The Meat and Livestock Industry

Australia is a major player in the global meat and livestock industry with the majority of meat produced in Australia exported around the world. According to Meat and Livestock Australia, the value of the off-farm beef and sheep meat industry in Australia was worth more than AU$27 billion in 2019.*

This is an industry that has existed in Australia since the arrival of the First Fleet. It continues to grow, with ever-increasing global demand for Australia's sustainable and safe meat products. In today's commercial and regulatory environment there is a constantly growing need for detailed and accurate information to support everything from livestock breeding and welfare to food services and retail store operations in overseas markets - with consumers demanding an increasing level of transparency about the food they eat.

Data42 has the detailed knowledge and expertise needed to understand how information flows along the whole meat-and-livestock supply chain, working with big data along its many, diverse parts. This know-how enables Data42 to provide solutions that meet the complex needs of our many clients.

One of our clients' key requirements is to create a whole-of-supply-chain view. At Data42, we meet this requirement using 25 years of proven supply-chain-information-management models, big-data analytical tools and the latest data management technology.

*(Handbook of Australian Beef Processing 2020, Handbook of Australian Sheepmeat Processing 2020).

Consulting to the Meat and Livestock Industry

Data42 - through Management for Technology Pty Ltd - has been providing supply-chain traceability and information-management consulting services to the Meat and Livestock Industry for more than 25 years. Much of the research and the projects we have completed are published as industry reports, videos and other presentations (review our library to see some of these reports).

We often participate in collaborative research, where multiple disciplines are brought together. We design and construct research projects to evaluate an idea or to determine the answer to a question - with solutions that are original, innovative and often unexpected - utilising the latest technology with creative applications.

Interactive training programs

The Meat and Livestock Industry is based on handling animals, with each and every one of those animals being different. In the world of meat and livestock, processes are continually variable, with different sizes, weights, shapes and market requirements constantly changing across the industry. That means training resources must have a high level of flexibility and variability to suit any requirements - it's not like building a bicycle, where each component is known and easily defined.

Our interactive training systems have the flexibility to suit the complexities of Meat and Livestock Industry requirements. We are able to deliver training content online, via download or as an installable application and often utilise interactive quizzes and videos produced by Data42's Initmedia.

Animal Health Data

Animal Health Data (AHD) is Australia's leading industry benchmarking, feedlot health and production analysis system. The AHD system collects data for 75% of the cattle from feedlots in Australia, representing more than 1,000,000 head on feed. The benefit for those feedlots submitting data is the ability to have weekly access to this huge feedlot-benchmarking and health-performance reporting service. The AHD system, when authorised by our clients, integrates feedlot production and health data, livestock vendor data, slaughter data and MSA grading data.

This collective dataset undergoes multifactorial analysis, with the results reported to our clients - providing answers that would otherwise be forever hidden. Data42 operates the Animal Health Data system in partnership with Quirindi Feedlot Services and Bovine Dynamics.

Meat Messaging

The Meat Messaging system is an industry program for the creation, sending and receiving of attestation statements and compliance declarations for the global trade of meat products (cartons/cases, carcases, carcase portions, pallets, bulk packs and containers). Meat Messaging assists exporters, importers and regulatory authorities with authentication, verification and traceability of meat products.

The Meat Messaging system does not replace existing regulatory requirements - it assists and supplements them. All cartons/cases, carcases, carcase portions, pallets, bulk packs and containers are identified using the GS1 standards. Data42 operates the Meat Messaging system, with AUS-MEAT administering the program on behalf of the Australian meat industry.

Find out more at: meatmessaging.info

Meat Cold Store

Conventional warehouse and sales-order systems lack the necessary features for effective and efficient management of meat products.

MeatColdStore.net is a commercial portal that provides small meat wholesalers with a low-cost online inventory management and sales-order system.

Typical requirements for managing meat products include the need for customers to order in carton quantities and be invoiced in kilograms, where the weight can only be determined at the time of loadout.

Other requirements include the need to track every carton for unique weight measurement, as well as production data such as dates.

Cartons can also go from chilled to frozen inventory, making inventory management difficult. Data42 owns and operates the MeatColdStore.net system.

myMSA

Meat Standards Australia (MSA) is a grading system proven to take the guesswork out of buying and cooking Australian beef and lamb. It was developed by the Australian red meat industry to improve the eating-quality consistency of beef and sheepmeat. All products identified with the MSA symbol have met strict criteria to ensure they achieve consumer expectations for tenderness, juiciness and flavour.

Data42 (through Management for Technology Pty Ltd) first worked with MSA in 1997 in the development and technical operation of data collection systems and large-scale databases. Today, the mymsa.com.au system has over 20 million grading records and more than 50,000 users.

Horse Records

Horse Records is the only Australian compliance software system for businesses with horses.

A 2022 ALFA Innovation Award Winner, it meets Australian biosecurity requirements and specific state legislations for recording and reporting horse movements, through the online system and the app.

Data42 developed - and maintains - the Horse Records online system for ten of Australia's top feedlots.

Find out more at: horse-records.com.au

Meat Research

Meat Research helps you build strong solutions to collect offline data anywhere, whether in the slaughterhouse or the paddock. Using cloud computing, data can be collected offline and will sync automatically when you reconnect. It has been tested and successfully implemented for Australian Country Choice, Meat and Livestock Australia and the CSIRO.

For more information head to meatresearch.net