They were long ago tagged as 'carcase junkies' and the host of ribbons they took home from the Callide Dawson Beef Carcase Competition certainly cements that notion.
The Taylor family, MK Cattle, Murgon, have been named the most successful exhibitor for a second year in a row, with their ribbon haul including champion and reserve champion grass-fed steer carcase, and champion and reserve champion grass-fed heifer carcase, as well as best Meat Standards Australia score.
They are longtime competitors in the event, originally with commercial progeny from their bulls, and now with calves from their purebred Limousin herd.
Michael Taylor said it was a "brilliant" achievement.
"The competition is pretty fierce. For us to do it now with our own purebred herd, not just our bull genetics, that's the stepping stone to the ultimate I think," he said.
"And also to show purebred Limos can do the job; they're not just wholly and solely terminal sires, you can use them in a commercial operation."
The Taylors run black and red Limousins across scrub and forest country, and aim to breed an animal with softness and good temperament.
"In the early days, we weren't breeding we were just buying; we did have a few stud cows but we would buy a lot in," Mr Taylor said.
"We changed our program so we're running more of our own breeder herd and with the dry then we had to cull about 40 per cent of our herd.
"We were able only to keep the top of our 30 cows as a nucleus."
The family keeps their top bull calves for their client base, selling them as weaner bulls at about nine months old, with the remainder kept for carcase and led steer competitions and the Ekka.
Mr Taylor said the past two years had been difficult with the dry, but a creep-feeder system had kept their cows in average condition and produced a bigger calf that could be early weaned.
"We relied on our scrub country [this year] and that was mainly based on the kikuya, a bit of Rhodes grass and some blue grass, with natural siratro and phasey bean," he said.
"And that's what the grass-fed fellas were finished on."
Mr Taylor said being successful in carcase competitions shows that their breeding is on the right track.
"You've always got to have the right article all the time - you can't afford to breed an article that's not suitable for the market," he said.
Despite the pleasure of being the most successful exhibitor two years in a row, Mr Taylor said there's a ribbon missing from his collection - grand champion carcase.
"You can't ask for much better, but one more would be alright."
