terms of actual food.
"Everyone benefits when people get together and share information,” Jenny Zerner said. And, she said, there is no-one better qualified to give advice than other farmers or the people who buy and sell livestock for the meat trade.
That includes people like Nolan Meats employees Emma Franz and Barry McIntyre, who managed the livestock and the discussion, as farmers and their customers talked about what matters in the business of beef production and marketing.
The difference between good prices and bad can be a matter of genetics or feed or the season or any number of factors combined.
And that is what the farmers wanted to talk about and hear.
The Classic is organised under the auspices of the Gympie district Beef Liaison Group .
Live judging this week will be followed by a carcass comparison next week, with a dinner and awards presentation next Friday.
Sponsors include a Who's Who of prominent Gympie businesses, breed societies and Meat and Livestock Australia.
Platinum sponsor is Gympie stock agency, Sullivan Livestock and Rural Services.
Fifty-one grazing operators have entered 180 cattle in the competition.
Entries have come from properties from the Lockyer Valley to the South Burnett and Monto.
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