John Mercer, Kandanga Valley Charolais and Charbray was the judge for the Blonde d’Aquitaine and had some positive comments to make about the heifer.
“She was an outstanding heifer, she is showing in calf and you can see the development of the udder and it was the perfect udder.
“She has overall depth and had a lot more softness than the other cattle and a bit of flank, Waite-A-Wyle United was feminine and refined through the front with a beautiful strong cowey head with that lovely strong barrel that carried right through to her hind quarter. Even though she was a typical Blonde with plenty of meat and muscle she was still very feminine.“
Belinda and Wayne were excited by the win as Waite-A-Wyle United had also won as a calf at Beef in 2024 and had developed a lot since that win.
She was very much true to type and her genetics were from some of the original studs, which they wanted to keep breeding this type of animal. They are a soft and very feminine type of animal that still has a lot of bone and muscle with great udders.
Mr Hess was very pleased to hear the judges comments and said that being a butcher, he was able to see the exceptional carcase results and this led the family to then breed their own Blondes and start a stud in 2012.
Wayne says they have an advantage as they follow their cattle from the birth right through to the animal being slaughtered to then hitting the plate as they kill at a local butcher at Maclagan and can then sell through local butcher shops in Toowoomba.
Their stud now consists of around 90 stud cows with most of their commercial herd being majority of Blonde d’Aquitaine being put over Angus cows.
Their commercial cows have the best of both worlds with ideal fat coverage and exceptional meat quality. The yields from the Blondes are outstanding.
Junior champion female: Melander Underbelly, Travis Hahn, Miles
Senior champion female: Waite-A- Wyle, Waw Beef, Wayne and Belinda Hess, Maclagan
Reserve senior champion female: Melander Tahoola, Kyle and Tamara Mellors, Chinchilla
Junior champion male: Melander Victoria’s Secret, Kyle and Tamara Mellors, Chinchilla.
