printSheepmeat and beef producers looking to boost carcase compliance and profitability can tap into valuable data and tools available through the online carcase feedback program, Livestock Data Link (LDL).
Managed by Integrity Systems Company (ISC), LDL enables timely sharing of carcase information between processors and their suppliers with the aim of optimising supply chain performance.
ISC Senior Adoption Manager, Rebecca Austin, said LDL is an important tool to improve producer profitability.
“Sheep and lamb producers can use LDL to help combat the estimated $116 million in losses incurred by industry each year as a result of sheep disease and defect conditions identified at slaughter,” Ms Austin said.
“Qualified meat inspectors monitor lines of sheep for a number of different conditions that reduce farm profit through productivity losses or increased meat processing wastage.
“Producers can receive reports on direct lines of sheep sent through selected abattoirs. Individual sheep producers can use this information to improve their flock’s productiveness and fine tune their animal health programs.
“Giving producers access to animal disease and defect feedback enables proactive disease prevention and management, accurate differentiation between losses from health conditions and production issues, and the opportunity to improve their bottom line.”
LDL is a voluntary program, and not all processors are contributing data, however in South Australia, JBS Bordertown is releasing carcase compliance data and finalising the release of animal disease and defect feedback.
Thomas Foods International (TFI), through the Enhanced Abattoir Surveillance (EAS) program, is releasing animal disease and defect feedback to South Australian producers, and this data is also provided through LDL.
LDL links carcase data from the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS), Meat Standards Australia (MSA) and the central Animal Health databases with analytical tools, benchmarking reports and the Solutions to Feedback library.
“LDL currently provides feedback on sheep health conditions collected through the National Sheep Health Monitoring Project (NSHMP) managed by Animal Health Australia,” Ms Austin said.
“Disease and defect feedback is collected through the EAS program, delivered by Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA). The EAS program contributes the SA portion of data to the NSHMP, available via LDL.
“LDL is a valuable, one-stop-shop for producers to put carcase data to work through its four modules - carcase compliance, animal disease and defect data, beef breeder summary, and Lean Meat Yield Percentage (LMY%).
“Approximately 40,000 individual properties in Australia have some form of carcase feedback available through LDL.
“Carcase compliance is important because the more compliant your livestock are to grid specifications, the more profitable you can be.
“Processors have customised grids based on individual market requirements, so producers can easily see if a carcase was downgraded and the reason why, allowing them to address non-compliance issues.
“They can also compare their own carcase performance figures to industry benchmarks within their region, state or the whole country, to identify further areas of improvement.
To access LDL, go to https://ldl.mla.com.au/ and log in using your NLIS user name and password.
Once your account is created, you can link it directly to your myMLA account.
For more information visit https://www.integritysystems.com.au/ldl