V.RDP.2108-ACC animal disease data pilot

Summary

The purpose of the Australian Country Choice (ACC) animal health data pilot study was to demonstrate the value of sharing and utilising animal health data along the supply chain to improve productivity and profitability.

The project was part of the red meat pilot trials for the Rural Research & Development of Profit project Health 4 Wealth.

While many meat processing recording systems are already in place, data collection on disease-related carcase and offal condemnations and feedback of this information to producers varies considerably. The Health 4 Wealth project aims to introduce a standardised and comprehensive approach to data collection of disease-related carcase and offal condemnations and feedback to producers. This will allow producers to monitor disease prevalence in their livestock and make informed decisions to maximise yield outcomes.

Objectives

The objective of the ACC animal disease data pilot study project was to:

• demonstrate that individual and lot-based animal health data can be effectively and efficiently transferred to producers
• demonstrate that animal health data can be correlated to an individual animal where and individual ID is present
• provide animal health inspection information to producers to help them make better informed decisions regarding on-farm practices to improve livestock/carcase performance
• provide learnings that can be incorporate into the wider Health 4 Wealth project.

The main activities undertaken in the project were:

• standardising recording of agreed conditions
• amending existing systems to enable standardised animal health data to be recorded
• identification of infrastructure and hardware required
• training of meat inspectors
• validating that the data being collected was correct (data validation)
• a soft launch of animal health information within the supply chain.

Key findings

The key finding from the project was that individual and lot-based animal health data could be effectively and efficiently transferred to producers. The project also revealed that standardised recording and reporting of animal health conditions offers significant benefits to all Supply Chain participants; and that ACC’s ability to gain value from implementing an improved animal health system was significantly enhanced and underpinned by its investment in its Data Laboratory and digital infrastructure across its whole business and supply chain.

As part of the project a cost benefit analysis was conducted by Greenleaf Enterprises to quantify any benefits resulting from the identification and reporting of animal disease information. The benefits of livestock suppliers responding to improved feedback on animal health conditions from processors to the supply chain include increased offal yields for human consumption, with reduced health related burdens ranging from 10% to 30%, producing Annual Net Benefits ranging from $42,900 to $142,300. Reduced trimming of infected areas from carcases was calculated at $0.75/ head slaughtered to vendors/producers during the pilot period and benefits from reducing health related burdens by the range of 10% to 30% was estimated to reduce the cost of trimming on carcase weight by $0.07 to $0.22 per head.

Benefits to industry

ACC believes that the benefits to its business of an efficient and robust system for the collection and reporting of animal health data also translate to the broader industry. The accurate, standardised and timely reporting of animal health feedback enables businesses to make critical decisions and provides accurate and consistent feedback to vendors/producers. This enables vendors to modify management practices to respond issues identified and reduce the incidence of animal health-related issues, thus increasing the value of carcases.

Future research

The project identified several issues with the draft Australian National Standard for the Development, Collection and Reporting of Animal Health Data, including that:

• clear definitions and training need to be provided to have consistent application of subjective grades for severity of conditions
• guidelines will need to be developed to standardise mapping to generic conditions that are observed (e.g. Cysts) unless pathological confirmation of the specific causes are attained (e.g. Hydatid Cysts).

Other recommendations for realising benefits from recording and providing animal health feedback to vendors/producers include further analysis of animal health data collected over a 12-month period to understand seasonal and regional impacts of animal health-related issues and identify variability in levels of animal health-related issues between vendors over a full production season; and to conduct more detailed analyses and quantification of the impact of animal health-related issues on carcase yield.