Royal Welsh Show Asda/ABP BeefLink Steak Competition won by Steak from British Blue cross Heifer
23rd July 2013
This year's Welsh Asda/ABP BeefLink steak competition staged at this week's Royal Welsh Show, Builth Welsh, Powys, was won by a steak from a British Blue heifer bred by Powys-based Mike and Sylvia Rowlands.
The steak came from a 359kg carcass which classified E-2 which was consigned to ABP's Shrewsbury abattoir. The heifer was 23 months old when slaughtered and is one of 150 prime cattle the Rowlands sell to ABP every year from the farm.
And it was a British Blue cross heifer which claimed second spot in the competition, with this one coming from a 307kg carcass from a 18 month old beast which graded -U-3. This one was consigned by Newton based Neaddgoch Farms.
And in third it was a three way split with the points from the panel of judges made up of members of the public and farmers being tied.
The first of these steaks came from a Limousin cross heifer from Peter and Elfed Jones who finish up to 600 cattle a year. This one came from a 351kg carcass classified –U-3 when slaughtered at 26 months old.
A British Blue cross heifer from Peter and David Jones from Oswestry also shared the third spot. This steak came from a U+3 graded 325kg beast that was 23 months old when slaughtered. The Jones’ finish 500 cattle a year and run 70 sucklers.
The final steak was from Welshpool farmers Paul and Jim Andrews from a British Blue cross heifer. This one came from a 13 month old carcass that weighed 331kgs and graded U+3.
ABP’s Asda agricultural manager Elwyn Pugh commended all the finalists on the high quality of entries.
“The quality of all steaks was exceptional and the competition was fierce with the standard the best ever. The fact the winner also won last year and there were three joint third place proves the consistency of our steaks at Asda. It has been a great competition with very high entries, a brilliant end to the season of these competitions.”
Steaks in the competition were from carcasses which qualified for Asda's Extra Special range, being from carcasses grading E and U and weighing 300-380kg. Steaks from these carcasses are matured for 28 days.
