The trial, held from June last year, pitted steer pairs against each other in two categories, standard domestic and heavy domestic.

Steers had to finish at the abattoir within commercial grade hot standard carcase weight specifications of 210-270 kilograms for the domestic class after five months and 270-310kg for the heavy domestic trade class after the second turnoff of six-and-a-half months.

A long-time competitor and several-time winner Trevor Hatch, Three Oaks, Athlone, snared the domestic grade title with a pair of SimmAngus Optimisers which also gained the highest average for daily weight gain at 1.44 kilograms daily.

Mr Hatch’s crossbreds shared the accolades with David Meikle, Tarwin Poll Hereford stud, Meeniyan, whose Poll Hereford steer pair was the only one to meet the grade.

The 30 steers entered in the standard domestic class gained an average 1.15kg liveweight daily, while the heavy domestic class achieved a slightly higher 1.25kg daily.

This class averaged 232kg carcase weight (CWT), 54.5pc dressed weight (DWT), 6.1mm P8 fat depth and 57.7 square centimetres for eye muscle area (EMA).

The heavy domestic trade class of 20 steers (only three met specifications) averaged 291kg cwt, 53.4pc dwt, 6.3mm P8 fat depth and 67.4sq cm EMA.

Winner of this latter class, Mr Meikle, said the steers, sired by AI bull Heatherdale Kansas, had always stood a good chance at winning.

“Our cattle consistently get up there in the top results and are ready to kill year-in year-out."

This was a benefit of breeding straightbred cattle he said, which must be “10pc better bred to be able to compensate for hybrid vigour”.

“Pure bred cattle are able to consistently finish unlike crossbred cattle which can be a bit scattered in their ability to gain weight and finish.”