Ekka photos (British breeds)

[townfarmer]

Here are a few of the British breeds of Cattle that were on display at this year's Ekka. Enjoy!!

Angus

Devon

Hereford

Murray greys

Shorthorns

South Devons

Andrew

 

[iowa hawkeyes]

Nice pics. I don't care for that shorthorn bull at all. Did it do well or was that a random shot?

 

[MO_cows]

Interesting, thanks for posting. If I understand it right, Red Angus is a fairly new breed to Australia? They have a ways to go, I thought the RA cow could have had a better udder.

 

[townfarmer]

Nice pics. I don't care for that shorthorn bull at all. Did it do well or was that a random shot?

It was just a random shot and I don't know how he fared in the judging. There were a lot of nice shorthorn bulls there with a variety of types. Unfortunately that was the only photo of a shorthorn bull I managed to take.

Andrew

 

[townfarmer]

Interesting, thanks for posting. If I understand it right, Red Angus is a fairly new breed to Australia? They have a ways to go, I thought the RA cow could have had a better udder.

I don't know a lot about them. According to the Australian Red Angus Society the herd book was established in the 70's. My understanding is that it's only been in recent years they've gained popularity in Australia. Compared to black angus the numbers are tiny. Feel free to correct me anyone if I'm wrong here. Here's another Red angus pic:

Andrew

 

[bruce.mcmonigle]

That is a big Angus !

 

[townfarmer]

That is a big Angus !

Not as big as that dark murray grey bull. It weighed 1330 kg (2932 lbs). The interesting thing was that the british breeds were bigger and heavier than the Euro breeds.

Andrew

 

[Keren]

Can I just correct you a tiny little bit, Andrew? You are right in saying their numbers are far below the blacks, but the reds have always been around, and they've always been reasonably popular. And phenotypically they tend to be of higher quality than the blacks. You just need to look at that Red Angus heifer to see the quality available in the breed in Australia. I could look at that heifer all day.

What a shame about the murray greys

 

[townfarmer]

What a shame about the murray greys

Are you not impressed with what you see?

Andrew

 

[Keren]

No. I dont think its a particularly strong representation of our breed.

 

[townfarmer]

No. I dont think its a particularly strong representation of our breed.

It may be that my photography isn't very flattering. I enjoyed the judging by Charles Wallace. He's the founder of the Woodbourn Murray grey stud in Tasmania. I don't know enough to critique his selections but as a novice I found his comments very educational. He was scathing in his comments about poor sheaths and excessive fat. Some exhibitors really got hammered. I'll try and post a few pics of the Murray greys. There weren't many there but some seemed pretty good to me.

Andrew

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

No. I dont think its a particularly strong representation of our breed.

It may be that my photography isn't very flattering. I enjoyed the judging by Charles Wallace. He's the founder of the Woodbourn Murray grey stud in Tasmania. I don't know enough to critique his selections but as a novice I found his comments very educational. He was scathing in his comments about poor sheaths and excessive fat. Some exhibitors really got hammered. I'll try and post a few pics of the Murray greys. There weren't many there but some seemed pretty good to me.

Andrew

Keren just asked me to ask if you managed to get a photo of the junior champion MG bull.

 

[bruce.mcmonigle]

I can not tell which MG picture you ate referring to.

Bruce

 

[Keren]

No. I dont think its a particularly strong representation of our breed.

It may be that my photography isn't very flattering. I enjoyed the judging by Charles Wallace. He's the founder of the Woodbourn Murray grey stud in Tasmania. I don't know enough to critique his selections but as a novice I found his comments very educational. He was scathing in his comments about poor sheaths and excessive fat. Some exhibitors really got hammered. I'll try and post a few pics of the Murray greys. There weren't many there but some seemed pretty good to me.

Andrew

Charles Wallace is a great judge ... I've had the pleasure to be judged under him previously. He certainly likes his cattle lean. His cattle are also fantastic and we have several in our herd.

As aussie_cowgirl said, I'd be interested if you managed to get a photo of the jnr champ mg bull. I have a bit of a vested interest in him.

 

[3waycross]

Can I just correct you a tiny little bit, Andrew? You are right in saying their numbers are far below the blacks, but the reds have always been around, and they've always been reasonably popular. And phenotypically they tend to be of higher quality than the blacks. You just need to look at that Red Angus heifer to see the quality available in the breed in Australia. I could look at that heifer all day.

What a shame about the murray greys

Keren

When we disagree we disagree. But today I agree with you on both counts. The MG's posted here are not the quality you have posted in the past and I do like the RA's, very much.

 

[WichitaLineMan]

Thanks for reminding me how much I dislike show cattle. Not one animal posted that I'd give two US Pennies for. (and we all know how worthless the US currency is and is becoming).

 

[townfarmer]

As aussie_cowgirl said, I'd be interested if you managed to get a photo of the jnr champ mg bull. I have a bit of a vested interest in him.

Sorry Keren I didn't manage to get a picture of him. Unfortunately I actually missed most of the junior bull judging. I came in at the end as he was walking out. I did hear the judges comments however and he sounded impressed. Were you involved in his breeding somewhere along the line?

 

[townfarmer]

Thanks for reminding me how much I dislike show cattle. Not one animal posted that I'd give two US Pennies for. (and we all know how worthless the US currency is and is becoming).

You're welcome :tiphat: Glad to have been of service.

Out of interest is your dislike of show cattle to do with their type or their excessive condition or their lack of suitability for real world conditions. I have very little real world cattle experience but I thought that a lot of the judges focussed on functional traits that would be usefull to a commercial cattleman. Some exhibiters really got given a tongue lashing for the excessive fat their cattle were carrying or if they weren't able to mobilize well around the ring. I'm interested to hear more of your thoughts on show cattle.

Andrew

 

[Keren]

We sold some cows with calves at foot, he was one of them.

WLM, funny thing is, Australian show cattle for the most part are very functional commercial cattle. Much more so than the US show steers, pampered little poodles that they are (although pretty, I will admit).

3way ... I just LOL'd