Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) is pleased to share with you their new Producer-led Sustainability Videos.
These videos are designed to capture the innovation, tools and practice change our livestock producers are applying to their businesses to improve their profitability and sustainability, to enable them to capitalise of emerging market opportunities. These videos reflect the intimate knowledge and know-how of our producers, the challenges they face as custodians of the land and their commitment to the future resilience of their businesses and their industry.
These videos will focus on the sustainability priorities of good animal husbandry, health and welfare; natural capital, biodiversity, drought and risk resilience; and carbon sequestration and emissions reduction. They will highlight producers across the Australian northern, southern and grain fed beef cattle and eastern and western sheep meat production systems.
Our Producer Sustainability Case Study videos are designed to support other producers wanting to make progress around sustainability and to highlight to our customers and consumers, the commitment of our producers to animal welfare and environmental sustainability
Adam & Jacynta Coffey - Miriam Vale QLD
First generation Central Queensland cattle producers, Adam and Jacynta Coffey run a pretty tight bar over every decision they make, it has to make a positive return and it has to increase their productivity and profitability, because that don't have the capital reserves to fall back on.
The Coffey's bought into the industry five years, purchasing a two and a half thousand hectare failed hardwood timber plantation, in relatively marginal country, outside Miriam Vale in Central Queensland and set about transforming it into a grazing property amidst three tough years of extreme drought.
And what the Coffey's have demonstrated it that profit and productivity go hand in hand with ecological outcomes, that focusing on boosting organic matter and soil carbon is key to improving both productivity and ecology and that synchronising stocking rates with pasture density and rest periods has significantly improved their productivity and drought resilience.
Erica and Stuart Halliday 'Ben Nevis' Angus Stud Walcha NSW
For 5th generation beef cattle breeders, Erica and Stuart Halliday, it was the devastating drought and the depletion of their property's topsoil that was the catalyst to switch their grazing management regime.
With the support of their agronomist, the Hallidays have switched across to no-till, multispecies annual and future perennial plantings and rotational grazing. And the results have been dramatic and include a significant improvement in the nutrient, organic matter and microbe load in their topsoils, a dramatic reduction in input costs and significant improvements in weight gain and reduction in metabolic and husbandry issues in their cattle.
The Hallidays believe that by switching their grazing management regime they are building their business to be more drought resilient and through multispecies plantings and a change in grazing management, they are managing their cattle to sequester carbon and will be on track to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Stuart Austin and Trisha Cowley - Wilmot Cattle Co, Ebor NSW
For Wilmot Cattle Co, it was a shift in grazing management philosophy that was instrumental to turning the beef production business around to becoming a more productive and financially resilient business and as a consequence has radically improved the ecological health of their soil.
As Manager, Stuart Austin explains Wilmot Cattle Co is first and foremost a beef production business with animal performance their driving metric, but by shifting their thinking on grazing management to work in harmony with nature, the business has reduced its stocking rate but increased turn-over and increased overall profits, and grown to become more ecologically and financially resilient.
And by utilising the best science and technology currently available and measuring all activities and actions, data has become a powerful decision making tool to track their performance and progress and respond according to changes in markets and seasons.
Melinee & Rob Leather 'Barfield Station' Banana Qld
Central Queensland grassfed beef cattle producers, Melinee and Rob Leather are unashamedly opportunistic in chasing the best available science and technology; and monitoring their performance through benchmarking and data to capitalise on market opportunities and ensure the practices they undertake are continuously improving their bottom line.
The Leather's run three cattle properties in central Queensland spanning over 17,000 hectares and run around four and a half thousand head of beef cattle.
By investing in key programs and tools such as Breedplan, leucaena forage crops, best animal welfare practices and pain relief, ground cover satellite mapping, solar energy and water pumps, the Leather's are pushing their herds productivity to the limits, improving their environmental footprint and preparing their business to become more drought and climate resilient.
