General News
23 August, 2022
Fourth Better Beef open day hailed best yet
AUGUST 14 dawned a perfect winter's day for the 2022 Better Beef Open Day and after months of preparation, a total of 14 Tableland stud cattle breeders opened their gates to visitors who were eager to see what the north had to offer.
Most stud representatives reported having their “best day ever” as the collaborative concept, originally introduced by event president Nick Trompf of Lake Barrine, continued to grow in size and reputation.
Brittany Pearce of “Telpara Hills Brangus and Ultrablacks” described their experience as an extremely well-attended, beautiful day, which she said worked well as a preview day, to prepare potential buyers for their annual on-property bull and female sale next month.
“We had a lot of quality people visit us from all over. They came from Bowen, Winton and Nebo, lots of locals and we even had Brangus breeders from Singapore here,” she said.
“We had 120 bulls and over 30 elite females on display and people were blown away by the volume.
“Open day is the day for everyone, when people can come and have a look around. We try to make everyone feel comfortable and keep the day very relaxed. Everyone could go at their own pace, shop around and compare the different breeds,” Mrs Pearce said.
Trying something different this year, Brian and Carla Harriman, of Reedybrook B Brahmans, and Gordon Rassmussen, of Euluma Droughtmasters, decided to exbibit their cattle at the Mareeba saleyards.
“Being at Millaa and Julatten, we are both on the end of the Tablelands geographically, making it a bit of a challenge for people to get to us in the time they have, so we trucked cattle to the yards this year and had around 220 visitors throughout the day,” Brian said.
“Mareeba's guaranteed fine weather, combined with the increased accessibility for visitors made it a smart move for us. With plenty of room, good infrastructure, heaps of water and even some shade trees, it worked out perfectly.
“I did have to cart two body-loads of cattle over, but the steady flow of visitors from 8am onwards and seeing how wrapped people were in our cattle made it worthwhile.
“There were a lot of cattle producers looking for registered heifers, but I am already cleaned out for sale cattle this year.
“I had a few offers on the little stud bull calf I took, but he was still on his mother. He should make good money next year.”
Being a one-man display, Peter Bauer of Warrina Droughtmasters, at Millaa Millaa, who had to cancel due to the weather last year, was worried the day might be too hectic for him to handle, but said it couldn't be better, with just a couple of rush periods across a day that flowed nicely.
“Located on the Palmerston Highway, I am usually people’s first or last stop on the way up from the coast. This year I got a nice mix of return clients and brand new people, from Richmond, the Gulf, Burketown and from Tully to Cooktown,” Peter said.
“The event has evolved since 2020 when only about 20 per cent of the people were here to do business, but this year 80-90 per cent of them were here to buy something or have something lined up to buy for when they are ready later on.”
Open Day president Nick Trompf said it had been their most successful day ever and all the exhibitors he had spoken to had reported a very busy day, showing the event was becoming very well established on the beef industry's annual calendar.
“People just love the structure of the event. No pre-visit organisation is necessary and they can go wherever they want for as long as they want and are free to look at any breed without any pressure to buy.
"I think there will be 20 studs exhibiting by 2025.
“As the number of presenters continues to grow, committee members are being asked continually about extending the event over two days, and that scenario is becoming increasingly likely.
“Our committee prepared a survey for visitors this year to record their preference, and those results will play an important role in our decision,” he added.
