The Weekly Grill

Meat & Livestock Australia's new managing director Michael Crowley has well and truly got his feet under the desk since kicking off in his new job in late May.

Many in the industry got their first insight on Mr Crowley's take on the industry service delivery company's future direction in an address to the Queensland Rural Pres Club last month.

One of his key visions is to see Value-Based Marketing embedded within the Australian beef industry, delivering performance-based payments to producers that factor in meat yield, as well as meat quality and carcase traits.

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

Rabobank’s general manager for ag research, Stefan Vogel chats with Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan on where Australian livestock industries currently sit in a challenging global environment.

Logistical challenges around the Suez Canal, regional conflicts and challenging economic conditions are creating some headwinds for Australia’s ag exports – but there’s still plenty to be optimistic about, he says.

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

University of Queensland genetics researcher Prof Ben Hayes

AI has exploded in importance over the past year or two across all areas of business, research and society in general, and the agriculture field is no exception.

What lies ahead for the use of AI in the beef industry? Is it a tool than can further increase the industry's rate of genetic gain, particularly on hard-to-measure traits? Where else can AI fit into the beef production system?

Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto was elected President with a landslide victory in February. Ahead of his inauguration on 20 October, what the the implications for Australian agricultural trade - and live cattle exports in particular - with our nearest neighbour?

Veteran live exporter Greg Pankhurst, who spent more than 20 years living and working in Indonesia, provides his view in this week’s Weekly Grill podcast episode with host, Kerry Lonergan.

In March this year, Prabowo said he believed that within five years Indonesia would be able to become a net food exporter and gain food independence. How realistic is this target?

Today's Weekly Grill podcast continues our occasional markets series, with host Kerry Lonergan talking with regular markets commentators RMA's Chris Howie and Ep3's Matt Dalgleish.

The looming impact of the US drought on global beef demand over the next two years out of the US and other countries is one of the key focuses in today's update.

Slaughter and store cattle supply and demand heading into spring could produce some  surprises, the pair suggest

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

Competitive Texas BBQ smoker cooking is a huge activity in the United States, and one of the best in the business - Phil Breeden - is in Australia at present, competing in a local competition, delivering master-classes and checking out the Australian Texas BBQ scene.

Phil has been involved in competitive BBQ events in the US and Canada since 2015, and is now full-time professional competitor, having competed in 167 sanctioned US competitions, earning 16 grand championships and 19 reserves to date. Along with fellow Texan BBQ competitor Bill Purvis, Phil is visiting Australia as a guest of the Australian BBQ Alliance.

He caught up with Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan during his visit.

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

This week's Weekly Grill podcast is a conversation with livestock scientist Fran Cowley from the University of New England, whose current work focusses on managing and mitigating livestock methane emissions.

Associate Professor in livestock production at UNE, her current work includes looking for better ways to predict emissions from feedlot cattle. A lot of this was a future-proofing exercise – providing support to grain feeding being a method of reducing the carbon footprint of beef.

“The feedlot industry is an important way that we can work towards a carbon-neutral food production system,” she said.

“In the future, it’s highly likely that we will see an environment where there will be a price on market access on carbon. Being able to have a more accurate and lower estimate of the emissions and carbon footprint of feedlots is going to ease potential issues accessing markets that require no or low emission product,” she said.

Prof Cowley reinforced the importance of producers continuing to adopt best practices, with research reinforcing the importance of feeding more efficiently and making sure that every mouthful of feed that cattle are consuming is being turned into more beef.

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

In this week's Weekly Grill podcast, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat on Queensland lotfeeder Charlie Mort, principal of Mort & Co.

The pair discuss the changing Australian feedlot environment, plans for the construction of Mort & Co's new Central Queensland feedlot near Gogango, market demand for grainfed beef and other topics.

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by  Rhinogard by Zoetis.

Jack Owen is a Victorian sheep-meat producer who used to spend hours thinking about what his neighbours were doing and how successful they were – until he decided to stop thinking and do something about it – so he interviewed over 200 successful farmers and graziers and made notes on how they operated and why they there successful.

The result is his personal improvement book, 'You Are Not Your Farm - What the top 5pc of farmers are doing that the average farmer is not.'

His work takes a broad sweep of common farming practices – and personal likes and dislikes among the primary producers he spoke to, which contribute to ongoing success.

Much of this is self-evident, but there’s also thought-provoking assessments which will challenge our everyday habits, he tells Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan.

His book is available from the Amazon books website.

In this week’s Weekly Grill podcast, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat on Wagyu boss Matt McDonagh, discussing the opportunities and challenges facing the Wagyu industry in Australia, where breeders are placing their genetic selection emphasis, and the impact as greater numbers of Wagyu feeders occupy valuable pen space for long periods in Australian feedlots.