a. Saleable meat yield and Market Suitability
“Aus-Meat trials” Fig 9b. and 9c. show that Belmonts performed better than the trial average on all the carcase traits.
b. Live weight, Carcase weight, Fat thickness and Dressing percentage
“Brigalow” Table 1 below illustrates that on grass Belmonts also produced superior carcases to Herefords.
c. Eye Muscle Area
“AMH (1994) and Belyando Feedlot Trials” At the AMH feedlot trial Belmonts yielded second largest eye muscle area of 85 sq cm. and at the ‘Belyando’ trial their average eye muscle area was well above the other breeds as seen in Fig.10.
d. “Feedback and Feedlot trials” Belmonts from commercial properties, (Tremere, Emerald Pastoral College & Mt Eugene), dominated carcase competitions (250 – 400 entries), with wins Australia wide. The results also showed that Belmonts produced carcases equal to British and European crosses and in some areas surpassed them.
e. Conclusions on Carcases
The Belmont produces very high quality carcases off Grass and under Feedlot conditions. This has been demonstrated in comparative trials against both Temperate and Topical breeds in a number of different environments.