Record farmgate returns revealed

Beef producers who consigned Meat Standards Australia (MSA) eligible cattle have experienced record estimated additional farmgate returns, while the MSA sheep cuts-based model continues to move closer to commercialisation.

The MSA program, established by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) in 1998, has topped the previous record for estimated additional farm gate returns, up to $326 million from the previous record of $259 million.

David Packer, MSA Program Manager, said the results (published in the MSA Annual Outcomes Report 2023–2024) are a direct result of:

• increased producer involvement and improvement
• processors and brand owners extracting more value from the program to share along the supply chain
• continued investment in research and development.

“In the past year, more than 3.88 million cattle were presented for MSA grading through 42 Australian MSA-licensed beef processors – the most cattle ever consigned. 

“This equates to over 50% of all cattle slaughtered in Australia, with 3.64 million cattle meeting the minimum MSA requirements,” Dr Packer said.

MSA beef highlights

Below are some of the highlights for 2023–24:

• An increase of 2,603 producers to total 13,923 beef producers who consigned cattle for MSA grading.
• Queensland processed the greatest number of MSA-graded cattle at 1.8 million head (45% of total MSA-graded cattle).
• NSW and Victoria both saw processing increases of over 100,000 head.
• Three new beef processor sites were licenced, bringing the total of MSA-licensed processing facilities to 42.
• Grainfed cattle represented 53% of MSA-graded cattle in 2023–24, with non-grainfed cattle increasing by six percentage points from 2022–23 to represent the other 47%.

MSA sheepmeat cuts-based model moves closer to commercialisation

Over 2.37 million lambs followed MSA pathways through 14 MSA-licensed processing facilities across NSW, SA, Victoria and WA.

The MSA sheepmeat cuts-based model has continued to move closer to commercialisation. Through various supply chain activities, there has been a better understanding of eating quality variation in commercial supply chains and brand examination opportunities.

“A number of processors have now been able to trial higher eating quality lamb, in both domestic and international markets,” Dr Packer said.

“Their aim is to understand consumer sentiment and willingness to pay for eating quality consistency, providing opportunity for branding of Australian sheepmeat underpinned by eating quality and grading.”

The role of myFeedback

MLA launched myFeedback, an online platform designed to assist producers in making data-driven decisions on-farm, in 2023. The platform is centred around improving carcase value attributes of eating quality, lean meat yield and health of livestock, in line with market requirements.

Through collating all the data, producers can more accurately benchmark their performance.

“myFeedback is being seen as a valuable source for producers and those in the industry to access MSA grading and carcase data in one place.

“This is an expansion to now include animal disease and defect information from participating processors, allowing producers to assess all outcomes that drive performance and carcase value, and identify opportunities for the future,” Dr Packer said.

You can view the MSA Annual Outcomes Report 2023–24 here.