Texas Angus Awarded 2018 Beef Farmer of the Year!

We were thrilled just to be nominated by the Weekly Times as a finalist of the The Weekly Times Coles 2018 Farmer of the Year. But to win it agmonst some of Australia's most innovative beef farmers was a massive shock and completely unexpected! Ben's unprepared speech showed our complete surprise. We are very honoured and humbled to be recognised for our contribution to the beef industry. We believe agriculture and the beef industry are set to reap huge rewards in coming years.

Below is the article that featured in this weekends newspapers Courier Mail, Sydney Sunday Telegraph, Melbourne Herald Sun, Perth Sunday Times, Adelaide Sunday Mail, Weekly Times & Qld Rural Weekly. We would like to Congratulate all finalists, winners and Tom and Pheobe Bull for winning the overall famer of the year. It was a wonderful night in Melbourne and a great weekend away for us.

Beef Aus to Sydney Royal - Texas Takes Top Honours in Export & Domestic for 2018

2018 would have to be the most memorable year for Texas Angus in more ways than one. The stud has been awarded top honours at Beef Australia 2018 in May followed by clinching broad ribbons once again at Sydney Royal Beef Challenge this month. 

Texas Angus was awarded 1st place (in Australia's largest and most competitive carcase competition of 1077hd and the largest class of the competition by 330 head) for 100 Day Grainfed Export Chiller Bullocks at Beef Australia 2018. And last Friday took out the Grand Champion 70 Day Domestic Pen and Grand Champion 70 Day Domestic Individual of Sydney Royal's 2018 Beef Challenge. This was the fourth conservative year for the stud to receive a broad ribbon at this very 'industry relevant' event.

Texas only entered 3 pens for the 70 Day domestic competition and 2 of the pens had 2 individual animals eliminated because their weight gains were too big. These 2 milk tooth heifers had the highest ADG of both the domestic and export competition (3.22 & 3.14kgs/day), and both pens placed 1st and 3rd in the profitability section.  The 1st place pen returned $1,120.19/hd profit and were $835.15/hd more profitable than the average of the 55 domestic pens in the competition. The remaining pen of 6 we had left ended up taking top honours by blitzing the MSA Eating quality with 375.37 points. 

Similar to last year's results Texas Angus also won the Taste Test which in our view is a very proud achievement as this is an endorsement of eating quality and our breeding program is hitting all market specifications. It should be noted this is the only competition in the country that undertakes a blind taste test by a panel of expert RAS Judges. Each striploin is sent to Sydney direct from the processing plant and a sample is cut and cooked exactly the same for the blind taste test which is similar to RAS wine judging. We congratulate the RAS Cattle committee for introducing such an industry relevant section. 

Once again we had the highest marbling animals in the domestic and equal highest in the export section. Which follows on from placing third highest marbling at Beef Australia's 100 day grainfed export class and 4th in the entire 1077hd competition.  These successes have emphasised Texas Angus's point of difference is that our breeding program of high performing pure bred Angus will hit market specifications without compromising the ever important eating quality. In a nut shell Texas Angus cattle not only marble BUT they are also profitable for the commercial operator, feedlotter and butcher - from farm to fork! 

Sydney Royal Beef Challenge is one of Australia's prestigious cattle competitions that has been running for 7 years and this year had 510 head which is a great number considering NSW and parts of QLD are experiencing the worst drought on record. 2015 was the first year Texas Angus entered the competition and it has been a great platform for us to benchmark our breeding program against some of Australia's best commercial cattle. 

The Beef Challenge is a commercially-focussed feedlot competition that is unique to others. It represents all stages of the process including

*Live Assessment

*Weight Gain

*Carcase Judging (MSA Standards)

*Profitability

* Eating Quality (Blind Taste Test by a Panel of Judges in Sydney)  

Congratulations to all other place getters and a big thank you to RAS Cattle Committee, MacCue Family Wilga Feedlot, Bob Jamieson Agencies Kilcoy Pastoral and all sponsors inlcuding Angus Australia for being a part of such a great beef industry event.

Texas Defies the Odds

Facing the worst drought on record, Ben and Wendy were very concerned during the lead up to the sale of whether buyers were needing bulls in such a trying season. They knew they had the largest number and most even line up they had ever presented and were completely taken by surprise with the result.

With standing room only, Texas Angus achieved a full clearance of 138 bulls that topped at $32,000 and averaged $11,580. Principal Ben Mayne was blown away with the result.

"Never in my wildest dreams did we believe we could achieve such a result in this horrendous drought" Ben Said. "The general comment on the day was the evenness of the bulls, structure, fleshing and temperament. Our goal for many years of breeding was that if a buyer missed Lot 10 in the sale he or she would still be happy to buy the last lots of the sale."

Lot 49 Texas Hector N046(AI)(ET), a Coonamble Hector son was the topped priced bull weighing in at 818kgs with an average weight gain of 1.41kgs/day was knocked down to a syndicate of repeat buyers including Murdeduke Angus, Winchelsea Victoria and commercial producer John & Jen Hurley of Goondwindi QLD. Since the sale Semex Pty Ltd(an International Semen Company) has formed a joint venture with John & Jen Hurley, Murdeduke Angus and Texas Angus to market N46 worldwide, particularly in the North American market.

Ben Mayne, John & Jen Hurley, Wendy Mayne, Michael Glasser GTSM & Andrew Wardel GDL St George

The maternal background of N46 is incredibly strong. His dam Texas Undine H647(AI)(ET) is a daughter of the great Texas Undine Z183 who has sold almost $700,000 of bulls and like her mother, H647's 5 sons are in demand and currently averaging $18,000. N46 was in the top 5% for all growth traits, Top 2% for NFI-F and Docility and Top 1% for EMA.

His 2 full brothers were hotly contested with Lot 50 Texas Hector N027(AI)(ET) (770kgs) selling to Granite Ridge Angus for $20,000 who has been purchasing Texas bulls since 2014. While Lot 58 Texas Hector N030(AI)(ET)(774kgs) was quickly snapped up by Permeate Pty Ltd of Kempsey NSW for $15,000. They also took home Lot 15 Texas Korporal M326 for $15,000 who weighed in at 940kgs.

The commercial buying was very strong with return clients Cadelga Cattle Co, Inglewood QLD took home Lot 54 Texas Mountain Man N023(AI)(ET) (K2 son - 856kgs) fgor $28,000 who had the highest daily weight gain of 1.53kgs/day of the sale. They also purchased Lot 67 Texas Magic Millions M380(AI) for the same money who was the second heaviest bull of the draft at 1028kgs. Interestingly a prominent Western Australian stud purchased a semen package in Magic Millions prior to the sale. Both bulls have the same dam Texas Pride E030 who is breeding extremely well with 11 of her sons currently averaging $13,227.   

Above is Scott Fitzgerald Elders Inverell, Maureen& Jason Johnstone, Inglewood QLD, Ben & Wendy Mayne with Michael Glasser GTSM

Long term commercial clients Wes and Sue Presho of Taroom QLD invested in Lot 16 Texas Plateau for $20,000 and Lot 47 Texas STud Muffin M387 for $18,000. Both bulls weighed in at a hefty 1012kgs and 914kgs respectively.

Return clients Vicky and Sophie Hartley, Injune QLD took home 10 bulls for an average of $9,200 while Rob Sinnamon of Yulibar Santas purchased 2 bulls for an average $12,000 including Coonamble Handyman son and a Texas Mount K2 son.

Volume buyers of the day included Booky Cattle Co, Tenterfield NSW who invested heavily into the Texas Program taking home 17 bulls for an average $11,000. While Landmark St George put together a great line of 18 bulls that averaged $10,555 for a client at Charleville Qld.

It was humbling for Ben and Wendy to see 124 bidders register and 80% of the buyers were return clients. Buyers were looking for weight for age, temperament, caracse, do-ability and a solid breeding program with proven results. 

The only dampener of the day was Ben Dad's Bill couldn't attend the day to celebrate the 50th sale for the Mayne Family.

A big thank you to our extended team including Hayden Chapell, Brenton Sessions, BJA, GTSM, Falls Transport, Warialda Apex, Laura Lockhart Photography and many others that all help make our day happen!

Photos courtsey of The Land Newspaper