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Monitor a range of marketing news, reports and forecasts.
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Use market intelligence to implement a continuous improvement program.
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Participate in credible learning programs. | |
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Key decisions, critical actions and benchmarks
Ongoing production and market surveillance is necessary to position the lamb enterprise for the present and future.
Aim to build business and enterprise management skills as part of the whole farm business plan.
Invest time and financial resources in regular market reports: attend information field days, seminars and courses.
Identify reliable sources of market information that suit the nature and structure of your sheepmeat enterprise and farming business.
Undertake training
Adopt a continuous learning approach to develop lamb and sheepmeat production and marketing skills by undertaking accredited training courses such as those provided by MLA’s EDGEnetwork® and NSW Department of Primary Industries’ PROfarm short courses.
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Attend
The MLA EDGEnetwork® program is coordinated nationally and has a range of courses to assist sheep producers. Contact can be made via:
PROfarm is the training program developed by NSW DPI to meet the needs of farmers, primary industries, agribusiness and the community. NSW DPI PROfarm short courses are available by contacting:
The PROfarm course most relevant to this procedure is: Lamb Assessment and Marketing – learn how to assess your lambs and understand markets and their specifications.
View
MLA Meat and Livestock Weekly: a weekly guide to livestock sales nationally and events at retail and foodservice in key international markets. Free to MLA members online and via email subscription. Visit: www.mla.com.au/Meatandlivestockweekly
MLA web pages: statistics and updates on activities in major international markets for lamb, particularly Japan, Korea and USA. Visit: www.mla.com.au/RedMeatMarkets
National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS): weekly livestock markets are reported on the day of sale nationally for major sales. Follow links on the right of the page at: http://www.mla.com.au/nlrs
AuctionsPlus: an electronic livestock selling system that allows reserve price setting and legal change of ownership without the seller, buyer or product having to come together physically at the time of sale. The website also provides weekly commentary on livestock sales including quotations for all livestock classes. Visit: http://www.auctionsplus.com.au/
A full summary of MLA yearly market publications can be found at: http://www.mla.com.au/publications
MLA events program for sheep producers, including:
Commonly used terms in this module |
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Supply chain |
Term to describe the business units involved in getting lamb and sheep meat to the consumer |
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GR Measurement |
Tissue depth (mm) over the 12th rib, used to estimate fatness |
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Fat score |
Varies from 1 (lean) to 5 (very fat) and is a 5mm grouping of GR |
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MLA |
Meat & Livestock Australia |
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MSA |
Meat Standards Australia, a section of MLA |
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Sheep CRC |
Australian Sheep Industry Cooperative Research Centre |
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Glycogen |
Muscle sugar
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pH |
A measure of acidity and alkalinity |
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NLRS |
National Livestock Reporting Service |
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AUSMEAT |
The Australian company responsible for establishing and maintaining National Meat Industry standards | |
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