Lardner Park Steer Trial's top winners include Hereford stud principals

The months-long Lardner Park 2022 Steer Trial has finished with Herefords taking out several top prizes.

Twenty-six producers from across Victoria entered a total of 69 steers of different breeds to compete in the trial before the winners were announced at Farm World.

The event is the only grassfed steer trial in Australia and offers producers from across the country the chance to watch cattle under independently-controlled grazing conditions.

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Tarwin Poll Hereford stud principal David Meikle, Meeniyan, won an overall second place in the combined weight gain and carcase award on 228.32 points.

Mr Meikle's stud focuses on breeding sound, practical cattle, with decent weight gain, finishing ability, tractability, mothering ability and structural soundness.

"Hereford cattle have been consistently reliable in this competition," he said.

"We make our selections in June and over the 10 years the cattle always meet the specifications.

"This competition is there to be dominated by Hereford cattle and I would love to see more commercial purebred and crossbred entries from around Victoria and interstate."

Charellen Poll Herefords stud principals Stan and Denise Walker, Pearsondale, entered the trial for the first time and won the highest carcase score for a pair with an overall daily gain of 1.26 kilograms.

They entered calves that were sired by Ravensdale Trooper L179 and Ravensdale Spark M016.

"The Lardner Park [Steer] Trial is a good educational trial with all the steers on the same pasture and normally the Herefords perform well," Mr Walker said.

He said a key when entering steers was to have a 300-350kg liveweight to meet the end specifications of 220-330kg carcase weight.

The Lardner trial herd grazed on ryegrass-based pasture with supplements and had an average weight gain of 1.18kg daily.

Meanwhile, Tarcombe Herefords stud principal Tim Hayes, Ruffy, won the highest eating quality as a pair.

He said the eating quality win reaffirmed the stud's breeding focus on increasing muscle, marbling, carcase quality and finishing ability.

"To have Herefords represented among the winners in the weight gain, carcase and eating quality says a lot - it is not an easy competition to win as there are some large commercial operations supplying the supermarket trade competing with teams," he said.

"I encourage more Hereford breeders to get behind this trial.

"Next year I will have a team of Hereford and Hereford/Charolais steers."