Mr Hodge also won the best Pen of Three in the On the Hook section of last year’s Noorat Carcase Competition and has won the overall competition three times.

He helped found the competition about 25 years ago and said he entered it not to win ribbons but to help guide his breeding program.

If the carcases of the three 15-month-old steers scored well in the competition’s carcase judging, he would use the steers’ sisters to breed from, Mr Hodge said.

He said the three steers, which included twins, all came from the son of Southbrook Mumbai, 

Judge Geoff Johnson, a livestock buyer for the M.C. Herd abattoir at Geelong, said Mr Hodge’s winning Pen of Three were very even in quality for the Hereford breed.

Mr Johnson said Mr Hodge was very successful in the competition, given he only had a small herd.

Mr Hodge also won the Class Three (501-600kg) section and came second in the Class One (310-400kg) section.

“That’s a very good effort,” Mr Johnson said. 

P&J Stebbins won Class One (310-400kg) with a Gelbvieh Lowline cross and Jason and Janine Swayne of Purrumbete Herefords won Class Two (401-500kg)  with an 11 month old Hereford steer.

Mr Swayne said the steer was sired by Purrumbete Kevin that sold at Wodonga last year for $18,000.

The cattle were killed on Tuesday at the M.C. Herd abattoir at Geelong and will be judged on the hook on Wednesday with the results announced on Friday night at the Noorat Show dinner.

There were 57 entries in this year’s carcase competition, up on last year’s number.

While the carcase competition involves abattoir data and judgement by livestock experts, Friday night’s dinner also features a steak eating quality competition that gives consumers an opportunity to have a say.

The competition this year has 18 entries that will be judged by a panel of five people from the community who include a butcher, a housewife and a veterinarian. 

Cattle entered in the competition were slaughtered a few weeks ago at the Koallah Farm abattoir at Camperdown.