NOW in its third year, the Euroa Autumn Beef Show held on the Labour Day weekend continued to attract quality beef cattle, with a Charolais taking out the 2023 Supreme Exhibit award and being a showcase for entries including a speckled park entry from Mansfield looking to compete at the April Royal Easter Show in Sydney.
Against a solid all–breeds competition, Scotty Purcell said he was pleased with a fourth placing at the Euroa event, "SJP T2, Bonkonia White Lightning stood top four in a big class of heifers under 12 months."
He said, "She's sired by a renowned champion Canadian bull, 'Caja Zeppelin 1b' out of our first stud cow 'SOS p01', making her a paternal sibling to the speckle park champion of the world 'Notta 1b Hawkeye 444E'".
Scotty agreed it was satisfying when the speckled park breed does so well against other well–established breeds, "It's definitely a great feeling, and I have absolutely no doubts that this breed will keep excelling from strength to strength."
"We were happy with how she presented at Euroa, and we are excited to take her and another junior heifer SJP T3 Bonkonia Koda up to Sydney Royal next week to compete with over 200 other speckles, with speckle park being the feature breed this year," Scotty said.
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The speckled park steers will be judged on Thursday, April 6, with the purebred classes on the 7th and the interbreed judging on April 9.
Bonkonia White Lightning's next stop will be the blueprint opportunity sale, on May 12, at Pine Lodge, Victoria, where 22 bulls and 37 females will be offered.
"People can also stay up to date with Sydney results and sale info via our 'Bonkonia Speckle Park Stud' Facebook page," added Scotty.
The Euroa Autumn Beef Show hosted by the Euroa Agricultural Society on Sunday, March 12 at the Euroa Showgrounds was a great success according to the society's chief cattle steward and Beef Show organiser, Leanne Colclough in terms of entries and crowd attendance.
"As in previous years we attracted 130 cattle, all of a very high quality and representing 15 different breeds, with exhibitors coming from throughout Victoria, southern NSW and as far away as Yanco in NSW," Ms Colclough said.
Two show rings covering four different categories were in operation with one featuring British cattle, and the other Bos Indicus, European and Small Breed cattle.
There was also a feature class where exhibitors assembled a group of three beasts from the same breed to compete against each other for the overall best group.
Ms Colough said many of these cattle have been to Canberra Royal and then will go on to compete at Sydney Royal at Easter.
"This was one of the reasons why following a discussion between myself and cattle committee members in 2019 to run an autumn beef show so exhibitors could prepare for the Sydney Royal," she said.
Although the October Euroa Agricultural Show runs cattle classes, it is too late for the Melbourne Royal and wrong time of year for Sydney competitors to prepare.
The culmination of the show was the awarding of 'Grand Champions' of each of the British, Bos Indicus, European and Small Breeds all vying for the prestigious title of "2023 Supreme Exhibit".
This year the Supreme Champion of the show was Challambi Sargent, owned by Challambi Charolais founder Nigel Spink from Tooma, NSW, led by Trent Storm.
The other grand champion results included:
Grand Champion British Exhibit – Roly Park Thunderstruck – Scott Bruton (Shorthorn) – Winner of Bull 12 months and under 15mths.
Grand Champion Bos Indicus Exhibit – Burramurra 452 – Mark Bazley (Santa Gertrudis) – Winner of Heifer 18 months and under 24 months.
Grand Champion European Exhibit – Challambi Sargent – Trent Storm (Charolais) – Winner of Bull 15 months and under 18 months.
Grand Champion Small Breeds Exhibit – Cann Valley Telegraph – Matt Cooney (Lowline) – Winner Bull 12 months and under 15 months.
Exhibitor Hetti Biersteker from Murrindindi had a successful outing with her belted galloways taking home the Champion Small Breeds Heifer under 24 months with Silvan Park Smokie and also the Reserve Champion in the same competition with Silvan Park Sweety.
The junior competition open to individuals aged 15 to 25 also attracted good entries.
Next year's Euroa Autumn Beef Show will be held Sunday, March 10.
