On The Land
12 February, 2023
Beef event keeps getting better
THE Atherton Tablelands’ biggest seedstock multi-breed beef cattle event is set for further expansion this year.
Since the event launched in 2019, it has been held over one day in August but the increased interest from beef producers has prompted the organising committee to extend it to two days and change the name to the Tablelands Better Beef Open Days.
Committee president Nick Trompf said continued growth since the event was launched four years ago had resulted in 14 studs across 13 breeds taking part in 2022.
“What we found in 2022 was that commercial producers were missing out on visiting properties they would ideally liked to have seen, simply because there was not enough time in the day,” he said.
“The diversity of breeds and the geographic spread meant unfortunately people were being forced to pick and choose.”
The committee initiated research during last year’s event asking visitors whether they would prefer the event to be over one or two days.
“The overwhelming feedback from survey forms completed was support-ive of expanding the event to a whole weekend,” Mr Trompf said.
“Survey respondents strongly indicated they would attend more studs given the increased flexibility of the two days.”
The 2023 event will be on the weekend of 12-13 August, with half the studs open on the Saturday and the other half on the Sunday.
“What this will mean is that roughly seven or eight studs will be open each day, giving visitors more time to peruse stock at each property,” Mr Trompf said.
“So instead of rushing to try to get to as many of say 14-16 studs on one day, visitors can plan an itinerary over two days in the knowledge they will have considerably more time.”
The precise split of which studs open on which day will be finalised in coming weeks.
“What we have decided is that the split will be based on geographic proximity – with a northern group open on Saturday and a southern group on Sunday – to help minimise travel time between properties,” he said.
Mr Trompf said the Better Beef Open Days had played a major role in firmly establishing the Atherton Table-lands as the premier seedstock nursery for beef cattle in northern and north-western Queensland.
“The Tablelands is really on the map now – as evidenced by incredible prices obtained by a number of our participating studs last year,” he said.
“The highlight was Telpara Hills setting a new Brangus bull world re-cord of $150,000 while several other studs also had stellar sales results.”
Visitors to the open day in 2022 came from far and wide, with a noticeable increase in station owners attending.
As a result, Mr Trompf said bulls sold across the state and interstate during and soon after the Open Day.
“Both prices and sales volumes improved markedly at most participating studs with consistent feedback from visitors about how much they enjoy the event and the top-quality cattle on display,” he said.
