By: Peter Kylstra, "Manor Park",Wingello, N.S.W.
As a Limousin enthusiast but non Limousin member with a 15 year association with the breed, both in the stud arena and the real world of commercial cattle, I believe the true worth of the Limousin breed is yet to be promoted properly.

After having a chance to sit down and analyze the results of the 2003 Sydney Royal Show steer & Carcase competition I have put together some results worth mentioning.

Limousin breed won : 1st place in 6 out of the 12 led classes (50%)
Also winning :
Grand Champion School Steer
Reserve Champion School Steer
Champion Middleweight Open Steer
Champion Heavyweight Open Steer
Supreme Champion Led Steer

Also worth a mention, Limousin was rated 1st in the Live category of the prestigious Stan Hill trophy.

Limousin also won:
Grand Champion School Carcase
Reserve Champion School Carcase
Grand Champion Heavyweight Carcase
Reserve Champion Heavyweight Carcase

The Limousin breed finished a close second behind the Murray Grey's in the Stan Hill Trophy losing by just 1 point: 372.5 to 371.5 and well infront of the Angus on 356.5

These results not only prove that Limousin breeders are producing the right article within the breed ( and need to be congratulated for their achievements) but proves that the breed is more than competitive in a between breeds comparison.

If the above mentioned results are not enough to convert the commercial breeder over to the Limousin breed, I will try to explain why the Limousin breed commands a premium price over most other breeds in the sale yards on a weekly basis.

Out of the 170 steers exhibited at the Sydney Royal only 8 carcasses scored 90 points or better :
1 x ANGUS
2 x MURRAY GREY
5 x LIMOUSIN

To do a direct comparison of the 3 breeds I took the 5 point scoring carcasses of each breed to compare, the results are as follows :

Limousin (32 Entries):

Cat. No.	Wgt	EMA	Dress %	Pts
304	604	122	63.1	92
289	508	107	65.1	91.5
305	502	104	64.5	91
806	596	114	62.2	90.5
840	570	110	63.7	90
Ave.	556	111.4	63.72	91

Murray Grey (36 Entries):

Cat. No.	Wgt	EMA	Dress %	Pts
647	438	92	60.2	93.5
640	446	88	61.2	90.5
621	416	78	60.2	88
831	604	105	59.1	87
431	372	75	55.0	87
Ave.	454.8	87.6	59.14	89.2

Angus (39 Entries):

Cat. No.	Wgt	EMA	Dress %	Pts
801	534	97	58.3	92
611	414	89	58.9	89.5
404	364	79	57.3	88
835	522	92	56.9	88
207	446	89	60.1	87
Ave.	456	89.2	58.3	88.9

When Comparing dressing percentages the Limousin averaged 63.72% compared with 58.72% of the combined Murray Grey and Angus average.(5% less than Limousin).
If you compare this with a Limousin @ 500kg to a Murray Grey or Angus @ 500kg it would equate to 25kg of extra carcase weight or $200.00 to the retailer if you took a conservative average of $8.00 per kilogram.

To find the top 5 Murray Grey or Angus carcasses I had to go down to a minimum of 87 points, so in a sort of all carcasses that scored 87 points or better I came up with a total of 25 exhibits.
In a break down of breeds Limousin once again came out superior with almost 50% of the elite carcasses:
12 x LIMOUSIN
5 x MURRAY GREY
5 x ANGUS
1 x SIMMENTAL
1 x BELTED GALLOWAY
1 x SQUARE MEATER

After comparing these results my conclusion are that the Limousin breed not only produces an elite animal on the hoof but also lives up to its reputation as the Carcase Breed by not only producing an elite carcase but doing it more consistently than any other breed with the added advantage of 5% better dressing percentage.

One other point I would like to mention is out of all the steers in the competition only two exhibits received penalty points, both being Limousin and both for dressing to high and falling outside the optimum carcase weight.

Catalogue No 301 Received a 19 Point penalty after dressing at 64.1%
Catalogue No 302 Received an 18 Point penalty after dressing at 65.7%

Both steers would have scored in excess of 90 points without the penalty imposed. I am amazed that Limousin cattle are still being penalised for producing too much product and not being rewarded for their superiority.