It is a great pleasure to have joined Herefords Australia last week and I’m genuinely excited about the opportunities ahead! I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to have a 2-week hand over with Lisa Sharp. Lisa has left the business in great shape with a well-defined strategy, all project plans in place and a dedicated team executing the work plans. Working from such strong foundations will allow me to focus on key business development opportunities. Being outcome focussed, we can demonstrate to the beef industry that Hereford cattle can deliver quality, yield, productivity and profitability for our customers and consumers both domestically and internationally.
More specifically, working with feedlots, processors, brand owners and retailers like Woollies and Coles is a priority as we connect with the commercial outcomes required from our major customers. Our customers, including bull buying clients and the previously mentioned supply chain partners, will have a lot of data on the outcomes from the progeny of Hereford bulls sold each year. I am keen to connect with that data, specifically MSA grading outcomes, as this holds the key to building data and evidence of the carcase performance of our breed. I plan to use this data at an aggregated level for the breed and with permission, we can also case study producers and supply chains delivering great outcomes. I will be sending specific details about how to get involved with a call for carcase data very soon.
I also welcome Hamish Chandler to Herefords Australia who started at the same time as me. Hamish brings a wealth of technical and commercial genetics experience to the team. In his spare time he runs his own Merino and White Suffolk studs along with commercial sheep operation. Hamish has extensive genetics and genomics experience in the beef industry having led and managed the National Livestock Genetics Consortium that attracted over $100M in investment.
On behalf of all the staff at Herefords Australia, I would like to wish Lisa all the very best for her new role at Stockyard and I look forward to working with her as a director of Herefords Australia.
