November 2, 2012
 

Western Australia's herd size continues to decline
 

The Department of Agriculture and Food's state beef leader Brad McCormick has shown sobering figures that Western Australia's herd size has continued to slide.

McCormick addressed the Western Australia (WA) Lot Feeders Association's annual general meeting last week and said despite the slump, there were still opportunities in WA beef production.

In 2006, 150,000 cattle came off WA feedlots, but by 2011 this number was down to 55,000. The number of cattle shipped for live export was also down this year compared to previous years. McCormick said in July 2011, WA had 1.95 million head. Taking into account live exports, domestic slaughter and the small number of interstate transfers, he said, the closing figure 12 months later was down to 1.92 million.

"This is assuming a weaning rate of 66%," McCormick said. "The weaning rate needed to maintain the herd is creeping up to 69.5%. But the reality is, it is nowhere near that figure, so the numbers are actually likely to be declining further." On a positive note he said the percentage of female cattle slaughtered in WA was also decreasing, giving him confidence WA producers were starting to rebuild their herds.

Other than Indonesia, which takes a majority of the live and boxed beef exports, WA didn't have any major market destinations.

"We have very small tonnages going to a lot of different places. What this tells me is that we are high cost producers looking for niche markets." He said only limited growth was expected to come from the domestic sector and it wouldn't provide the platform for expansion in the industry. "It is pretty clear to me that industry growth must come from export markets," McCormick said.

The opportunities were there for WA beef producers but according to McCormick operational changes were required at the farm level to meet that potential. He said WA could not hope to find new export markets without a consistent year-round supply of cattle.

However, the concern was that due to the WA season and how the industry had evolved, lot feeders in WA were under 50% full for three or four months of the year due to the cheaper grass-fed product entering the market from September-January. McCormick said changing the system to allow lot feeders to fully utilise their capacity all year round and therefore meet the demands of possible export markets, was the key to growing the industry. But he recognised it was not going to be an easy fix.

WA Lot Feeders Association out-going president Ivan Rogers, said industry growth would allow a flow-on of opportunities in the lot feeding sector. Although WA was currently heading in the wrong direction, Rogers said more cattle would drive opportunity and a majority of the new markets the industry was considering, required a value-add and there was nearly always a feedlot in the picture. He recognised there were risks involved with sourcing new markets and exploring other opportunities but he said it was a risk any business had to take.