Bonsmara, Beefmaster and Santa Gertrudis cattle took the top honours at the Royal Carcass Competition and Auction at South Africa's 2026 Royal Show, where the champion beef carcass fetched R80/kg, Henning Naudé reports for Farmers Weekly.
The competition was part of the Royal Fat Stock Show. Cattle were judged on the hoof earlier in the week and their carcasses then evaluated on the hook by the South African Meat Industry Company (SAMIC), before the winners were auctioned on 10 October.
Ferrero Bonsmaras, near Harrismith in the Free State, won both the champion and reserve champion individual titles. Its champion A2 Bonsmara carcass weighed 274.12 kg, scored 78% and sold for R80/kg, the highest confirmed price among the beef lots; the reserve champion weighed 296.43 kg, scored 77% and sold for R72/kg. Ferrero also took reserve champion group of four, at R71/kg.
Weston Agricultural College in Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal, won the champion group of four with its Beefmaster cattle, the lot fetching R71/kg, and the second reserve champion individual carcass, which weighed 322.35 kg, scored 75.25% and sold for R71/kg. Group titles were decided on the scores of the three best carcasses in each entry.
Tregenna Farming, near Bergville in KwaZulu-Natal, won two titles with Santa Gertrudis: champion super ox, a 414.19 kg carcass that scored 82.78% and sold for R71/kg, and champion biltong cow, about 414 kg, with a recorded score of 95%, sold for R63/kg. Those two classes are judged separately from the conventional beef championships.
Combining live judging with carcass evaluation lets producers see how their cattle perform both on the hoof and on the hook.
Photo: Oleg Yunakov / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Farmers Weekly South Africa
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