Objective Carcase Measurement (OCM) Feedback is a four-year (2022- 2025) project under the SheepLinks program, to assist WA producers with understanding carcase feedback, improving carcase quality, and hitting market specifications.
Lean meat yield (LMY) and eating quality (EQ) are carcase traits that are either not measured, measured subjectively, or only provide single site measurements that are inaccurate for whole carcase assessment.
LMY and EQ create value throughout the whole supply chain, which is increased significantly when measured accurately. Producers do not receive feedback or payment systems on these traits because of their poor measurement capacity at the processor, and therefore cannot easily improve these highly profitable traits.
OCM technologies are currently being developed and commercialised to measure these traits. This includes Dual Energy Xray Absorptiometry (DEXA) which has been installed at WAMMCO [1].
About the project
This project involves 40 farm businesses undergoing the Meat the Market PGS, where they will receive OCM feedback on their own carcases, be equipped with on-farm skills and management tools that improve LMY, EQ, and non-compliance to market specification, and prepare them for the release of price grids and signals relating to LMY and EQ.
The project will also evaluate the benefits of OCM feedback and its adoption to on-farm productivity, efficiency and profitability, and will analyse the increase in profits from price signals relating to LMY and EQ.
Objectives:
- To ensure WA producers understand the value of LMY and EQ, and can implement on farm management techniques that improve these traits and provide solutions to non-compliance, and prepare for the commercialisation of the MSA cuts based model and value based pricing.
- For producers to link feedback to their own live animal characteristics and on farm management decisions. These decisions include selecting for sheep with profitable genetics, understanding feed requirements and pasture quality, composition, and quantity, and providing accurate disease and health treatment.
- To enable producers to produce and breed high quality and high value lambs for the future, ensuring continual genetic gain and competitive advantage for the Australian red meat industry.
- To deliver a detailed economic report of the value of LMY and EQ data on-farm within Western Australian supply-chains, and selected eastern states supply chains.
The OCM feedback project will:
- train WA sheep consultants to facilitate the Meat the Market PGS.
- facilitate 40 farm businesses through the Meat the Market PGS which involves a series of workshops, group coaching and individual coaching sessions.
- analyse benefits of receiving OCM feedback and on-farm management techniques to improve LMY and EQ to the farm business.
- analyse benefits of improving compliance to market specifications to the farm business.
- conduct extension and adoption activities including field days, case studies and demonstration sites.
- detail the economic value of objective carcase measurement feedback in the form of economic modelling based on price signals for LMY and EQ.