Australian Country Choice (ACC) red meat pilot trial

Key points

• Individual and lot-based animal health data can be successfully transferred back through the business supply chain to their company owned and operated feedlots to use to inform business decision to improve carcase performance and overall productivity.
• Standardising the way in which animal health conditions are recorded and reported from consignments benefits the whole supply chain.
• Having existing  digital infrastructure and a data laboratory was key to the plant's ability to gain value from the improved animal health system that was implemented as part of the project.

Introduction

The purpose of the Australian Country Choice (ACC) animal health data pilot study was to demonstrate the value of sharing and utilising animal health data along the supply chain to improve productivity and profitability.

The project was part of the red meat pilot trials for the Rural Research & Development of Profit project Health 4 Wealth.

While many meat processing recording systems are already in place, data collection and feedback on disease-related carcase and offal condemnations varies considerably. The Health 4 Wealth project aims to introduce a standardised, comprehensive approach to the collection and feedback of data on disease-related carcase and offal condemnations. This will allow producers to monitor disease prevalence in their livestock and make informed decisions to maximise yield outcomes.

Objectives

The objectives of the ACC animal disease data pilot study project were to:

1. Demonstrate that individual and lot-based animal health data can be effectively and efficiently transferred to producers.
2. Demonstrate that animal health data can be correlated to an individual animal where an individual ID is present.
3. Provide animal health inspection information to producers to help them make better informed decisions regarding on-farm practices to improve livestock/carcase performance.
4. Provide learnings that can be incorporated into the wider Health 4 Wealth project.

Methodology

The main activities undertaken in the project were:

• Standardising recording of agreed conditions.
• Amending existing systems to enable standardised animal health data to be recorded.
• Identification of infrastructure and hardware required for data collection and feedback.
• Training of meat inspectors.
• Validating that the data being collected was correct (data validation).
• A soft launch of animal health information within the supply chain.

Results

The key finding from the project was that individual and lot-based animal health data could be effectively and efficiently transferred to producers.

The project also revealed that standardised recording and reporting of animal health conditions offers significant benefits to all supply chain participants. 

Additionally, the project demonstrated that ACC’s ability to gain value from implementing an improved animal health system was significantly enhanced and underpinned by its investment in its data laboratory and digital infrastructure across its whole business and supply chain.

Useful resources

Health 4 Wealth Rural Research and Development for Profit 

Rural Research and Development for Profit 

More information on Livestock Data Link