SHORTHORN
Supreme exhibit: RW & NL Evans, Nagol Park, Tamworth, NSW, Nagol Park YZ Romance N148.
Grand champion bull: Nagol Park
Grand champion female: Nagol Park
A Shorthorn, praised as a cow with "proven production" has taken out the breed's supreme exhibit rosette at the Royal Melbourne Show.
Judge Peter Falls, Malton Shorthorns, Finley, NSW, awarded the prize to Nagol Park YZ Romance, from Nagol Park stud, Tamworth.
Romance, a September 2017 drop female, was sired by Yamburgan Zeus K25, out of Nagol Park Ellies Romance L203.
"She has a great udder on her, she's about production, but has still got a lot of carcase and volume depth," Mr Falls said.
During the class judging, he praised Romance, saying she could stand at the top of any breed.
"She has got everything you want, she is just the perfect example of the breed.
"You have got to realise she's only two years of age, but she's got that volume, that's what we want to get int the industry, to get that early volume.
"I really admire her."
He was also complimentary of the grand champion bull, Nagol Park Kokoda PNG P120, an August 2018 drop sire, by Futurity Kokoda, out of Nagol Park Ellie's Romance, L203.
Kokoda weighed 656 kilograms, had a 13 millimetre rump and 9 mm rib, with a 90 square centimetre eye muscle area.
"You just have to admire this calf when you stand behind him," Mr Falls said.
"He has great thickness and great testicular development.
"He's got a beautiful sheath on him, he is so smooth in the shoulder and that's so important in cattle.
"We don't want to start to slip away there, in our quest for more eye muscle area."
Roger Evans, from Nagol Park, said his team was up against a very strong display of Shorthorn cattle.
"It's a credit to all the exhibitors, in this tough time, to bring them down," Mr Evans said.
He said Romance had a bright future, in the industry.
"For her age, she is structurally very sound, she has a lot of volume and a good udder, for a beef frame," he said.
A first calver, Romance would be a donor female in the future.
"There is a tremendous amount of capacity in this female.
"Her body type gives us lots of options, in terms of what bulls we could put over her.
"She's a female who is very good, on a genetic level, so we can put bulls over her for stud, or commercial cattle, or to produce animals for the 1000 Guineas and other markets."