By Charl van Rooyen
A red Brangus bull from Paraguay was named the supreme world champion animal out of about two thousand entries from 76 countries in PJ Budler’s championships that spanned several weeks.
The overall winner, Pukavy RP 1271 Don Angel, belongs to Larissa Gimenez Pukavy and his family from Asunción in Paraguay. He was also the supreme champion bull and defeated the supreme champion female animal, a Red Angus cow, Red Blair’s Yankee 129K, of Canada in the final judging round.
The bonfires burned high when Budler announced Don Angel as the overall winner on 1 January.
To achieve this feat, the bull had to triumph in all the rounds of judging; from the show in Paraguay where he was the champion, to the winner of the regional championships in South America, the first and second rounds of the final judging, and in the quarter-final, semi-final and final for bulls, until he faced the female animal who had to follow the same path.
Larissa Pukavy told African Farming via WhatsApp that the bull was born on 19 January 2022 and is a son of Cautivo and Pukavy RP 676 Scarlet. He describes the winner as a well-balanced bull with excellent traits.
Supreme Champion Female Animal
The supreme champion female animal and reserve supreme champion animal was born on 19 March 2022. Kevin, Darren and Deb Blair of Blairs.Ag Cattle Company of Lanigan, Saskatchewan, Canada, co-owns the animal with Carlos Ojea Rullan.
Kevin said they farm in western Canada where their cattle graze on natural veld and planted pastures, consisting of various grasses and legumes, from May to November, after which they are given supplements and hay to survive the harsh winter.
2 000 entries received
The competition is hosted annually by Budler, who grew up in South Africa before he moved to Texas, America. Budler judges cattle all over the world these days.
This time the competition received about 2 000 entries from 16 breeds from 76 countries. Judging was based on photographs provided by the participants. Bulls and cows were assessed separately in four international regions, namely Africa-Asia-Oceania, South America, North America and Europe. Afterward, the winners from each region were judged and world champions were named for each participating breed. They then competed in pairs in several rounds until the supreme champion bull and supreme champion cow were crowned. Finally, they went head-to-head to crown the supreme champion animal.
Southern Africa had four world champions that participated in 2024. They are the Beefmaster bull Loumotta WC 21-005 of the Loumotta stud of Wilru Campher from Ventersdorp, Joshlin Quarts JSL 22-11 of the Joel Lutge Family Trust of East London, the Simbra bull Kamab Volcanic DM 19-526B of the Metzger family, Kamab Stud, Seeis in Namibia, and the Limousine cow LR 20-87 Bubble of Jan Stiglingh who farms in the Tuli block in Botswana.
The judges for the final rounds were Frans Briers of Zimbabwe, Sebastian Pizarro of Paraguay, Mark McKenzie of New Zealand, Yerbolat Kurmangaliyev of Kazakhstan, Simon Johansen of Denmark and Corinne Gibson of Canada.
