Beef producers in northern and remote Australia have gained access to the Meat Standards Australia grading system after a new transport pathway confirmed that eligible cattle can remain MSA-compliant after journeys of up to five days by road or rail. Distance to processing plants has long shut northern cattle out of MSA grading and the branded-beef premiums it supports.

The MSA long-duration transport pathway rests on research funded by Meat & Livestock Australia showing cattle can travel up to 120 hours from property dispatch to slaughter without loss of consumer eating quality, provided they are properly prepared and managed throughout — with good-quality hay or dry feed and water at rest stops and in lairage.

It is one of the largest transport studies in the MSA programme's history: 920 cattle across four commercial-scale replicates, more than 4,000 beef samples and over 6,000 consumers. Neither transport duration nor mode, road or rail, adversely affected eating quality under the pathway's requirements, and the MSA model kept predicting consumer satisfaction accurately, said MLA's carcase value programme manager David Packer.

Teys Group's general manager of livestock, Glenn Poole, said the pathway lets producers market cattle toward MSA meat markets and branded programmes and increases the number of eligible MSA cattle for slaughter; for the processor it depends on verification with producers, carriers and at the plant that cattle are fed, watered and rested at every point.

Eligible consignments must meet limits on journey duration, keep feed and water available throughout, and document compliance across the supply chain, which means close coordination between producers, transport operators and processors — welfare, eating quality and MSA integrity all riding on the same paperwork.

Source: Beef Central