Beef cattle ranked in NSW's top one per cent for eating quality and grading standards are sustainably produced at Manildra Group's environmental farm as part of its fully integrated Shoalhaven Starches manufacturing facility.
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Tapping into the water treatment plant at its world-class site at Bolong, east of Bomaderry, the cattle farmed in 2019 scored 50th place from 6000 Meat Standards Australia (MSA) producers in NSW, for excellence in eating quality performance and grading compliance.
Announced every two years, the top MSA producers are assessed on their ability to continually produce quality beef for consumers.
Manildra Group's environmental farm manager Greg Smith, said the full resources of the Australian family-owned agribusiness went in to producing premium beef at its flagship manufacturing plant.
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"The farm holds up to 1400 beef cattle fed with our very own dairy pellet stockfeed, made down the road at Manildra Group's new state-of-the-art DDG-S (dried distillers' grain syrup) dryer, with syrups from our wheat flour production," Mr Smith said.
The DDG-S dryer removes moisture from syrups and wet insolubles to produce Manildra Group's highly nutritious supplementary feeds for sheep, lambs, feed, dairy cattle, and horses - all formulated with animal nutritionists and industry experts to ensure the most value in the end-product.
Mr Smith said that as part of daily ration including 18kg of corn, silage and hay, the extremely palatable Manildra Stockfeed DDG-S Wheat Pellets for Beef Cattle had increased average daily weight gain from 1.6kg to 1.8kg.
"We endeavour to produce top-quality beef year-round with the best feed on offer, and our continued involvement with MSA provides a high degree of transparency along our whole supply chain," Mr Smith said.
We endeavour to produce top-quality beef year-round with the best feed on offer, and our continued involvement with Meat Standards Australia provides a high degree of transparency along our whole supply chain.
- Manildra Group's group's environmental farm manager Greg Smith
"Every truckload of beef that leaves the Shoalhaven Starches environmental farm is independently tested, giving complete traceability along the supply chain."
MSA assesses Australian beef against industry benchmarks in four key areas - cut and cooking method, marbling, pH, and ageing.
Manildra Group renews registration with MSA annually to ensure professional, standardised testing on all beef produced and sold.
"Being able to continuously score above industry standards and benchmarks shows we run our farm with the best resources and practices," Mr Smith said.
To further enhance the quality of beef produced, Mr Smith said the environmental farm implemented low-stress cattle handling techniques, emphasised by reduced touching, noise and movement in the yards.
Ensuring low stress in beef cattle is critical for keeping pH low and maximising weight gain - ensuring more tender beef.
"With minimum noise, little-to-no talking and slow movements, two workers in the yards gently herd cattle to their appropriate trucks or paddocks, allowing the animals to think and move as they want and find their own way to their destination," Mr Smith said.