The Week in Beef

Another large-scale Australian feedlot has hit the market this week, making it the fifth of its kind to go up for sale recent months.

Smithfield Cattle Company today announced it was testing the market with its feedlot at Proston in the South-Burnett region of Queensland.

Smithfield’s announcement follows a similar move from Mort & Co, which has put the Pinegrove and Yarranbrook feedlots on the market, Elders with its Killara f...

The Beef Central team has hit the road this week for some of the beef industry’s premiere get togethers.

Cattle Australia’s Cattle Connect is embedding itself as the national beef industry get together and Roma Young Beef Producers’ Forum continues its popularity in its 21st year. Plus:

• Sports dietician Peta Carige tells us how science is backing a push to have beef in a healthy diet
• Young Beef Producers chair Tom Copley gives...

Feedlot capacity is continuing to surge in Australia, with pen space to support hundreds-of-thousands of cattle either recently come online or currently under construction.

Beef Central has been on the phones trying to find who is behind the current expansions and this episode the Week in Beef will explore some of the learnings from the exercise.

Also on the show:

• Beef Central publisher Jon Condon unpacks the sale of Kimberly ...

More feedlot news has emerged this week, with one of Australia’s largest lotfeeders announcing plans to sell two of its feedlots.

Mort & Co has officially listed Yarranbrook and Pinegrove feedlots, along with the license for its proposed Gogango feedlot in Central Queensland. Beef Central publisher Jon Condon gives an insight into how that listing emerged.

Also, on the Week in Beef:

• Meat & Livestock Australia Wagga Wag...

The Week in Beef team this week look into Australia’s largest ever feedlot transaction, the legacy of the sellers and how it fits in with the buyers.

Japanese-owned Rangers Valley was purchased by Stanbroke last week for what is believed to be $400m. The property has a feedlot, beef brands and extensive farming and grazing country. Plus:

• Meat & Livestock Australia managing director Michael Crowley explains how consumer sur...

THE dynamics of Australia’s cattle market have shifted quickly in recent weeks, from big shifts of cattle into southern feedlots, a bit of rain in Queensland and more permits issued for live export ships.

In this episode of the Week in Beef, the Beef Central team give a quick wrap up of markets across the country. Plus:

• Why one feedlot operator has offered $250,000 for an operations manager. Rimfire Resources Mick Hay explains...

A Lack of detail being provided by the Federal agriculture department on the impact of the Government’s net zero emissions by 2050 target was the source of frustration in this week’s Senate Estimates hearings.

Nationals’ senator Matt Canavan led the charge, with a series of questions about how much land was going to be taken up by tree plantings.

Read this week’s article for more information: https://www.beefcentral.com/carbon/fede...

Following a trip through Western Queensland watching the dozens of trucks transporting cattle through the area, the Week in Beef gives an insight into the newest display at the Longreach Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

Alongside the induction of Beef Central’s Jon Condon and ABC Landline’s Peter Lewis into the Rural Press Club Hall of Fame, a display was unveiled for late industry leader Zanda McDonald who tragically passed away in 2013.

...

The slow but relentless build of paperwork Australian cattle producers are required to do has been creating plenty of frustration, with Australia allowing the import of beef from the United States and Europe trying to implement a ban on goods linked to deforestation.

Central Queensland producers, lotfeeder and processor Josie Angus has been raising concerns about the amount of compliance the industry is putting on itself – arguing ...

Australia's growing lotfeeding sector has gathered in Toowoomba this week to help support the future of the sector.

The Future Feeders’ Network was set up earlier this year, with its conference opening the event yesterday and a research focused day taking over today.

In this episode of the Week in Beef:

• Future Feeders Network chair and Condabri procurement manager Tim Mitchell talks lotfeeding careers and where he sees the cat...

FOLLOWING a trip to Mount Surprise in North Queensland, this week’s podcast follows the livestock transport industry’s call for producers to up their standards with cattle loading.

In a showcase of what can be done, former producer and livestock transporter John Lethbridge has used his retirement to create the perfect loading ramp. In this episode:

• John Lethbridge explains how the ramp works and his nephew Russell Lethbridge s...

Feeder cattle prices have continued their momentum this week, with the Darling Downs flatback feeder steer price reducing the 100c premium for Angus steers.

In this episode of The Week in Beef, we discuss how grids have risen this week, what that means for feedlot margins and why the numbers are lining up for lighter cattle to enter the feedlot.

Plus:

• What will it take to get more Australian superannuation funds to invest in a...

YOUNG cattle prices are continuing to rise at the saleyards, with the benchmark Eastern Young Cattle Indicator crossing 900c/kg for the first time since 2022.

In this week’s episode of the Week in Beef, we look at how the situation has changed from a mass sell-off of cattle from Victoria and South Australia at the start of the year to producers getting back in the market and pushing prices up.

• Ray White Albury director James B...

From plans to give every school student in Indonesia a free lunch, to a proliferation of high marbling beef brands, this episode of the Week in Beef shows the diversity of markets the Australian beef industry services.

The Australian live export industry is still trying to navigate the agenda of the new Indonesian Government, who has done away with beef quota and given plenty of signals that Australian cattle will be needed. On tod...

From cattle in Brisbane to cotton in some of the most remote parts of Australia, this week’s episode of the Week in Beef is covering issues from across the country.

Debate has erupted about how much of Queensland’s Ekka cattle show should be put in front the crowds, with concerns raised about the show starting after the cattle have gone. Plus:

• AAM managing director Garry Edwards talks about his plans for cropping in the north ...

AS the beef industry descends on the Queensland capital this week, there was a sense of optimism among the crowd with a feeling that industry was going through one of those rare times where most ends of the supply chain were making money.

The Week in Beef podcast was there to capture the action on Ekka Beef week, including:

• Rabobank analyst Angus Gidley-Baird on where the current rising market might be heading next
• The winners...

While a decision to loosen restrictions on United States beef imports has dominated headlines, this week’s episode of the Week in Beef delves further into some of the other issues impacting the beef industry.

Saleyard prices have reached their highest point in three years and processors are prioritising quantity over quality as they try to service the growing demand for ground beef in the US. And:

• Wagga Wagga-based saleyards r...

From climbing cattle prices, to billion-dollar assets hitting the market and the Australian allowing beef imports from the United States, this week's episode of the Week in Beef wraps up the news of the past week.

Hosted by Lydia Burton and Eric Barker, The Week in Beef is Beef Central’s newest podcast, giving readers a quick roundup of what is making news on a weekly basis. Including:

• Alarming statistics as Farm Safety Week p...