Queensland’s best MSA producers awarded
16 September 2017
Beef producers from Queensland’s Western Downs and Darling Downs have taken out the top awards at the 2017 Meat Standards Australia (MSA) Excellence in Eating Quality Awards for Queensland and the Northern Territory, presented at Gympie on Friday night.
The Awards recognise producers who have achieved outstanding compliance rates to MSA specifications, as well as high eating quality, as represented by MSA Index results for beef carcases graded during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years.
Western Downs beef producer Kaylene Wonka, ‘Blue Poles’, Chinchilla, was awarded the Most Outstanding Beef Producer. (Click here for more details about Kaylene’s operation)
Robert and Jenny Reardon, Reardon Operations Feedlot, Talwood, were awarded the Most Outstanding Beef Producer – Grainfed. (Click here for more details about Reardon Operations)
John and Mary Atkins, ‘Spion Kop’, Taroom, won the inaugural Progress Award for achieving the greatest improvement in their MSA Index and compliance results since the 2014-15 financial year.
MSA Program Manager Sarah Strachan said the award recipients were to be congratulated for their work in producing some of Australia’s best beef.
“These producers have been outstanding in their commitment to produce beef that consistently achieves exceptional compliance rates to MSA’s strict specifications,” Ms Strachan said.
“To help with continuously improve eating quality, MSA-registered producers are provided with ongoing feedback on their livestock, accessible through myMSA, which now offers producers the ability to benchmark their performance against other producers in the state as well. These producers are showing they are taking notice of that information to achieve results.
“Kaylene Wonka won the Most Outstanding Beef Producer title from a field comprising 2699 registered producers in Queensland and the Northern Territory who consigned grassfed cattle during 2015-17.
“Robert and Jenny Reardon won the Most Outstanding Beef Producer – Grainfed title from a field comprising 258 registered producers in Queensland and the Northern Territory who consigned grainfed cattle during 2015-17.
“During 2015-17, 59% of all cattle consigned to MSA from Queensland and the Northern Territory were grainfed.
“More than 14,000 producers throughout Australia consigned almost 5.9 million cattle to the MSA program throughout 2015-17.”
To be eligible for the awards, a producer’s annual MSA-graded volume had to be equal to or above the average volume consigned for the State in which they were produced.
Each producer that met the eligibility criteria received a score out of 100 weighted on two factors - the compliance to MSA minimum requirements, and eating quality performance as determined by the MSA Index for cattle consigned to MSA in 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years.
The Awards aim to raise awareness of best management practice from producers who consistently deliver superior eating quality beef in their state ultimately for the benefit of consumers and for the profitability of the industry.
The Queensland awards are the first of the MSA Excellence in Eating Quality Awards to be held throughout Australia and are being staged in conjunction with the ‘What Makes the Perfect MSA Index’ producer forums in each State.
MSA was developed by the Australian red meat industry to improve beef eating quality consistency. The system is based on over 700,000 consumer taste tests by over 100,000 consumers from nine countries and takes into account all factors that affect the eating quality from the paddock to the plate.
To find out more information about the MSA Program visit: https://www.mla.com.au/msa
MSA producers can access their carcase feedback at www.mymsa.com.au
