With the first of MLA’s 2017 Meat Standards Australia Excellence in Eating Quality Awards and producer forums less than a month away, a strong line-up of speakers has been confirmed for each state, including industry expert speakers and guest appearances from some of Australia’s best known past and present sporting stars.

The forums will provide producers a unique opportunity to hear about a broad range of important topics, including the latest developments in the MSA program – with a focus on how to improve carcase compliance and eating quality performance through benchmarking, genetics and nutrition.

The forums will also feature information for producers about what’s happening more broadly across the red meat industry including the latest developments around objective measurement technologies such as DEXA and upgrades to the Livestock Production Assurance program.

The Awards will be an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate those who have achieved the best MSA performance as well as a chance to network and catch up with other producers. They will also feature some of Australia’s most recognisable sporting stars as specially invited guest speakers.

The details of the producer forums, awards and celebrity guests are:

Queensland – Friday, 15 September 2017, 2.00pm-8.00pm, Gympie Civic Centre, 32-34 Mellor Street, Gympie. Guest speaker Queensland rugby league legend Billy Moore
Victoria – Tuesday, 19 September 2017, 2.00pm-8.00pm, Lardner Park, 155 Burnt Store Road, Lardner. Guest speaker Australian Rules legend Robert DiPierdomenico (“Dipper”)
Tasmania – Thursday 21 September 2017, 2.00pm-8.00pm, River Arms Hotel, 1 Crescent Street Ulverstone. Guest speaker Australian cricketer Matthew Wade
Western Australia – Tuesday, 26 September 2017, 2.00pm-8.00pm, Ramada Resort 700 Caves Road Marybrook, Dunsborough. Guest speaker former Australian cricket captain Kim Hughes
South Australia – Thursday, 28 September 2017, 2.00pm-8.00pm, Hewett Centre, 28-30 Kingfisher Drive, Hewett. Guest speaker Australian Rules and Adelaide Crows legend Mark Ricciuto
New South Wales – Thursday, 5 October 2017, 2.00pm-8.00pm, Quality Hotel Powerhouse, Armidale Road, Tamworth. Guest speaker rugby league legend Danny Buderus

The Awards recognise producers who have achieved outstanding compliance rates to the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) specifications, as well as high eating quality performance, as represented by MSA Index results for cattle MSA graded during 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years.

A ‘Most Outstanding Feedlot’ and ‘Most Outstanding Non-Feedlot’ MSA producer will be crowned in each state, as well as a Progress Award for the producer who has shown the greatest improvement.

MSA Program Manager Sarah Strachan said the ‘What Makes the Perfect MSA Index’ producer forums would be a great opportunity for producers who are already MSA registered suppliers and looking to improve as well as those producers wanting to learn more and potentially get involved in the program.

“The feedback from the inaugural forums and Awards suggested the day was extremely valuable for producers looking for on-farm improvements,” Ms Strachan said.

“With a diverse range of speakers on the day sharing information on MSA and updates on broader red meat industry issues, producers will get value from attending.”

Source: MLA. The Awards and producer forums are free and open to everyone, but registration is essential. To find out more information about the Awards and forums in each state and to register, please visit www.mla.com.au/eieq. To find out more information about the MSA Program visit http://www.mla.com.au/msa.