World Angus Forum puts on a show for Northern Irish cattle, chicken producers

The field of heifers judged in the pen of three competition was almost double the average herd size in Ireland, and the spectacle was worth the trip, according to County Tyrone visitors, Sandra and John Blackburn.

The Blackburns run 40 Angus cows, half of them black, the remainder red, and grow out 20,000 free range meat chickens that have a ration of 50 per cent maize (corn) for a corn fed chicken market. All this on 30 hectares.

The chickens are processed and sold in an export market in mainland United Kingdom. The processors are an offshoot of the worldwide processors, JBS.

The birds, Mr Blackburn said, are raised under the European Union definition of free range, which demands a minimum of 56 days' access to the outdoors.

The birds are raised in tunnels that are 91 metres (300 feet) long with 2.7 metre by two metre openings, allowing them to move outside.

"When they want to," Mr Blackburn said. They tend to stay pretty close to the water and grain supply."

He said customer-driven changes affect their farm. A supermarket where they sell their birds decided that the tunnels where the birds roost should have more windows. So that had to be carried out.

"We had to put them in as it was a competitive edge for the supermarket, saying their birds grew in more light," he said.

On their journey during the forum, they visited properties at Oberon and in the Central West.

"Karoo Angus was a visit we really enjoyed, the work they do with their grass and pasture was really impressive. A standout, their grassland management was something else."

"We also enjoyed the visit to Millah Murrah."

Watching the pen of three heifer competition, Mr Blackburn said the cattle they were watching seemed to have more depth than 'those back home'.

"We're also pleased at the strong focus here in Australia on feet and conformation.

"We need to have a scale like you have here ranking feet on their quality, back home."

After the weekend in Tamworth, the Blackburns will travel to Brisbane for the conference part of the World Angus Forum.