Beef in brief

The mission of Big Mal’s First Grade’s is to deliver premium quality products made in Australia with Australian ingredients. The products are available at grocery markets, food service outlets and direct to community events and fundraisers.

Aimed at the barbeque season, Big Mal’s First Grade has a range of four premium sauces and condiments: Tomato Legend, BBQ Sauced, Chilli Kick, and Outback Ranch.

In the meat department, Big Mal’s First Grade has sourced premium grass-fed Australian beef for its all-beef sausages, burgers, Mini-Mal’s sliders and meatballs.  Big Mal’s First Grade products, both meats and sauces, are gluten-free.  

Mal Meninga AM, said: “Family, footy and food on the BBQ are my passions. I am proud to be launching Big Mal’s First Grade Premium meats and sauces. My family have been closely involved in the creation of the range, working with two great partners, in Dean Murphy at Peppercorn Foods developing our premium meats and Matthew Fletcher at The Food Company, an expert in sauce production. They are a great team and have really embraced the vision of the brand I wanted to create and its mission.”

BIG live cattle exporter Wellard’s mid-sized livestock vessel, the MV Ocean Swagman, has completed its milestone 100th voyage.

The MV Ocean Swagman was launched in 2009 with a revolutionary dual independent propulsion system, comprising dual engine rooms and propellers, to provide it with levels of redundancy and therefore safety, rarely seen in cruise liners and never before built into livestock vessels.

Since its launch the vessel has travelled 690,074 nautical miles (almost 1.3 million kilometres) which is equivalent to almost 30 laps of the world at the equator. On those voyages it visited 282 ports.

“When it was launched the MV Ocean Swagman was heralded as the next generation in livestock design and vessel construction,” said Wellard executive director operations Fred Troncone.

“The vessel has lived up to those expectations, with excellent voyage success rates and weight gains – a product of content livestock passengers and high performance of the air, water and food livestock services on board.”

The MV Ocean Swagman’s advanced ventilation system fans an average of 110 air changes per hour, four times the number of air changes per hour on a commercial airliner, so the 540,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep that travelled on the vessel on its 100 voyages to date travelled in comfort....consuming more than 50,000 tonnes of fodder in the process.

The MV Ocean Swagman’s 100th voyage was representative of the vessel’s overall performance, recording a success rate of 99.95 per cent from the 6000 cattle breeding cattle relocated from Victoria to China.

MEAT and Livestock Australia is preparing to tackle one of the biggest on-farm productivity constraints with a bold plan to improve connectivity on-farm and right through the red meat supply chain.

The new connectivity program will be launched at Red Meat 2017 in Alice Springs next week and will be charged with identifying the connectivity needs of individual businesses, navigating the technology options and then offering a pathway of available solutions.

For many producers and their businesses, connectivity will include access to individual pieces of technology such as phone, internet and critical on-farm operations, as well as the means of linking these between the home, paddock and outside world.

Initial work will include the development of a connectivity hub through MLA’s website, giving producers a comprehensive list of technology providers and an explanation of their services.

The opportunity to partner with MLA and specialist technology providers to carry out a comprehensive review of an individual businesses connectivity requirements and identify a tailored solution will also be part of the initial work.

MLA general manager research, development and innovation Sean Starling said this program of work was about helping producers identify their connectivity requirements and available solutions.

“We recognise that there are existing and ongoing infrastructure challenges for producers in accessing basic technology and services in rural areas, for which there is not a simple fix,” Mr Starling said.

“However, for many simply navigating and understanding what technology is currently available and how best to implement that in your business is equally challenging.

“Not every producer and business has the same connectivity requirements. For some their needs are as simple as making a phone call or getting basic internet access in the paddock. For others, it can be about fully integrating your business or transferring data in real time across the supply chain.

“The starting point for producers therefore has to be what am I trying to connect and why?”