Connecting productivity driven sustainability outcomes throughout the whole supply chain using collaboration was a key focus at the Herefords Australia Breed Forum.
Held at Wodonga on May 14, the Breed Forum was opened by immediate past Herefords Australia chief executive officer Michael Crowley, who told delegates Herefords do well in terms of fertility, weight for age, feed efficiency, carcase quality, longevity and docility.
“All of those add value to producer’s businesses and they complement nearly every other breed in the country in crossbreeding programs,” Mr Crowley said.
“There are a lot of positive things to work on but there are still plenty of challenges.
“Our industry still pays us on averages, there is a lot of value placed on livestock based on coat colour and yet there is still so much variation in value and outcome.”
Forum delegates heard Teys Australia has revealed variations of up to $600 difference per head within individual consignments.
“There are a lot of cattle being undervalued and this is calculated on quality and yield,” Mr Crowley said.
“We have seen a proliferation of beef brands and brand equity is becoming a driver of value as well – there are really three components driving value and how we connect with those brands and brand specifications in addition to delivering better quality and yield will ultimately determine how we are paid in the future.”
Mr Crowley said Herefords Australia had continued research and development work collecting carcase data for evaluation in BREEDPLAN.
He said voluntary contributions of 35,000 carcase records from MSA grading data from central Queensland to Tasmania have been received.
“It shows the breed is doing a really good job and sitting in the top 25 to 30 per cent of all carcases graded nationally on the MSA Index.
“It also shows, as in every breed, there is natural variation. What drives the MSA Index is carcase weight and ossification. What stands out here is we have heavy cattle at young skeletal maturity which is a big driver of the MSA index.
“Our marbling outcomes were spread out basically from nothing through to the highest marble score of six or 860 on the MSA scale from a grass-fed animal from Tasmania – that’s up there with 500-day grain fed Wagyu. We can do it and its about how we identify those animals earlier and produce more of them.
“When we partner with supply chains and start getting paid on outcome and value,we can deliver that wrapped up in a Hereford package.
“We have a whole range of partners we have been working with throughout the course of the year and will help us with more precision in the production system, how we make money out of sustainability, driving productivity, building soil carbon, how we use technology to obtain better information in real time, the innovations we can use as the seedstock sector to drive the commercial industry, what can we learn from our international partners, and how we work with the supply chain.”
Michael Crowley, Immediate past Herefords Australia chief executive officer, addressing the Breed Forum.
