The Simmentals competition at the Melbourne Royal Show has been won by a home-bred Maverick cow owned by the Canning family.
The winner is the great-granddaughter of the stud's establishment female who was given to Mavstar Simmental stud co-principal Ruby Canning by her late grandfather Peter Schembri from the Maverick Simmental stud.
Mavstar, Myamyn, took out the supreme exhibit of the Simmental breed with its heifer Maverick Red Star, who originally won the 24-36 month cow or heifer class earlier in the competition.
Ms Canning said the win was an absolute honour for her family, particularly given it coincided with the 50th anniversary of the breed being exhibited at the show.
"We have just been so excited to be back showing at Melbourne," she said.
"My grandparents won grand champion Simmental female nearly 25 years ago, so to win today, at the 50th anniversary, with cattle that has got my past genetics in them as well is great.
"It's really special to be still showing and still continuing our grandfather's and father's legacy, and to be winning with home-bred cows that we're very proud of."
The Mavstar team exhibited two cows and calves who were both half-sisters, both by one of their home-bred bulls, Mavstar Licorice Red, which Ms Canning said resulted in the females being "well put together and very sound".
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Throughout the pandemic, she said the stud worked hard on getting genetics right at home and incorporating new genetics into their operation.
She credited her mum Rita, dad Ross and younger brother Jacob for the effort put in through COVID lockdowns to get their herd to a high quality.
"They're very fertile and sound heifers, and they're really the epitome of what we like to breed as well," she said.
"We actually are really proud of working together at our stud as a family, to breed great cattle and now it's a good time to get them back out there.
"We're also doing some embryo transfer programs at home and we've also got females and bulls, which will be for sale early next year."
The grand champion bull was awarded to Rellum Farms Smooth Operator, from Rellum Farms, Mount Gambier, SA, owned by GC & VJ Muller, which originally won the 16-20 month bull class.
Judge Donna Robson, Flemington, Adelong, NSW, said all exhibits were an example of what "beef production was all about".
"I really loved the udder quality under this female," Ms Robson said.
"She's got that depth and capacity."
