Victoria’s best MSA producers awarded
20 September 2017
Beef producers from Wodonga and Geelong have taken out the top awards at the 2017 Meat Standards Australia (MSA) Excellence in Eating Quality Awards for Victoria, presented at Lardner Park last 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.
Wodonga grassfed beef producers, Colin and Ross Coyle, were awarded the Most Outstanding Beef Producer award. (Click here for more details about the Coyle family’s operation)
David Gillett of Jalna feedlot, Anakie, near Geelong, was awarded Most Outstanding Beef Producer – Grainfed. (Click here for more details about the Gillett family’s operation)
South Gippsland grassfed beef producer, Donald Bowman, Dendee Pastoral Company, Poowong, won the inaugural Progress Award for Victoria, for showing the greatest improvement in his MSA results since the 2014-15 financial year. Mr Bowman turns off predominantly Angus cattle for the MSA Program.
MSA Program Manager Sarah Strachan said the producers were to be congratulated for their commitment to produce beef that consistently achieves exceptional compliance rates to MSA’s strict specifications.
“To help with continuously improving 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,” Ms Strachan said.
“These producers are showing they are taking notice of that information to achieve results.
“Colin and Ross Coyle won their award from a field comprising 1329 registered producers in Victoria who consigned grassfed cattle during 2015-17.
“During 2015-17, 41% of all cattle consigned to MSA from Victoria were grainfed. David Gillett is congratulated for winning the grainfed title for Victoria for cattle consigned during 2015-17.
“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 high eating quality beef in their state ultimately for the benefit of consumers and for the profitability of the industry.
The Victorian awards are the second 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
