Bungendore Show

New South Wales’ best one day Country Show

Cattle

See Bungendore Show 2026 Cattle Schedule
See below for more information about the Cattle Competition.

See the cattle

Find the cattle in the Cattle Shed. There will be various breeds of bulls, cows, heifers and calves.

The showing of beef cattle is the art of presenting an animal to the best of its potential to a judge. Beef cattle are judged on:

  • Structural soundness
  • Traits that add to productivity and profitability – aspects such as muscle, maturity pattern and frame size
  • Temperament.

Another aspect of the cattle competition is the Paraders competition where competitors aged 15 to 25 years present and parade an animal before a judge and and are assessed on their presentation and handling.

 

Sponsors

The Bungendore Show Committee are grateful for the generous support of our cattle competition sponsors:

 

Enter the Cattle competition

See the Bungendore Show 2026 Cattle Schedule for classes, information and requirements.

Entries are online via Showday. Entries close 18 October 2026.

Chief Cattle Steward: Sarah Abigail
Email: cattle@bungendoreshow.com.au
Phone: 0456 004 005

Please email these documents to the Chief Cattle Steward immediately after submitting entries and before the entry closing date:

Please provide these documents to the Chief Cattle Steward before or on arrival at the show:

  • Cattle movement documentation
  • Signed waiver forms for all participants

Please note that all cattle must possess a National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) device such as an NLIS approved electronic ear tag.

Beef Cattle

 

About beef cattle

Beef cattle were introduced to Australia in 1788, with the first herds based on British breeds, particularly the Shorthorn. This breed was associated with the opening up of each new area of pastoral Australia in the early days, and was especially dominant in north-western Queensland, the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The Hereford also became dominant, especially in the south-east and south coast areas of Queensland and throughout Australia’s southern states.

Breeds of beef cattle

There are a wide range of beef cattle breeds, here are some of the breeds that we see in Australia.

  • Angus. Origin: Scotland. Introduced to Australia about 1840. Features are a black coat (recessive red gene also), polled. Suited to vealer, steer and bullock production or maternal/rotational place in crossbreeding.
  • Hereford. Origin: England. Introduced to Australia in 1826. Features are redcoat with white face and underline, and horned. Suited to vealer, steer and bullock production or maternal/rotation place in crossbreeding.
  • Poll Hereford. Origin: USA. Introduced around 1920. Little difference between Hereford and Poll Hereford apart from Poll factor. Well suited to all markets.
  • Murray Grey. Origin: Wodonga, Victoria. Developed in 1905 from Angus Shorthorn. Features are dun grey coat (range from silver grey to dark grey), polled. Suited to vealer, steer and bullock production or maternal/rotational place in crossbreeding.
  • Shorthorn. Origin: England. Introduced to Australia in 1825. Features are red, roan or white coat; polled and horned breeds. Contributed to the development of Santa Gertrudis, Belmont Red, Droughtmaster and Murray Grey. Suited to vealer, steer and bullock production or maternal/rotational place in crossbreeding.
  • Charolais. Origin: France. Introduced to Australia in 1969. Features are white or cream coat; polled and horned strains. Suited to bullock production or as a terminal sire in crossbreeding programs.
  • Limousin. Origin: France. Introduced to Australia in 1973. Light brown in colour and horned. Breed is heavily muscled and known for high meat yield with a minimum of fat. Smaller than other European breeds and earlier in maturity, but later maturing than British breeds. Suitable for crossbreeding programs.
  • Simmental. Origin: Western Europe (Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France etc). Introduced to Australia in 1970. Features are red coat with broken white markings and white face; horned and polled strains. Suited to vealer, steer and bullock production maternal/rotational/terminal place in crossbreeding.