Investigating Different Marketing Options for Cattle

Summary

The Morven Bestprac group comprised of 12 businesses located in a 100km radius of the town of Morven. The members were beef-sheep, beef and beef-sheep-goat producers all operating family businesses. Group members developed strategic plans for their businesses using the Property Management planning process. These plans highlighted that all businesses have different visions and business decisions will be made in order to best deliver these respective visions. The group benchmarked business performance over three consecutive years (1999, 2000 and 2001) and identified that average gross price received ($1.01/kg) for the sale of cattle is a limiting factor in improving the profitability of their beef enterprises. Around 70 percent of group beef revenue comes from the sale of weaner steers and heifers. The rest comes from the sale of cull cows and bulls. An increase in the net return per kilogram of weaner beef sold was identified as a priority for the group.