A

steer carrying Le Martres Limousin Stud genetics was awarded first

prize in the export class at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in April.

Pictures supplied

Led steers carrying Le Martres Limousin genetics have taken out the export category in on-the-hoof judging at two major steer carcase competitions in the past year.

A red and white steer bred by Margaret Pierce and exhibited by Billabong High School, Culcairn, NSW, also was sashed champion school and/or college led steer or heifer at the 2025 Royal Melbourne Show.

And a black steer bred by Alan Kent, Picton, NSW, bought by John Adams, who exhibited it at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in April, was awarded first prize in the export class.

Le Martres Limousin Stud principal Leon Martin said the results provided valuable feedback on the cattle produced by commercial clients using the stud's bulls.

"To get two export category champions on the hoof in short succession ... is a lovely accolade about the structural correctness and eye appeal of the cattle," he said.

"It was a nice feather in our cap."

The stud works with Rutherglen High School, Vic, providing steers which students feed, prepare, lead and exhibit at Royal Melbourne. The partnership has operated for about a decade, with Le Martres cattle also previously shown by students from St Paul's College, Walla Walla, NSW.

Mr Martin said visual appeal was not separate from functional cattle selection.

"Most people, as you would understand, buy with their eyes," he said.

"And yes, we use data and all the rest, but the actual structural correctness and appeal of the animal has to come with it."

A

steer featuring Le Martres Limousin Stud genetics was sashed champion

school and/or college led steer or heifer at the 2025 Royal Melbourne

Show.

Le Martres Limousin Stud is based at Rosemont Farm, Table Top, near Albury, and runs 150 stud cows across 320 hectares, along with a 55ha property near Wangaratta where heifers are grown out before they return home to calve. The enterprise also includes a Poll Merino stud.

Mr Martin, who has bred Limousins for 38 years, said he was initially attracted to the breed's carcase merit when the family business was producing milk-reared vealers.

They found moving from British-breed influences to Limousin genetics changed the body type of the calves and delivered a stronger financial outcome.

Mr Martin said the commercial value proposition was centred on saleable yield, calving performance and functional females with superior milk production.

"They're renowned for calving ease," he said.

"As a breed, their yield, so their meat to fat to bone ratio is ... Well, the reason I breed them is because I think they're the best in the beef industry.

"If you had two animals that are 1000kg for argument's sake and you cut those animals into a pile of meat, a pile of fat and bone ... meat's the highly valued commodity and Limousins are outstanding."

Mr Martin said he regarded one of his current sires, Le Martres Titanic, as "the perfect bull" - even better than his father, Le Martres Governor, who was given an A "butt score" for rump muscle.

"This is my own assessment, but I would rate Titanic as an A-plus butt score, which is as big and well shaped a butt as you can possibly put on an animal," he said.

Selection at Le Martres focuses on structural correctness, udder shape, teat size, milking ability and jaw width, for grazing capacity and efficiency on grass.

"Good manners" are non-negotiable.

Le Martres holds its annual on-farm bull sale in February or March and sells bulls privately at this time of year.

This article appeared in The Border Mail