THE capacity to produce sufficient volumes of consistently high-quality beef in Australia to underpin development of successful branded products would not be possible without the grain-fed sector.
Grain-fed cattle feeding systems ensure there is enough beef available for 52 weeks of the year for branded products to be sold into a wide-range of domestic and export markets.
It is estimated by Meat and Livestock Australia that the beef industry is worth about $20 billion to the national economy - in domestic expenditure and export value - and there are hundreds of well-established and emerging brands sourcing beef at a national, state or local level.
Long-time cattle industry stakeholder Donald Mackay said - regardless of the target end-user - all prosperous brands relied on the delivery of products or services that provided the same quality and experience every single time.
Mr Mackay - who is a former president of the Australian Lot Feeders' Association, past chairman of the Red Meat Advisory Council, and a former managing director of Australia's biggest beef cattle producer, Australian Agricultural Co - said there were simply not enough high quality grass-fed cattle available 52 weeks a year to achieve that goal.
He said aside from ensuring supply, grain-fed operators also had the advantage of being able to control - in feedlots - the length and type of feeding, stock handling measures and animal welfare systems used when finishing stock.
This provided enduring consistency and quality of the end products.
Recognised quality
"Whether finishing for 70 or 400-days, the beef coming out of our feedlots in Australia is worldrenowned for its excellent white fat colour, marbling, juiciness and flavour," Mr Mackay said.
"Many branded beef products require a marble score of 2 or more and the grain-fed sector can supply big volumes of that."
Australia's biggest beef brands, for example Rangers Valley and Stockyard Beef, took off in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Initially slow to gain recognition domestically and internationally, they have since gone from strength to strength.
RELATED READING:
"When these pioneers started out, there were not many brands for fresh food," Mr Mackay said.
"But gradually they built a reputation and, as their success increased, so too did the scale of grain-fed beef production systems to ensure supplies.
"In the early days, beef brands were mostly export-focused and mainly targeted the lucrative Japanese market.
"The trade then morphed into other countries and then slowly grew a base of loyal Australian customers."
Today, it is estimated 40 per cent of beef produced in Australia is consumed domestically.
This has placed added importance on having a range of consistent and quality branded product to ensure the red meat sector remains competitive with other meat and plant-based proteins.
Underpinned by objective data
Mr Mackay said the development of the red meat industry's Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grading system had been integral to underpinning the success of branded grain and grass-fed beef products.
He said it ensured a supply of consistently high quality meat to the beef consumer, based on market feedback from thousands of consumers surveyed about the quality of their eating experience.
"Its key value, in terms of brand success, is that it is a 'tenderness guaranteed' program," he said.
"And it covers a wide range of cattle breeds, management practices, processing systems, ageing periods and cooking methods for the main cuts of meat."
The MSA system grades each muscle (cut) for eating quality, with regards to tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking.
The grade can be 3, 4 or 5-star and each cut is labelled accordingly, which is highly beneficial for brands.
MSA also helps with the traceability and provenance that are often promoted by brands that want to tell a story from 'paddockto-plate'.
He said a major flow-on benefit from the introduction of the MSA system in Australia had been that big supermarkets switched from relying on small, young stock to provide eating quality certainty, to being able to source quality cuts from heavier animals.
"This has led to consumers becoming more aware of the cuts and brands that give them the best eating experience - and they go on to become repeat and regular buyers," he said.
Production gains
Mr Mackay attributes MSA - combined with growth of the grainfed sector and beef brands - to significant on-the-ground genetic improvements in several cattle breeds in Australia.
"With grain feeding (and MSA) comes measurement and, with measurement, comes the scope to continually improve - whether that is in terms of daily weight gains, maternal performance, meat eating quality or returns per hectare," he said.