Successful trade sites at Beef 2012

The Beef Australia exposition is the biggest and most comprehensive cattle event in the country, and is held just once every three years in Rockhampton, Central Queensland. This year it reached a record level of 85,000 people attending. There were more than 600 registered international industry representatives. Several beef tours and seminars were held over the week, supplying any interested representatives of the beef industry with the latest information. Definitely a well worth while event to attend.

Murray Greys were well represented with a great lineup of Murray Grey cattle. All exhibitors need to be congratulated for taking the time, and for the effort they went to, to make sure Murray Grey cattle were seen and recognized for their attributes.

We had Murray Grey members attending from South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, and I think even Tasmania. I am sure they would have all benefited from the experience.

The Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society had an indoor site where we received enquiries from overseas visitors including Argentina, The Philippines, Russia, China and Papua New Guinea. There were a lot of people who came through the Pavilion so you needed to be there to be seen. The Murray Greys Queensland Inc group had an outdoor site which was well set up and manned continually by devoted Murray Grey Breeders. Tricia Vayro had travelled up in her truck by herself from Condamine with her cattle including Mavis who last year had ventured off downstream on an epic adventure in the floods. Mavis and her calf were one of the animals on display at the outdoor site. Wallawong Murray Greys also had a site next to the Queensland Murray Grey site. Again, great for so many people to have the opportunity to see great cattle.

Beef Australia 2012 opened with a message of massive export market opportunities in Asia over the next 20 years, with producers challenged to match their genetic selection with consumer demands. One of the key speakers Dr Peter Barnard at one of the seminars stated that the growth expected in Asian markets is huge due to continued population and economic growth. Dr Barnard said “Food consumption in Asia is expected to double by 2020, In China consumer studies have shown that people are prepared to pay for food safety and that they do look at the country of origin of the product.” I hope Murray Greys can be ready for this demand.

The next Beef Australia event will be held in Rockhampton in 2015 from May 4th to 9th . Start planning for your holiday and/or exhibition of cattle for this growing and well recognized event. It would be great to see a couple of Greyman cattle at the outdoor site along with the Murray Greys in 2015.