It’s a grand spectacle at a grand institution.

This year there were 267 steers vying for the grand champion award.

It’s a fantastic honour and a prize to be savoured. As it’s a straight-bred competition, it’s also a marketing reward for the breed that wins.

At the live judging a Limousin steer weighing 628 kilograms took the top honour.

It was exhibited by St Johns College, Dubbo.

It later sold at the annual young auctioneers’ competition, for an amazing $15.20 a kilogram live-weight. That’s a bit over $9500 and a pretty handy price for a steer.

In southern NSW we don’t see a lot of straight-bred European steers in the market. What we are seeing more and more of locally, are European crossbred steers.

The role of the European breeds around here have settled nicely as a cross with the British breeds.

The European compliments these breeds, by adding extra growth rate and muscularity to the progeny. The British breed content ensures the animal carries sufficient fat cover to meet what the market requires.

Designing cattle by crossing different breeds is one of the most interesting parts of breeding cattle.

It takes a bit of thought to get it right, but it’s certainly not difficult.

The environment we farm in is the basis for selecting and crossing maternal breeds to get a highly fertile female.

The amount and quality of pasture throughout the year affects fertility, and crossbred cows certainly maintain higher levels as the feed becomes limiting.

British breeds and some moderate framed European and Bos indicus breeds known for their maternal traits form some of the best crossbred females for southern NSW.

The larger European breeds compliment these cows by injecting extra growth and muscle into the calves.

One of the nicest things to see in commercial herd around here is a moderate framed 550 kg cow weaning a 350 kg calf. Often it’s a half European, half British calf.

We’re also starting to see a few composite cattle. These might be a mix of Bos taurus and Bos indicus. A touch of Bos indicus certainly makes the cattle hardy.

The winning steer at the Easter show last week looked like he had the fat cover. The judge is depending on it.

He was heavily muscled, and no doubt he had been on a very professional ration, but he appeared the type that carried the muscle and was still able to easily lay down the required fat.

It’s the type of carcase that bull buyers of European breeds look closely for – a beast that will be high yielding but carry the fat the market wants.

It’s what local cattle men call an easy doing animal – ‘soft’ but well-muscled.