Stewart agreed and emphasised that farmers were producing a quality product and being well rewarded for it across all breeds, including Simmental and South Devon, along with Hereford and Angus.
Mackay mentioned well-known Otago beef breeder Gray Pannett at Roxburgh who got $48,000 for his top bull.
Stewart said it was great to see results like this and it was a reflection of the effort put into data and type of cattle - along with great support.
Listen below:
Mackay came back to the long tail of the processing backlog for the season and asked - are we nearer to getting it tidied up?
Seemed not - but the saviour for farmers was the abundance of grass that had been able to carry the cattle through.
It was challenging - but prices were holding up and Stewart hoped the product could get overseas or distributed locally as soon as possible.
Especially in light of red meat being second to dairy as New Zealand's most important export earner with receipts up by around 18 per cent year on year.
Stewart reckoned the industry was in good shape to give that number even more of a nudge.
Kiwi farmers were more than farmers, they were food producers, committed to quality and integrity, he said.
