QLD And NSW Beef Producers Recognised For High Standards Of Cattle For Sale

Standard Of Cattle For Sale QLD And NSW Recognised In Awards

Queensland and NSW beef producers who consistently deliver beef cattle for sale of superior eating quality have been recognised at the 2022 Meat Standards Australia (MSA) Excellence in Eating Quality Awards held in Roma and Armidale.

Hosted by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), the Awards recognise beef producers who have achieved outstanding compliance rates to MSA specifications, as well as high eating quality performance as represented by MSA Index results for MSA-graded cattle during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years.

MSA was developed by the Australian red meat industry to improve the consistency of the eating quality of beef and sheep meat for sale. The system is based on almost 1.2 million taste tests by more than 171,000 consumers from 11 countries and takes into account all factors that affect eating quality from the paddock to plate.

To be eligible for the awards, an MSA producer must have supplied volume (MSA cattle) in the top 50 per cent percentile for that state and feed type; had at least average compliance rate for the state; and consigned MSA cattle at least once per year (2019-20 and 2020-21).

In Queensland, Stockyard Lot Feeders at Jondaryan was awarded Most Outstanding MSA Feedlot in Queensland.

During 2019-21, 78.2 per cent of all cattle for sale consigned to MSA from Queensland were classified as grain fed. Cattle from feedlots accredited under the National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS) and that were eligible for Australian Grainfed Standards were included in this award category.

Rod, Kylie, Tori and Kaitlin Apelt of Collingwood Pastoral Company in Tara won Most Outstanding MSA Beef Producer (Band 1), which recognises producers turning off large MSA consignment volumes of cattle for sale from any non-feedlot operation.

John and Karol Wilkes, Pittsworth, won Most Outstanding MSA Beef Producer (Band 2), which recognises producers turning off smaller MSA consignment volumes of cattle for sale from any non-feedlot accredited operation.

Max and Mona Ballantyne of Hardenley at Gin won the MSA Progress Award for showing the greatest improvement across all feed types in their MSA results since the last Awards series in 2019.

A new award was also presented this year for the highest-scoring MSA Index for a carcase in each state. The Champion MSA Index Carcase for Queensland was won by the McNamee family, Lemontree Feedlot, Millmerran.

“This year’s Queensland winners won their awards from a field comprising more than 2,850 MSA-registered producers in Queensland who consigned cattle to the program in 2019-21,” says MSA Program Manager, Dr David Packer.

“More than 3.4 million MSA cattle were consigned from Queensland producers in 2019-21, representing 49 per cent of all MSA-graded cattle in Australia.

“Throughout Australia, more than 15,000 MSA-registered producers consigned over 7.1 million cattle to the MSA program during the 2019-21 period.”

In New South Wales, JHW Paterson & Son, Balranald, was awarded Most Outstanding MSA Feedlot in NSW. During 2019-21, 49.6 per cent of all cattle for dale consigned to MSA from NSW were classified as grain fed.

ME Barr-Smith, Holbrook, won Most Outstanding MSA Beef Producer (Band 1); while Shadowgrove/Khancoban Station, Khancoban, won Most Outstanding MSA Beef Producer (Band 2).

Doolin Farming, North Star, won the MSA Progress Award for showing the greatest improvement in their MSA results since the last awards series in 2019.

The new award for the highest-scoring MSA Index for a carcase was won by Ramps Ridge, Ravensworth Feedlot, Hay.

“This year’s NSW winners won their awards from a field comprising more than 4,600 MSA-registered beef producers in the state who consigned cattle during 2019-21,” Packer says.

“More than 1.6 million MSA cattle were consigned from NSW in 2019-21, representing 23 per cent of all MSA-graded cattle in Australia.”

Packer says the achievements of MSA-registered producers in Queensland and NSW reflect the ongoing improvements they are making to raise the eating quality of their cattle for sale, boost the value of the beef industry, and ultimately meet consumer expectations.

“The online myMSA portal is one of the tools available to MSA-registered producers to continually improve the performance of their cattle,” he says.

“Using carcase feedback, the myMSA portal allows producers to comprehensively benchmark the performance of their herd against the regional, state and national average, and by selecting for different production groups and carcase traits, such as feed type, hormonal growth promotant (HGP) status, sex, and ossification.”

To find out more information about the MSA program click here.