Top taste in grain-fed beef
MSA award goes to border cattle operation
ROBERT and Jenny Reardon are successfully integrating and expanding cattle finishing in an irrigated cotton, dryland cropping and grazing operation that spans 25,000ha on the QueenslandNew South Wales border.
The pair set up Reardon Operations Feedlot in the 1990s on their Worral Creek property, near Talwood, and won the 2017 MSA Excellence in Eating Quality Most Outstanding Beef Producer – Grainfed award for Queensland/Northern Territory this week in Gympie.
The Excellence in Eating Quality Awards for grain-fed producers recognises feedlots that have produced cattle eligible for Australian Grainfed Beef Standards and have high compliance rates to the MSA minimum requirements and consistently high eating-quality performance.
Reardon Operations general manager Tristram Hertslet said the keys to consistently achieving good MSA results were using quality feed, good water and excellent stock handlers to finish cattle with an even temperament.
He said the 1000-head feedlot sourced weaners from the Reardon family’s property aggregation, spread across the Goondiwindi, Mungindi and Moree districts.
“On average, the feedlot has been turning off about 300 head of weaners per year,” Mr Hertslet said.
“But as the cattle enterprise has been expanded, production is increasing to an expected 600 head turn-off from 2017 onwards.”
Mr Hertslet said Reardon Operations Feedlot had been MSA-registered since starting operations.
“We joined MSA to receive feedback about the performance and eating quality of our cattle at processing, particularly for traits that are important to consumers and to monitor any changes in those traits,” Mr Hertslet said.
“This feedback underpins improvements we are making back on-farm, from the paddock, through the feedlot and during preparation for transport.
“In particular we look at our MSA pH scores to determine if animals are stressed, fat scores to meet particular
markets and the MSA Index value that indicates potential eating quality from all measurements collected.”
The MSA Index was designed to provide producer feedback on eating quality performance, which could be used for benchmarking.
It is independent of any
processing inputs and reflects attributes influenced by genetics, pre-slaughter management and the environment.
Mr Hertslet said cattle consignments coming typically had an MSA Index range of between 55 and 63, achieved 100% to MSA requirements
including pH scores typically between 5.4–5.59 and fat scores met the targets for supplying direct to Woolworths and Coles supermarkets and Teys Australia.
He said the feedlot finished weaners comprised a mix of angus, santa gertrudis and simmental-cross breeds.
❝We look at our MSA pH scores to determine if animals are stressed ...
— Tristram Hertslet