With the approval process for a multi-million dollar expansion underway, Oakey Beef opened its doors to a large group of cattle producers last Wednesday.
According to Oakey Beef’s livestock coordinator Daniel Meacham, the day was an opportunity for the Darling Downs cattle processor to update those who supply cattle to the facility about Oakey Beef Exports expansion plans and general beef industry issues.
There was a presentation from Oakey Beef’s general manager Pat Gleeson and Livestock Manager Kurt Wockner talked about the current cattle supply and demand situation. Georgia Mournehis, NH Foods Meat Sales talked about beef tariffs and the current global beef market. Kev Sullivan, Bell Vets, discussed about cattle handling and animal welfare. Achalen Holmes, Ag Live, talked about a new tool for electronic NVD’s on a smartphone. Ben Robinson, Ausmeat, spoke about meat processing languages and Australian meat chiller assessments. Plus, Jarrod Lees from MLA discussed about the development of Meat Standards Australia and how a beef carcase gets graded in MSA, plus how they get the MSA Index grading.
The speeches were followed with a smoked beef brisket lunch that was cooked by John Hughes, who is part of Mintrac company that provides training to workers within the meat industry.
After lunch the invited guest had an in-depth look into how the processing plant runs and operates.
“We had a very informative carcase breakdown demonstration by senior boning room super intendant Bob Costello,” Oakey Beef livestock manager Kurt Wockner said.
“He displayed different cuts and the markets each piece are supplied to across the world.
“All suppliers had a great time and left very happy with how the process has changed over the last couple of years and look forward to the further expansion of the processing plant.”
