Chiller-on-hoof Judging Won By Amberley Steer

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30395, 20 March 1964, Page 18

Chiller-on-hoof Judging Won By Amberley Steer

An Aberdeen Angus steer born in September, 1962, from Mr R. D. Gould, Marlow, Amberley, won the on-the-hoof section of the Canterbury chiller-type beef competition which was held yesterday at Addington saleyards. Mr Gould was competing in the competition for the first time for several years.

The judge, Mr H. Cundall, a stock buyer and farmer, of Invercargill, said that the winner had an extremely good loin, a light forequarter and a good clean hindquarter.

Two other North Canterbury steers from A. H. Pearce and Son (Coutts Island) filled second and third places in the competition, which attracted a much reduced entry this year. An entry of 35 cattle was catalogued, compared with 62 last year.

The recent difficult season could have been a factor in the smaller numbers and Mr Cundall, who has now judged the competition on four or five occasions, noted that the cattle were possibly not quite so good as in previous years. He said that they were lacking in evenness and it looked as though the season had limited their development—

they had not had the feed to push their development. The lack of numbers had also meant that he did not have the selection to pick from.

The bulk of the cattle were in the 18 to 19 months age group and Mr Cundall commended production of cattle at this stage, whether it was for the chiller trade or for cuts. However Mr Cundall pointed out that a two-year-and-a-half-old black steer from M. Husband (Ashburton), which he put fourth, had the best hindquarters, and while lacking a bit in condition would be as high yielding as any cattle in the competition for meat. Lot Of Merit Questioned about comments made last year that the chillertype competition was out of line with modern trade requirements in cuts, Mr Cundall said that he thought that there was still a lot of merit in the competition. There was, he said, a close relationship between requirements for chiller-type cattle and for cutting cattle. In both cases the cattle had to be high yielding in expensive

meat which was In the hindquarters. Referring to a Hereford in the competition, Mr Cundall said that generally speaking this breed was not as evenly covered at 18 months of age as the blacks and for this type of competition, where the product was going to England, there had to be an even covering from the fore to the tail, for if any meat was exposed it would go black. But for pre-cut beef, he said that the Hereford would compare with anything. Placings in the competition were: R. D. Gould (Marlow, Amberley) Aberdeen Angus, 1; A. H. Pearce and Son (Coutts Island), Aberdeen Angus, 2 and 3; M. Husband (Ashburton), Aberdeen Angus, 4; Craigmore Farming Company (Timaru), Aberdeen Angus, 5 and 6.

Judging on the hooks will take place at the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company’s Belfast works on Monday morning and the top six carcases will be sent to the United Kingdom to take part in the New Zealand chiller-type beef competition. The local competition is conducted by the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association in conjunction with the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board.