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Winning lamb carcasses 1951

What is the Event/Project

The Australian Meat Board (now Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation), in conjunction with the, then, Department of Agriculture, (now PIRSA) and carcass competition committees ran and judged lamb and beef carcass competitions for over 50 years.

Farmers entered groups or individual animals (depending on the class) and they were judged live and then the carcass after slaughter. The judging initially was on visual characteristics but over time the process included objective characteristics such as age, eye muscle area, fat thickness and carcass yield related to weight and carcass length. The judging criteria reflected the markets of the day. In 1951 much of the lamb production was exported to the United Kingdom and the desire was for short fat carcasses compared to today’s longer leaner animals. At the time the Southdown breed was supreme; today it is rarely used commercially.

Judging was usually led by Departmental staff with support from farmers, abattoir operators and meat processors and buyers.

Where and when did it take place?

Competitions were primarily state based and judged at the Metropolitan Export Abattoirs (later SA Meat Corporation) at Pooraka with some hundreds of carcasses judged. They were extremely popular for 50 years and in addition to the State wide competition were run in local abattoirs in conjunction with agricultural shows and Agricultural Bureau. They were held annually at the peak of the lamb season in spring.

What impact on agricultural industries

With the judging reflecting the desired market types of the day the competitions were significant in providing producers an opportunity to see what the market wanted and how their animals were performing.

The events drew significant media attention; large crowds attended the demonstration and prize giving days providing an ideal extension opportunity to advance the latest knowledge in lamb production. The presentation days included a guest speaker of note and judges comments on the quality of the carcasses. An added bonus was it was one of the few opportunities for producers to visit an abattoir and see the end product of their endeavours.

Such competitions were significant trend setters in the direction that breeding was taking at the time influencing stud breeders and commercial breeders alike.

WG (Bill) Giles