feedbackTV
Episode 4 of feedbackTV comes to you from Naracoorte in South Australia. In this episode you'll see how a producer uses a simple tool to calculate his cost of production per kilo of meat, how to read sheep DNA to determine if a ram has the genes you're after, as well as the insatiable appetite for Australian red meat in the Emirates which is fueling the world's biggest construction boom. Read more about each story and get a sneak preview into some stories online...
Find out more about feedbackTV – MLA’s member-only ‘TV show’ - and see what’s been covered in previous episodes.
1. Know your costs/kg
Knowing how much it costs to produce a kilogram of beef or lamb is a powerful benchmarking tool for producers and MLA’s cost of production calculator makes it a simple process. Taking data on production, livestock enterprise costs, labour and overheads, a cost per kilogram can be figured out, which can then be used to compare performance from one year to the next, or against other producers in the region. Cattle producer Craig Brewin shows us how the process of calculating his costs/kg highlighted areas of improvement in his beef business.
►
Watch the story on 'know your cost/kg online now (FLV, 4.3MB, 5:42min)
Further information:
2. Cash cows
The reproductive performance of a herd is probably one of the key profit drivers in a cattle enterprise, however the variation in reproductive performance in cattle costs the industry $15 million annually. The Northern Australian Beef Fertility Project – also known as ‘Cash cow’ – is a four-year project developing a highly accurate database system of the reproductive performance of northern Australian beef herds. The database will identify the factors having the biggest impact on herd reproductive performance and the likely return if it is improved, giving producers like Jim Viner and Don White information about where they should concentrate their resources for the greatest productivity gains.
Further information: The Northern Australian Beef Fertility Project (Cash Cow)
3. Reading sheep genes
The Australian sheep industry is about to enter a new era that will offer faster, cheaper and more accurate breeding information. A new piece of technology called a ‘SNP chip’ is in the final stages of development. The SNP chip is a small ‘chip’ of glass that can hold up to 60,000 known gene markers from sheep DNA. If validated, around a thousand of these gene markers will form the basis of an industry SNP chip, offering markers for the most sought after traits. These will then be embedded into Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) under the current suite of genetic improvement tools - namely LAMBPLAN and MERINOSELECT for all producers to use. DNA from a blood sample will show if any of the animal’s genes match the favourable genes on the industry 1000 SNP chip.
►
Watch the story on reading sheep genes online now (FLV, 4.4MB, 5:45min)
Further information: Genetics
4. Emirates fuels red meat demand
From the mutton feeding construction workers as they build the booming commercial centre of Dubai, to the long-fed beef served up to the wealthy diners in some of the worlds leading hotels, the extremes of the United Arab Emirates marketplace offer an extensive range of opportunities for the Australian red meat industry. In a market which is our largest live sheep destination, our chilled and frozen mutton, lamb and beef products have also established a market leading position, underpinned by confidence in our exporters’ capability, our reputation for food safety, our halal branding and the work of MLA staff in the region.
Further information: Middle East
5. Pathways to premiums
MSA Sheepmeat defines a pathway from the farm to the consumer which guarantees the eating quality of each cut when cooked in a specific way. MSA Sheepmeat has been picked up by a sizeable chunk of the industry – in the month of May alone a record 11,500 carcases were put through the system. The MSA specifications on-farm include condition score and finishing, with a requirement that stock be gaining at least 100grams a day for two weeks prior to slaughter. Ross Graham from Cowra, a registered MSA sheepmeat producer, talks about his lambs which are regularly getting a premium. He has been selling MSA sheepmeat to Bush’s, AJ Bush and Sons, for 12 months now.
Further information: MSA sheepmeat
6. Inside market reports
MLA’s National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) is an independent market intelligence agency servicing the meat and livestock industry. The NLRS provides an independent source of livestock market data, collected directly from major prime and store markets, direct sales and wholesale meat markets. FeedbackTV went on the road with Trevor Hess, a Queensland livestock market officer – and discovered the accuracy of NLRS reporting. Programs and data capture devices have been developed for market reporting and have allowed more of the sales to be covered, giving a more thorough representation of what is happening on the day of the market.
►
Watch the story on market reports online now (FLV, 4.1MB, 5:20min)
Further information: National Livestock Reporting Service
7. Switching kids on to red meat
MLA has embarked on an exciting 11 week sponsorship of channel ten’s popular television show ‘Are you smarter than a fifth grader?’, hosted by well known comedian and TV show host Rove McManus, to drive demand for red meat and educate consumers on its many nutritional qualities. The dual viewing audience of parents and children and the educational quiz-show format of the program, which attracted more than one million viewers last year, provide the perfect platform for driving home the messages of MLA’s nutrition communications campaign, particularly that red meat is essential for a healthy mind and should be eaten 3-4 times a week.
Further information: Marketing red meat in Australia
More information
- Having trouble switching on to feedbackTV?
If you're having problems playing feedbackTV, find out a few tips that might help.
feedbackTV archive
Find out more about the previous episodes of feedbackTV
Give us your feedback
We’d love to hear what you think of feedbackTV – let us know by emailing us at feedbackTV@mla.com.au
|