Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge: First-time win for the Veenendaals of Serpentine

Serpentine-based commercial cattle producers Bert and Agatha Veenendaal of Evensong Farm have taken out the overall win in the 10th annual Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge competition. The couple found out at the challenge awards event held in Albany on May 24 their cattle team of three steers scored 263.875 points to rank first, just 5.764 points in front of the runner-up. Mr Veenendaal said the win was a step up from their previous best of fifth overall at last year’s competition. “It’s a dream win after five attempts and we only took up cattle production in 2018 after semi-retiring to our 40ha farm 3km south of Serpentine,” he said. “We run a small 35 breeder herd, but consider ourselves good stewards of the industry that has now set a high benchmark for us to repeat.” The challenge is WA’s largest feedlot competition and has been running for 10 years. This year’s event had a new format of 53 teams of cattle, with up to four steers allowed per team entry and the best three steers making up each team’s final total score. This was intended to enable teams that had an underperforming animal to still be competitive. As always, the key focus for the challenge was to provide a relevant and insightful competition for WA beef producers. Challenge committee chairman Wayne Mitchell said the changes would add a new dimension to the event while still providing the valuable feedback and data the event had offered over the past nine years. “Those important opportunities to network, educate and develop strong industry relationships will also remain and the committee is confident this new format will not affect the integrity of the challenge but will make it an even better competition to be involved in,” he said. The 203 steers in the event weighed an average 336kg when inducted at the Mt Barker Regional Saleyards on January 6 before being transported to the Albany-based Willyung Farms, with entry into the feedlot on January 15. The cattle completed 84 days of grain finishing before they were processed at Harvey Beef on April 9. Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge co-ordinator Narelle Lyon said the cattle received points for objective measurable performance traits which were important for profitability across the supply chain. “The overall winning team is the one which is most profitable through the supply chain,” she said. The Veenendaals run a Red Angus and Blonde d’ Aquitaine crossbreeding herd and are unmotivated to switch to the more popular “black cattle” breed. “We enjoy what we do and as a result, the genetics have worked perfectly for our challenge team,” Mr Veenendaal said. He grew up in Canada, where his father had a hobby farm, but from those early years he had very limited farming experience in his pursuit of becoming a professor of geographic survey science at Curtain University. Taking a deep learning curve in the cattle game, the Veenendaals secured Serpentine-based Jutland Park Red Angus genetics to produce a homebred bull that was put over bought-in Superior Blondes females to produce the challenge victory team. The Evensong Farm challenge team produced the overall number one (93.364 points) and number three (88.760 points) ranked perfomance steers in the competition. As a team, the three Red Angus cross Blonde d’ Aquitaine steers ranked first in feedlot performance, 24th in processor performance and 35th in the Meat Standards Australia eating quality section. “Congratulations are in order to the Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate committee for running a great competition in its 10th year,” Mr Veenendaal said. “It’s a good competition that hands out helpful information and is great to be part of. “To our satisfaction, a few of our crossbred calves have been bought previously by feedlotters and butchers in the past.” Kalgan Angus beef producers Jarrad and Sarah Carroll, of Rayview Park, were runners-up with their team of three purebred steers. Mr Carroll, who has entered at least one team in the challenge each year since its inception in 2015, said the three steers were AI sired by Arkle Angus R11, a son of Millah Murrah Paratrooper P15. They were out of Coonamble blood heifers — weaned at 65 days and prepared on oaten hay and silage before being picked for the challenge based on visual and the appropriate weight. “We have deliberately selected progeny from heifers for our challenge entries to determine the productivty of our newest genetic selections,” Mr Carroll said. Most of the challenge’s overall wins went to crossbred cattle teams (seven out of 10 wins to date) and the Rayview Park pure Angus steers were one of the few purebred Angus team to place runner-ups. Mr Carroll said he was proud of this best achievement so far for Rayview Park and as former president of the Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge committee — “It was another proud year for the event, with placegetters well spread”. “Angus genetics have always been in the top placings on most occasions due to their versatility,” he said. “You can create any type of productive animal with Angus genetics, and in any environment.” Third place winners were Ken and Bonnie Ravenhill, of Ravenhill Pastoral, with their Angus cross Limousin team of three steers.