Entries are being sought for a comprehensive steer trial to be conducted in conjunction with the Westech Field Days at Barcaldine next year.

Teams of six steers will enter the trial on February 6, 2017, with the event to culminate with a lunch and information day at the Westech Field Days in September.

The trial will incorporate information captured from walk-over weighing and remote pasture sensing technology.

The Westech Field Days committee says the trial, being run with the Department of Agriculture, provides a valuable opportunity for beef producers to benchmark the performance of their cattle against their peers in  a uniform, controlled environment.

The teams of steers will be will run in the same paddock, under the same conditions for 14 weeks, and then will be sold to Mort and Co’s Grassdale Feedlot.

They will be fed for 100 days prior to slaughter.

All aspects of the steer performance will be monitored, recorded and provided to participants including daily pasture weight gains, feedlot performance and carcass feedback.

The results will then be presented with a lunch and awards at the Westech Field days.

This trial is aimed at providing beef producers objective data on the performance of their livestock, which will then allow them to make informed management decisions like supplementation programs, when productivity peaks, plateaus, and declines, and the quality of the pasture, relative to the time of the year.

The trial is also aimed at assisting in identifying some of the factors that can influence performance, like breed, genetics, pasture quality, and timing.

More information can be found on the Westech Field Days website here, or by calling Tom Chandler on 0407 511 633 to nominate a team.