From processor data to on-farm decisions
11 April 2019
Lamb producer Jane Kellock is proof it pays to monitor individual animal performance and keep a finger on the pulse of market and consumer needs.
Based at Farrell Flat, SA, Jane consistently achieves 98% Meat Standards Australia (MSA) compliance and credits MLA’s Livestock Data Link (LDL) information-sharing platform for making it possible.
“The LDL platform allows our processor to directly send us information about carcase compliance and individual animal health,” Jane said.
“This information, combined with the online library of tools and solutions in the platform, helps to ensure we can meet market specifications and know where we can improve.”
Getting linked in
Launched in May 2015, the LDL system is an online portal that enables the flow of carcase information between processors and producers. The information allows producers to review individual carcase performance and assess it against market compliance specifications.
“Every time we send a mob of lambs, we always seem to get the information back on LDL quicker than when get it through our agents,” Jane said.
“I can go in and see if we've had any condemned, whether it's cost us anything, and we can find out the reasons why.”
Jane consigns up to 5,000 head to MSA annually, and believes the LDL system provides critical information that every business should know.
“For me, the LDL feedback is fantastic as it shows where we’re meeting our targets as far as our meat and fat condition score,” Jane said.
“LDL can tell us exactly what it’s costing us by not meeting those targets.”
The LDL system also allows Jane to make informed management decisions that benefit the bottom line, by creating customised grids that map carcase performance against individual market specifications.
“I have a look at the grid to see if it’s worth us keeping animals in a feedlot to get some more weight on them, or quit them a bit earlier because it is more profitable for us to do that,” Jane said.
Animal health remains the most important aspect of the business, and through the LDL platform, Jane is able to view all animal health conditions in their consignments, thanks to data collected through the National Sheep Health Monitoring Project.
“If you've got sheep that have got grass seeds in them, then there's a cost associated with that,” Jane said.
Processor perspective
Jane’s been supplying JBS Southern Bordertown for around three years. JBS Southern Bordertown was an early adopter of the LDL system as part of its wider farm assurance program.
Farm Assurance Supply Chain Manager Mark Inglis believes LDL helps share a large amount of data with producers in a meaningful and beneficial way.
The on-farm quality assurance program ensures the supply chain, from producer to processor, meets expected standards for food safety, animal welfare, quality assurance and traceability.
“We process around 60,000 lambs a week between two plants, Bordertown and Brooklyn, so we have huge amounts of data,” Mark said.
“LDL allows us to do is get that data back to producers in a form that they can actually understand and work with.”
