Northland duo win best steak award

Two Northland beef farming families have taken top accolades in this year's prestigious Beef + Lamb New Zealand Steak of Origin competition held in Feilding on Monday.

Chris and Karren Biddles from Te Kopuru have been named Grand Champions for the second time in six years, while John and Joss Bayly from Paihia won the Best of British Breed section with their angus entry.

The Biddles have enjoyed many placings over the years winning the grand prize in 2007 with a home bred purebred angus and last year the couple were awarded the Producer of the Decade title.

This year's win was with a home bred angus/jersey entry in the Best Crossbred (or other category).

Mr Biddles said they were surprised and delighted with the win.

He hadn't been expecting the top result. Since the drought there had been no green grass to finish cattle properly.

"She was a nice little heifer, but I am surprised, because we had a pretty tough time with the drought and had been feeding hay and baleage for the last five months.

"I have always maintained the best beef comes from animals that are on the improve (gaining growth and weight) so she did really well still gaining in spite of the brown pasture."

The Biddles purchased about 30 years ago, prior to that it been the family farm. The 1000ha Te Atarangi Angus stud has about 500 breeding cows - 320 purebred angus with the remainder crossbreds. The winning heifer was three quarters angus and one quarter jersey.

The competition seeks to find the country's most tender and tasty steak. Head judge Graham Hawkes says the quality of the steak on show was exceptional.

"The standard never ceases to amaze me, the finalist steaks were all tender and succulent."