On
Wednesday I attended the annual conference of the Beef Improvement Association
of Australia at Tamworth. There was a
very interesting range of speakers ranging from Simone Tully who is President
of OBE, Australia's largest producer of organic beef to Greg Upton who runs an
intensive steer finishing operation east of Walcha, NSW which turns off 5,000
steers per year targeting the premium EU market.
A
refreshing change from most of the beef conferences I have attended over the
last few years was that there was more emphasis on the premiums available for
increased retail yield than there was on marbling.
Dr
David Pethick from Murdoch University in WA talked about the effect of growth
path on marbling but he then spent a considerable amount of time talking about
the importance and value of increased retail beef yield. Bruce Picone who operates the Tallawanta
feedlot, has a Woolworths contract and has two retail outlets gave examples of
the large differences between low yielding cattle and high yielding cattle such
as Limousin. He quoted one example of
an increase of $300 in the value of a high yielding carcase at the retail
level.
Troy
Setter the manager of the Elders owned 20,000 head Killara feedlot at Quirindi,
NSW quoted the latest figures from the National Livestock Reporting Service for
the premiums paid for extra muscle in eastern Australian saleyards. For 300 to 400 kg liveweight yearling steers
the table is shown below.
|
Fat Score |
Muscle Score |
||
|
|
B |
C |
D |
|
2 |
206.6 |
181 |
158.5 |
|
3 |
211.7 |
194.4 |
169.9 |
This
table shows that the premium for C muscled cattle compared to D muscled cattle
is 22.5 c/kg for fat score 2 steers and 24.5 c/kg for fat score 3 steers.
The
premium for B muscled steers compared to C muscled steers is 25.6 c/kg for fat
score 2 steers and 17.3 c/kg for fat score 3 steers.
They
are substantial premiums which have increased over recent years. While not as large there are also
substantial premiums for heavier steers and cows with more muscle. I am preaching to the converted in this
newsletter but it was good to hear these views expressed by people who are very
influential in the beef industry.
Full
and commercial members in NSW and Victoria will soon get a copy of the Birubi
Limousin, Angus and Lim-Flex sale catalogue.
All animals have EBVs but the EBVs for the Angus animals cannot be
compared with the EBVs of the Limousin animals. However, the Lim-Flex animals
can be directly compared with the EBVs for the Limousins because the Lim-Flex
animals were analysed in the Limousin BREEDPLAN analysis. All except one of the Lim-Flex animals also
have an EBV for docility.
I
expect that most potential buyers will have decided whether they are going to
buy an Angus or a Limousin bull before they get to the sale so the difference
in bases for the Angus and Limousin cattle should not be a problem.
However,
one of the outcomes of the new Lim-flex program is that over time we will get
Limousin EBVs for registered Angus cattle used in the Lim-flex programs (including
docility EBVs). This will ultimately allow us to calculate
accurate conversion equations which will allow us to convert Limousin EBVs to
equivalent Angus EBVs.
The
Eastern Young Cattle Indicator reached 378.5 c/kg yesterday up 17.5 c/kg from
last week but still 35.5 cents lower than the same time last year.
Plans
are afoot for a Beef Spectacular at Dubbo from 7th to 9th
March 2007, which is about 10 days before Sydney Royal. The preliminary program for the event to be
co-ordinated by Rural Press includes show judging of bulls, females and steers,
an elite female sale and a livestock goods and services market.
Les and Margaret Alcorn were
again in sale topping mode this week.
They sold a purebred Limousin steer weighing 505 kg for 206.2 c/kg or
$1,041.
Three young cull bulls
weighing 593.3 kg made 176.2 c/kg or $1,045 and an older bull weighing 920 kg
made 172.2 c/kg or $1,584.
29th July: Casino Multi-breed Bull Sale, NSW.
5th August: Tanholm On-line Bull Sale, Qld (catalogue on the web).
11th August: Northern Limousin Breeders' Sale, Scone, NSW (catalogue on the
web).
29th August: Birubi On Property Production Sale, Borambola, Via Wagga Wagga,
NSW (catalogue on the web).
1st September: Glenview Western Bull Sale, Roma, Qld (catalogue on the web).
2nd September: 16th Annual
Hunter Valley Limousin Sale, Singleton, NSW (catalogue on the web).
7th September: AgShow Limousin Bull Sale,
Toowoomba, Qld
9th September: Southern NSW Limousin
Breeders' Sale, Moss Vale, NSW.
26th September: QTL Tramahler Bull Sale, Rockhampton, Qld.
29th
September: Stevens Limousins Female and
Bull Sale, Birriwa, NSW.
24th
November: Classic Limousin Female Sale,
Culcairn, NSW.
29th
January 2007: Premier and Partners in
Progress Production Sale, NSW.
21st
February 2007: Mandayen 2nd Limousin Performance Sale, SA.
23rd February 2007: White Lakes Limousin & Angus Bull & Female Sale,
WA.
Yours in Limousin
Alex McDonald