SA stakeholders got a chance to discuss the latest Sheep Co-operative Research Centre projects with the board last week.
The CRC held a series of briefings in Adelaide and the South East with sheepmeat producers, plus the Lamb Supply Chain Group, which helps set research and development priorities.
The board also toured JBS’s Bordertown abattoir.
Sheep CRC chief executive James Rowe said industry engagement and collaboration was a core reason for the success of the CRC program in developing new technologies to bolster the productivity and profitability of the sheep industry.
“It is about providing our more than 40 industry partners with an update on the progress of our projects and gathering their feedback on how we can successfully adapt new technologies to suit their ever-changing needs,” he said.
At Bordertown, the board discussed how supply chain innovations, such as Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry and hook tracking of carcases, could provide fast and efficient objective carcase measurement.
“It is already a smart plant, but we wanted to discuss with JBS the direction they are looking to take it and how we may be able to work in our research with them, including measuring eye muscle area and intramuscular fat,” he said.
Professor Rowe said there had been great producer feedback on the AskBill app, which had a limited release last month ahead of its commercial release in November.
The app incorporates farm data and climate information via a number of biophysical models to aid grazing management decisions.
It also helps identify pest or disease risks and any extreme weather events.
“The sheep industry is well-placed to make the most of digital technology like this,” he said.
“We can already use best practice genetics and genomics to make breeding decisions and now we can input weather and other models to predict likely pasture production and any risks to the flock. We are also getting great information where individual animal identification is available so the next step is to share this feedback along the supply chain for quality control.”
With two years still to run in the five-year CRC, Prof Rowe said they expected to roll out more practical research, including a cuts-based MSA grading system to provide more market options for sheepmeat and new software tools to accelerate genetic gain.
The CRC’s three main areas of research are enhanced sheep wellbeing and productivity; quality-based sheepmeat value chains; and faster genetic gain.
The federal government has committed $15.5 million to the Sheep CRC, with industry and producer organisations giving $45m.