Bygone Days: Simmental carcase show is ‘greatest’ ever

The show was organised by the Lagan Meat Company, in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Simmental Cattle Club, the Livestock Marketing Commission and Allied Irish Banks.

INCREASING POPULARITY

Mr Eric Cuttle, managing director of Lagan Meat, said that the show had attracted 94 entries of choice Simmental cattle from all over Northern Ireland.

He pointed out that 48 of the cattle were graded A2, the highest grade, and the other 46 were graded three, the next highest.

Commenting on the excellent quality of the carcases, Mr Cuttle referred to the increasing popularity of the Simmental breed. The buying commission, which went to Germany in 1970 to purchase the first importation, had done a great service to the improvement of cattle in Northern Ireland, he said.

Dairy farmers were buying increasing numbers of Simmental bulls for Friesian herds, he noted, which were producing “excellent quality beef calves, with easy calving a feature of the breed”.

Mr Cuttle expressed thanks to the French judge, Mr Bernard Michele, who judged the steers, and also to Mr Sam Richardson of the Belfast Co-Operative, and to Mr Joe McAloon of the Department of Agriculture, who judged the heifer class.

EFFICIENCY PRAISED

Mr David Perry, chairman of the Northern Ireland Simmental Cattle Club, endorsed the tributes, and praised Mr Cuttle and his directors for “the efficient handling of the competition”.

He said: “The carcase competition is going from strength to strength. The quality is really outstanding and the exhibitors are to be congratulated on producing such excellent animals.”

SUPREME CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER

For the second year in succession, Mr Robert Gallagher of Springfield Road, Londonderry, won the supreme championship at the Simmental carcase show in Belfast.

The champion bullock, a two-and-half-year-old, was 427 kilos deadweight and came into £700, plus £150 in prize money, a total of £850.

Most of the top carcases made 163p a kilo.

The reserve champion steer, also a two-and-half-year-old, came from Mr John Loughery from Limavady. It was 389 kilos deadweight, made £552, plus £100 prize money, a total of £652.

TOTAL PRICE OF £886

The heaviest carcase was a steer of two years and nine months, which was a second prize winner, making £861, plus £25 prize money, a total of £886.

The winning carcase in the heifer class was of excellent quality, noted Farming Life. It was exhibited by Mr Robert Taylor of Ballinderry, it weighed 305 kilos, making £494, plus £50 prize money, a total of £544, “and the heifer was only 18 months old”.

The heifer was sired by the famous Camus Dandy, which had an outstanding show career with Mr Eric Cuttle, who won a long list of breed championships.

PRAISE BY FRENCH JUDGE

French meat expert, Mr Bernard Michele, who judged the Simmental carcases, was very impressed with the high quality of the Simmentals.

The quality, he said, was higher than in 1980 when he found it much easier to select a champion. This time the top four or five had been difficult to separate. The champion, however, had the edge, with the reserve a close runner-up.

Mr Michele was impressed by the conformation and leanness of the carcasses which, he said, were ideal for the French market.

“They are much superior to the regular carcase,” he told Farming Life after his final selections.

Of the supreme champion, he said: “In weight, conformation, leanness and tenderness it would be graded in the French classification as a top grade. The next one is much lighter and is more suitable in the English market.”

Overall he summed-up: “An excellent show of quality beef.”