Beef Central publishes occasional lists of significant recent appointments, departures or achievements occurring across the red meat supply chain, both private sector and government. Details for submissions for future listings are provided at the bottom of this article…. 

 

• CAAB appoints new chief executive
• Aussie butchery team performs well in Tri-Nations event
• Thomas Foods beefs-up livestock team
• NSW scientists hit the international stage

 

CAAB appoints new chief executive

The board of Certified Australian Angus Beef has appointed Kate Brabin as its new chief executive officer, following the recent decision by Phil Morley to step back from the position.

Ms Brabin has been with CAAB since 2007 and has been intimately involved in the maintenance of the quality programs that has underpinned the CAAB and Angus Pure brands. She has worked closely with Mr Morley in the development and implementation of the CAAB and Angus Pure marketing initiatives.

Her passion for the beef industry was borne early in life, growing up on the family cattle farm in the hills of Tumut, NSW. Studying firstly a Diploma of Agribusiness and then a Bachelor of Systems Agriculture – UWS Hawkesbury, she earned membership to the Golden Key International Honour Society for Academic Excellence.

Straight out of University, Ms Brabin cut her teeth as a member of the Meat Standards Australia team delivering meat quality standards to the consumer. From MSA she went on to start her own business providing grading services to small-scale processors as well as quality assurance system support. An opportunity then arose with Certified Australian Angus Beef to work with the brand to grow and develop what was to become the brand that is now a household name.

For the past seven years Ms Brabin has worked as CAAB’s supply relationships manager, overseeing the supply chain for CAAB and Angus Pure as well as the breed verification programs including the program for McDonalds Australia which has helped make Angus beef a household name.

 

Aussie butchery team performs well in Tri-Nations event

A TEAM of six Aussie butchers performed splendidly in the annual Tri-nations Butchery Challenge held in the UK recently.

Representing Australia were pictured above, from left, Adam Stratton, Tender Value Meats, NSW; Gary Hine, The Naked Butcher, WA; Mathew Papandrea, Joe Papandrea Quality Meats, NSW; Michael James, Carina North Meats, Qld; Trevor Hill, Bruce’s Meats, SA; and Tom Bouchier, Peter Bouchier Butchers, Vic.

The group went head-to-head with butchers from the UK and New Zealand (NZ ultimately took out the Challenge), in a butchery skills battle held at the prestigious Yorkshire Show.

Now in its fourth year, the Tri-Nations Butchery Challenge is a serious competition involving knife-work, preparation and presentation skills. Independent judges awarded points for butchery skill, workmanship, product innovation, overall finish, presentation, display and articulation.

The competition itself extended across two hours, using a side of beef and a whole lamb carcase as the raw material.

 

Thomas Foods beefs-up livestock team

Thomas Foods International has recently boosted its livestock purchasing team with the recruitment of three experienced cattle buyers.

Roger Stanton, Bronson McLeay, and Andrew Hay are well-known and respected throughout the industry and will provide TFI with additional coverage across Australia’s eastern states.

Roger Stanton completed studies at Orange Agricultural College in 1996 and managed his family’s farming operation before taking up a cattle buying role in NSW. He has since held sales and buying roles across Australia and has extensive feedlot experience. Roger is located in central Victoria and will be responsible for buying within Victoria through to southern NSW.

Bronson McLeay completed studies at Dalby Agricultural College in 2001 before entering the industry in the stock yards at Bindaree Beef at Inverell in northern NSW. Before joining TFI, he was Bindaree’s general manager of livestock. Bronson’s cattle experience spans purchasing, reporting and feedlot management. Based out of Inverell, Bronson will coordinate purchasing for TFI in northern NSW and southern Queensland.

Andrew Hay completed an apprenticeship as a butcher in the Adelaide Hills before moving to Melbourne to manage the lamb boning rooms for a major national supermarket chain. From there he moved into livestock, spending more than 13 years as National Livestock Manager. Andrew is located at Geelong and will be responsible for TFI’s livestock buying operations in Victoria’s Eastern Hamilton, Bendigo and Ballarat districts.

TFI’s chief operating officer, David McKay, said that as Thomas Foods continued to expand, it was essential that it had access to premium quality livestock.

“Roger, Bronson and Andrew are highly experienced in the meat industry and in partnership with our existing livestock purchasing team, we are well placed to service all districts and livestock selling markets,” he said.

 

NSW scientists hit the international stage

NSW Department of Primary Industries scientists have been recognised for their contribution to global science with invitations to present research results at a prestigious international conference exploring the role of genetics in powering animal production.

DPI director of livestock systems, Delia Dray, said beef genetics leader Paul Arthur and research scientist Hutton Oddy had been invited to speak at the World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production to be held in Vancouver later this month.

Held every four years, the congress is the premier gathering for researchers and professionals involved in genetic improvement of livestock, to share ideas and discuss their work on a global scale.

Dr Arthur will present work he has conducted with fellow DPI scientist from the Armidale Beef Industry Centre, Dr Robert Herd, which explores the lessons from 25 years of sustained feed efficiency research. Since the 1990s Australian research into genetic improvement to lift feed efficiency in cattle has seen the industry adopt many of their findings.

“Now our researchers are further exploring genetic relationships to fill gaps in knowledge, as they correlate feed intake and efficiency with meat quality, reproduction and cow traits,” Ms Dray said.

Armidale-based Dr Oddy is collaborating with an international team of scientists to investigate how genetic selection can be used to breed sheep and cattle which produce less methane.

 

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