MSA awards: Michael, Donna and Mitchell Kay’s focus on quality rewarded

Learning from feedback has earned a North-West Tasmanian beef-producing family a spot among the best in eating quality.

All in the family: Beef farmers Michael, left, Donna and Mitchell Kay at Alcomie in the state’s North-West Picture: Chris Kidd

A KEY management factor has helped long-time beef producers the Kay family win this year’s Meat Standards Australia excellence in eating quality producer award.

Michael, Donna and Mitchell Kay, who farm at Alcomie in the state’s North-West, were named as the Tasmanian winners of the large producer section in the MSA awards.

While the family have been involved with beef production for a long time, Mr Kay said carefully analysing MSA feedback on their cattle had allowed them to now consistently turn off top-quality cattle.

This commitment to quality in their beef-finishing business has seen them achieve a 99.4 per cent MSA compliance rate and an average MSA Index of 62.07.

The family run their 445ha operation across two properties. On average they run about 600 head year round and turn off about 500 steers a year.

The family have been selling cattle to processor Greenham Tasmania for more than a decade and are accredited through the company’s Never Ever and Global Animal Partnership quality-assurance programs.

Mr Kay said a key part of their success was buying in top quality store cattle.

They source store cattle from both Flinders and King islands as well as from some mainland Tasmanian breeders.

Some of the cattle run across two properties. Picture: Chris Kidd

Ideally, the family like to buy steers that are at least 400kg liveweight.

They say the majority of the cattle they buy for finishing are Angus but they do purchase Herefords as well when they are available.

“Our focus on meeting MSA and company specifications means we look closely at pH, fat and carcass indexes,” Mr Kay said.

“Our buying decisions revolve around consistency, and we always look to buy even lines of steers that are compliant with the Never Ever and GAP programs.”

Mr Kay said they buy in stores throughout the year as needed.

The steers are turned off at between 680kg to 700kg liveweight year round.

Careful management is needed to turn off consistent quality cattle, especially during the winter months when achieving MSA compliance can be more challenging.

“I think one of the most important things is not to be overstocked,” Mr Kay said.

“Also we put them into their smaller mobs so we’re not having to pull them out and mix them up all the time and we just try to keep things calm whenever we’re working with them, they get fairly quiet.”

Mitchell said feeding hay when the pasture growth slows down was also important to ensure the cattle still maintain weight gain, especially in cold conditions.

When the cattle first arrive they are run in mobs of about 50 on the home farm.

As they get bigger the cattle are divided into smaller mobs of about 20 and are moved to the second farm.

The family use rotational grazing, shifting the cattle about once every two days.

“This keeps the cattle on a rising plane of nutrition, while also resting paddocks and avoiding overgrazing and pugging issues, particularly when they are near-finished and conditions are wet,” Mr Kay said.

He said keeping the cattle in familiar mobs also prevented stress once they were ready for transport and processing.

Maintaining soil fertility is also an important part of the family’s operation, so fertiliser is applied in autumn and then again in spring to any paddocks which are going to be harvested for hay or silage.

Mr Kay said they regularly applied lime and dolomite lime to maintain good soil pH.

For the Kays, using the MSA program and engaging with processor feedback has enabled them to take the guesswork out of their operation and consistently achieve excellent results.

“With the data and feedback we receive, we can clearly see which animals perform best and under which conditions,” Mr Kay said.

“It’s allowed us to be more targeted across the board, from buying, to handling, and selling decisions.”