Angus Australia Bulletin December 2014

Angus Bulletin - December 2014 The Angus Australia Board meeting was held in Armidale on the 28th of November 2014.

This followed a one-day workshop on the 27th November where Directors discussed member feedback from the recent Breeding Direction Workshops and the Members Survey, and participated in a facilitated review of best-practice governance and directorship principles.

Outcomes of the Board meeting included:

In this issue CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS REPORT

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SUCCESSFUL LIVEX EVENT SUPPORTS CHARITY YOUNG QUEENSLAND ANGUS BREEDER AWARDED SEMEX ANGUS YOUTH SCHOLARSHIP NEW SELECTION INDEXES CALCULATED IN ANGUS BREEDPLAN SIRE BENCHMARKING STEERS IN TOP 1% NATIONALLY

Approval of the proposed Angus Australia Business Plan and associated Budget for 2015, with no planned increases in membership or female inventory fees relative to 2014.

• Inclusion of an additional clause in the 2015 Angus Regulations as follows:

16. TRADING TERMS

16.1 Normal 30 day trading terms apply to all services provided by the Society.

Unless specific arrangements are made resulting from exceptional circumstances,

services will be withdrawn from members whose accounts extend beyond 90 days in arrears.

16.2 Pre-payment will be required for any services provided to overseas members or customers.

• Modification of Regulation 6.44 (viii), regarding requirements for the registration of imported or overseas animals to specify that “A sample (e.g. semen, hair) for DNA testing at a Society approved laboratory.

The Board also met with MLA Managers to discuss MLA’s plans for future commercialisation of Breedplan and arrangements for continued access to the Breedplan system by Angus breeders.

At a special dinner involving Directors, staff and their partners, the Board conferred Honorary Life Membership to Mr Robert (Bob) Dent for his contributions to the Angus breed, and in particular the education of Angus breeders over many decades.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors is scheduled for the 18th March 2015.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the membership for their efforts in promoting the interests Angus breed during 2014.

Locked Bag 11, Armidale NSW 2350 Ph: 02 6772 3011 Fax: 02 6772 3095 office@angusaustralia.com.au www.angusaustralia.com.au

Best wishes for the festive season.

P.F. Parnell Chief Executive Officer

Angus Australia 02 6772 3011

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Successful LIVEX event supports charity Angus Australia participated in the recent LIVEX forum held in Melbourne. The event received over 220 attendees which included exporters, producers and associated service providers.

Young Queensland Angus Breeder awarded Semex Angus Youth Scholarship

A great deal of the forum was dedicated to review of the large number of initiatives implemented by the industry to ensure that the highest standards of animal welfare are associated with live export.

There was much agreement about the significant positive prospects for further expansion of live export opportunities into the future, particularly into high value markets where Angus cattle are keenly sought.

During LIVEX, a charity auction was held with the proceeds going to the McGrath Foundation. The McGrath Foundation (founded by cricketer Glen McGrath on the death of his wife) raises money to place McGrath Breast care nurses in communities right across Australia, as well as increasing breast awareness in young Australian Women.

For the charity auction Angus Australia donated an Angus black hide, Story of Angus in Australia book and caps. This donation raised $ 3,600 for the McGrath Foundation and the successful and generous bidder was Carpenter Beef, represented by General Manager John Berekefeld.

The overall auction raised $ 51,000, a terrific effort by all the generous donors who attended.

The Semex Angus Youth Kansas State University Scholarship for 2014 has been awarded to Nicholas Boshammer from Chinchilla in Queensland.

Angus Australia’s Youth Development Officer, Alice Lodge was a member of this year’s interview panel and said, the standard of applicants was high however Nick stood out as the applicant with a rich passion for the beef industry, as well as being a keen Angus breeder. Nick will gain a wealth of experience in America and will be able to bring a lot of that knowledge back to his family’s Sandon Glenoch Angus seedstock operation.

Nicholas’ background includes a Diploma of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham College, he is a qualified heavy duty mechanic and he has recently returned from travelling abroad to explore how other countries and cultures manage their own and imported beef products.

During his travels, Nicholas was employed as a stockman on a Wellard ’s live export boat to Vietnam, spent time in Dubai with the manager for Meat and Livestock Australia in the Middle East, travelled throughout Kazakhstan gaining an understanding of how Australian Angus genetics are influencing the Kazakhstan beef herd and visited the birthplace of the Aberdeen-Angus breed in Perth, Scotland.

Successful Bidder for the Angus Australia donated charity auction item at the LIVEX Forum John Berekefeld (General Manager - Carpenter Beef) with Peter Parnell and Christian Duff (Angus Australia)

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Email: marketing@angusaustralia.com.au

Nicolas is thrilled to have been given the opportunity and would like to thank Semex and Angus Youth for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Sponsored by Semex Pty Ltd and Angus Australia, the Kansas State Scholarship provides annually a young beef cattle enthusiast with the opportunity to spend a semester studying at the prestigious Kansas State University in America.

This scholarship represents an amazing opportunity for Nicholas. Beef cattle are a key focus of study and research at Kansas State University. With their own seed stock and commercial herd, feedlot, feed mill, brilliant teaching facilities and staff, the university offers an exceptional learning environment.

For further details of the Angus Youth Scholarships www.angusyouth.org

Angus Australia 02 6772 3011

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New Selection Indexes Calculated in Angus BREEDPLAN Four new selection indexes are now calculated within Angus BREEDPLAN, being the Angus Breeding Index, Domestic Index, Heavy Grain Index and Heavy Grass Index.

The Angus Breeding Index is a general purpose selection index that is suitable for use in the majority of commercial beef operations, whereas the Domestic, Heavy Grain and Heavy Grass selection indexes are specific to beef operations targeting a defined production system and market endpoint.

Angus Breeding Index - estimates the genetic differences between animals in net profitability per cow joined in a typical commercial self replacing herd using Angus bulls. This selection index is not specific to a particular production system or market end-point, but identifies animals that will improve overall profitability in the majority of commercial grass and grain finishing beef production systems.

Domestic Index - estimates the genetic differences between animals in net profitability per cow joined in a commercial self replacing herd targeting the domestic supermarket trade.

Heavy Grain Index - estimates the genetic differences between animals in net profitability per cow joined in a commercial self replacing herd targeting pasture grown steers with a 200 day feedlot finishing period for the grain fed high quality, highly marbled markets.

Heavy Grass Index - estimates the genetic differences between animals in net profitability per cow joined in a commercial self replacing herd targeting pasture finished heavy steers.

The implementation of new selection indexes within Angus BREEDPLAN has resulted from a comprehensive industry consultation process that has been undertaken by Angus Australia to collect feedback on the key considerations to the breeding direction of the Angus breed over the next 10 years.

The consultation process, titled “Setting the Breeding Direction of the Angus Breed”, has included liaison with producers running Angus seedstock and commercial enterprises, feedlots, processors, semen companies, researchers and private consultants. Over 300 beef producers have provided feedback as part of the consultation process, representing a seedstock and commercial breeding herd of over 105,000 females and 17,500 bull sales annually.

Tips When Using Selection Indexes • Identify the selection index of relevance to your production system and breeding goals • Rank animals available for selection on the selection index • Consider individual EBVs of particular importance within your breeding program and disregard any animals with EBVs in undesirable ranges • Consider other selection criteria and disregard any animals that do not meet acceptable standards • Contact staff at Angus Australia should you require any assistance

Selection Index Descriptions Angus • Self replacing herd Breeding • Daughters are retained for breeding Index • Identifies animals that will improve overall profitability in the majority of commercial grass and grain finishing production systems Domestic • Self replacing herd Index • Daughters are retained for breeding • Steer progeny finished on either pasture, pasture supplemented with grain, or grain targeting the domestic supermarket trade • Steer progeny slaughtered at a carcase weight of 270kg at 16 months of age • Eating quality traits important to suit MSA program Heavy Grain Index

• Self replacing herd • Daughters are retained for breeding • Steer progeny pasture grown witha 200 day feedlot finishing period • Steer progeny slaughtered at a carcase weight of 420kg at 24 months of age • Target high quality, highly marbled markets with a significant premium for superior marbling

Heavy Grass Index

• Self replacing herd • Daughters are retained for breeding • Steer progeny finished pasture • Steer progeny slaughtered at a carcase weight of 340kg at 22 months of age • Eating quality traits important to suit MSA program

The new selection indexes were released in the first week of December as part of the December 2014 Angus BREEDPLAN analysis and replace the Short Fed Domestic, Heavy Grass Fed Steer, Long Fed / CAAB and Terminal selection indexes that were previously calculated. The individual EBVs calculated for animals were not affected by the implementation of the new selection indexes.

Further information regarding the new selection indexes is available from www.angusaustralia.com.au. From the homepage, select “Breedplan” then “Understanding Selection Indexes” on the left hand menu.

Angus Australia 02 6772 3011

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Sire Benchmarking Steers in top 1% nationally for Eating Quality The first three groups of steers processed from Cohort 2 of the Angus Sire Benchmarking Program (ASBP) have demonstrated the massive potential of Angus to perform at the highest level under the new MSA Index prediction of eating quality. Of the 236 ASBP Angus carcases processed recently, 98 were in the top 1% nationally for MSA index, while a further 125 were in the top 5%.

The MSA index is a weighted meat eating quality score for a carcase, based on a combination of tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking of beef. Each carcase is assigned an index value within the expected range of 30 and 75, with the national beef herd average between June 2013 and June 2014 of 56.8. The ASBP steers scored an MSA index in the range of 61.77 to 70.48, with an average of 65.48, putting them in the top 1% nationally.

The Angus Sire Benchmarking Program has generated progeny from 143 bulls in the first 4 cohorts, with a further 46 new bulls in cohort 5 currently being joined to approx. 2,600+ cows across 7 co-operator herds by the Bayer BoSynch fixed time AI program.

Further information on the ASBP is available at www.angusaustralia.com.au

On a cuts basis the ASBP steers also MSA graded outstandingly. For example the striploins under a grilling cooking method graded either 4 or 5. An MSA 5 grade cut is the highest grade possible and is defined as “Supreme Quality”, while a 4 grade is “Premium Quality”.

The 236 ASBP steers were the first batch of some 550 cohort 2 steers to be processed over the next couple of months representing 47 sires nominated by Angus breeders for use in the Angus Sire Benchmarking Project. The steers were purchased by Rangers Valley Feedlot, transported to the University of New England’ research feedlot at Tullimba, Kingstown for feed efficiency testing and then finished under a 270 day feeding program at Rangers Valley Feedlot prior to processing at John Dee, Warwick.

Angus Australia 02 6772 3011

Body 212 Graded 68.6 for MSA Index with a MSA Marble score: 830, AusMeat Marble Score: 6 and carcase weight: 453 kg, EMA: 87 cm2 and Rib Fat: 24 mm. This steer was bred from ASBP Cohort 2 sire Storth Oaks Beyond Infinity E3.

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