In their final livestock markets wrap for the year, regular markets commentators, RMA’s Chris Howie and Ep3’s Matt Dalgleish face the big questions:

Are we at or near the bottom of the cattle and sheep price cycle? What impact will the forecast drier summer have on supply and demand? What are the main drivers heading into 2024?

These and other topics are posed in today’s cattle market update podcast by Weekly Grill host, Kerry Lonergan.

Where is progress up to in the development of feed additives designed to mitigate the product of methane in the rumen of beef cattle? In this week's podcast, host Kerry Lonergan chews the fat with Dr Adam Main from CH4 Australia, a company producing feed additives based on asparagopsis seaweed, farmed in a network of land-based ponds on the Eyre Peninsula. The products are already in commercial use in South Australia.

Adam also talks about the benefits and applications of farming seaweed for cattle beyond the well-worn carbon/methane debate.

As the Australian red meat industry approaches the twenty-fifth anniversary of the launch of Meat Standards Australia, this week's Weekly Grill podcast episode dives deep into the evolution of the ground-breaking tenderness guarantee program with one of its pioneers, Rod Polkinghorne.

Rod provides a detailed and comprehensive background into what existed prior to MSA, the circumstances that led to the program's development and launch, and the originality of the 'consumer-driven' approach to meat science. Indeed, one of MSA's early signatures was the use of the 'empty chair', signifying that every decision at board level had to pass the 'pub test' with the average beef eating consumer before  implementation.

Nobody has contributed more to MSA's enduring success than Rod, and his partner in countless consumer taste test programs and research trials over the past 30 years, Judy Philpott. 

CAN Australia do more with its red meat production than simply putting it in a box and selling it in chilled or frozen form? Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week sits down with successful beef jerky manufacturer Emily Pullen, whose family produces the popular Jim's Jerky range in Queensland.

Jim's Jerky ploughs through about four tonnes of grassfed topsides each week producing its tasty beef snacks, marketed through major domestic supermarket retailers, roadhouses and exported into a large number of overseas countries.

Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week sits down with Cattle Australia's acting chief executive, Queensland beef producer Adam Coffey.

The pair discuss Cattle Australia's bedding-down over its first 12 months, progress on plans to fund the grassfed industry representative body, and CA's recent call to shift the beef industry's environmental benchmark focus from 'carbon neutral' to 'climate neutral' - designed to concentrate on the bottom-line warming impact of the industry. As part of this, it called for a review of MLA’s CN30 (Carbon Neutral) framework.

Cattle Australia is approaching the end of its first full year of operation as Australia’s new peak representative body for the nation’s 40,000-plus grassfed cattle producers, and will soon start calling on producer support in the form of annual membership fees to help resource its advocacy efforts on their behalf.

Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan this week sits down with Justin Slaughter, who has risen through the ranks in his 31-year career in the Australian meat and livestock industry.

Justin is CEO and managing director of AgTrade, an Australian-owned, globally-focused livestock, genetics and food security company, with a commitment to working across the livestock supply chain to provide protein to all major markets around the world. The AgTrade group of businesses include live export service provider Austrex; specialised beef supply chain manager and exporter Paradigm Foods, and ThriveAgri. Together, the companies span premium branded beef, pork and lamb products; breeding livestock and genetics; animal feed & nutrition products; and breeding, dairy & beef livestock export.

Justin has previously served in a range of industry representative roles including as chair of the Queensland Livestock Exporters Association and director of the Australian Livestock Exporters Council, as well as participating in various trade & ministerial delegations to improve market access for Australian primary producers. In 2013, he received a Livestock Industry Young Achiever Award for his dedication to the live export industry.

Australian young cattle and slaughter cattle prices have continued to descend during the first eight months of 2023. In this week's podcast, regular markets commentators, RMA's Chris Howie and Ep3's Matt Dalgleish face the big questions:

Are processors going to be able to cope (labour wise) with larger numbers of slaughter cattle? If not, what happens to prices? These and other topics are posed in today's cattle market update podcast by Weekly Grill host, Kerry Lonergan.

Other topics include the rapidly changing circumstances in the US beef production cycle, the impact of this month's UK Free Trade Agreement, the log-jam of young cattle in northern Australia caused by the Lumpy Skin Disease regulatory episode, and other potential headwinds and tailwinds

Thirty-three year old Mitch Highett is a city boy by origin, but has forged an impressive early career in the beef industry. He chats this week with Weekly Grill podcast host Kerry Lonergan.

The Australian winner of the 2023 Zanda McDonald award lives in Orange NSW, and is the founder and managing director of Bullseye Ag. Mitch's farm management company works alongside farms across NSW and QLD with an area totalling more than 200,000ha. He also has a cattle enterprise running 250 breeders, and assists farmers through the Rural Assistance Authority and as Chair of the NSW Young Farmers.