....and it all begins again.

The final round has begun. With my all too brief visit to NZ now behind me Im getting the opportunity to now reflect on what I saw and learnt there. For a country small in size it produces 9%of the worlds beef, punching well above its weight and In my very general and inexperienced opinion producing a product that would be th envy of the world in terms of image and quality. I dont believe that there is a more naturally produced beef out there. I met so many wonderful people there all concentrating on one thing, making a living from their livestock. I think its safe to say that I have had a few more Nuffield experiences with the no nonsense approach really striking a chord with me. I was reading a story written by a prominent NI beef and sheep farmer stating how because of the short window of opportunity to sell bulls feeding usually had to be more intense. What a fantastic product his customers are buying! When will bull buyers realise that they really dont know as much about bull buying as they think and stop thinking with their hearts and open their eyes and look for the product they need to be buying? Breeders too need to start taking their customers needs and produce a product that will fill their demands.

As I said in summing up after the USA we need to take a cold hard look at beef cattle breeding (pedigree and commercial) in the UK. We can and need to shave more production costs off where we already stand because lets face it when the next CAP reforms are put into place there is going to be some very major financial issues to contend with, when you concider our scale of production in global terms, out dated production systems and variability of product as just three examples of our short comings. Im extremely confident we can evolve but we need to revisit some systems and consider different opportunities that come up. A change to our carcass grading structure is also a necessity as we can never offer our ultimate customers the quality they desire and expect to ensure our preference in the market.

I have arrived in Armidale NSW after spending a couple of days in Sydney. The size of this continent is really starting to kick in. I travelled by bus the 540kms to here yesterday which was only 2" on the map, granted it is a very small scale map. Im pleased to have just made it out alive and there is no way I was going to drive a car out of there. If you want a lesson on livestock breeding just stand by any major junction and watch the traffic fight for position and territory and you will learn a lot.

Ive been to CSIRO today and learnt about some very interesting breeding techniques being pioneered and developed here. They will bring a whole lot of new and greater opportunities to cattle production throughout the world when perfected. I think it could be the biggest thing to hit cattle breeding since AI itself. I also learnt a bit about their plans or the future which I will update you on later as Im going back on Friday for a few more hours. TTFN.