Teys offers pasturefed premium

Teys Australia executive director livestock, Geoff Teys, Beenleigh, Queensland, spoke to Fairfax Agricultural Media this afternoon (Friday) and said under the Cattle Council of Australia's new Pasturefed Cattle Assurance Scheme (PCAS) they would offer producers a 10c/kg to 20c/kg premium above the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) price.

Teys Australia will accept PCAS pasturefed only cattle - free of hormone growth promotants (HGPs) and antibiotics - which will be marketed with the Certified Pasturefed label.

"We are indicating to producers that we will offer above the MSA price and depending on the market at the time our premium could possibly be higher than the European Union (EU) accredited price," Mr Teys said.

Mr Teys said they hoped to process the first PCAS cattle in the first week of August, provided enough suppliers signed onto the scheme by then.

"We have customers from a lot of markets interested in pasturefed beef and we can pass on a good premium price to producers," he said.

Mr Teys said they have had no input in establishing the PCAS standards and are involved purely from a processor viewpoint.

Northern NSW Hereford producers Scott and Pip Hann, Bellata, are keen to implement PCAS in their commercial cattle enterprise.

In fact, Mr Hann has called PCAS the most revolutionary development in the cattle job in his time. He said PCAS brings traceability to the beef business.

"They like to sell a story, it is what all the big supermarkets are doing," Mr Hann said.

"It is what the whole beef industry needed, a premium grassfed beef brand - not just a branded beef breed," he said.

BEEF producers can choose to become Pasturefed Cattle Assurance System (PCAS) accredited by undertaking an online self-audit to determine eligibility, registering their property and paying a $200 administration fee.

They will also need to successfully complete an on-site audit that will be conducted annually by an independent third party at an estimated cost of between $400 and $600 per audit.

Underpinning PCAS are standards which govern on-farm feed requirements and traceability of cattle as well as pre-slaughter handling practices that influence eating quality.

The standards also include two optional modules for producers who wish to raise cattle free from hormone growth promotants (HGPs) and antibiotics.

The requirements of the PCAS standards mean that eligible cattle: