Hi all
You may have been wondering what was the outcome of Leading Sheep sending two Qld producers to the Sheep CRC Conference and LambEx in Adelaide during July. Well Tamara White (“Riverview”, Surat) and Pru Barkla (“Rosscoe Downs”, Cunnamulla) have worked very hard and produced a fantastic report to bring some of the key messages from these conferences back to you.
They both said that the trip was very worthwhile and would encourage anyone and everyone to make sure that they get ‘exposed’ to what else is happening in the industry. For Pru these conferences and writing up the report cemented a lot of information, while for Tamara it was a great opportunity to expand her industry knowledge and learn about new and exciting developments.
The key messages as reported by Tamara and Pru were:
- It is so important for us (producers and industry) to tackle bad publicity and misinformation head on, it’s time to “Start Not Shutting Up” as suggested by Trent Loos.
- The future profitability of lamb is all about intramuscular fat (IMF) which contributes strongly to the tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall eating quality of lamb. Four per cent IMF is needed to achieve a positive response from consumers. However IMF must be balanced with lean meat yield (more meat on carcass) to produce quality lamb that our customers want.
- It might not be possible to drought proof a farm, but it is possible to drought proof a farm business.
- Understanding genomics and how our ram breeders can use this technology for faster genetic gain which then passes on through to the commercial producers. As a commercial producer we need to study and understand this so we can seek out the ram breeders who are implementing these genetic gains.
- The quantum leap of robots in the boning room – the lamb carcass is x-rayed then the robot cuts up the lamb precisely as directed by the information set at start of processing – 10 lambs per minute.
- Collaboration between processors and producers – the key to industry success is more frequent and transparent feedback from processors to producers.
Click here to read a more detailed report by Pru and Tamara.
To view the Sheep CRC Conference Proceedings click here.
To view the LambEx 2014 Proceedings click here.
I think it is apt to leave you with a phrase that Pru read on her return from the conferences, “enthusiasm is everything – it must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string”.
Thanks
Nicole Sallur
Charleville
Leading Sheep Project Manager