LARDNER Park steer trials are a very good tool to learn more about your cattle, their ability to gain weight and produce the best carcase results.
At a dinner to award the successful producers for carcase results on Friday night, guest speaker David Blackmore, Blackmore Wagyu, told of his journey to where he is today.
As the Lardner Park steer trials have two components, the first for weight gain off grass, the second being the carcase assessments, modern technology may be the next step for the participants.
Stud producers are already ahead of the game on some of this, and certainly ahead of their breeder clients. DNA testing, through hair samples, is already leading the way to better quality bulls.
Mr Blackmore’s presentation took the future to a whole other level, when he spoke of genomics testing. Mr Blackmore said he has been using genomics for a while now, and I will let you look into this yourselves. If I tried to explain, I may set some confusion, but in explaining it, I would certainly run out of room.
Mr Blackmore said there is a great future for the Wagyu breed, and when you consider Gina Rinehart, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, and others going into the Wagyu breed, one could suggest Mr Blackmore knows what he is talking about.
However, through Mr Blackmore’s research on genetics and genomics, he is already ahead of everyone else. Through this medium, he has been able to determine the best bulls for laying down of marble in meat, and its distribution through the body.
This does, and will further lead to producing the best possible animals, especially his Wagyu cattle.
I won’t go into Mr Blackmore’s trade secrets, mostly because he didn’t give many away. However, his endeavours show great hope for the future of our livestock industry.
One day, Australia could become one of the most efficient producers of high quality meat, both beef and lamb. Australia could well be considered a major supplier to the world.
Some of you may know of Mr Blackmore’s issues with his farming enterprise, which relates to intensive feeding of his cattle.
Council decisions on his issues could well precedent that of other councils, which would have ramifications for beef, sheep and dairy producers into the future.
As we know, Australia’s population is increasing more rapidly, and the need to feed our own people, let alone the world, will need to see producers learn, and use emerging technology, in order the produce more per hectare than we currently do now.
Producers using tools, such as the current Lardner Park steer trials to learn more about their animals, then consider these emerging technologies to increase production, may become the leaders.
We can not produce more land on which to farm, and in fact, population growth will deplete our productive land. Therefore we will have to produce more meat, or for that matter vegetables etc, per hectare, than we currently do.
With land reduction and worsening water supplies going to affect farming into the future, the more meat we can produce per body the better we will be.
Look forward, seek technology, and make hay while the sun shines.
