22 OCTOBER 2024: ACC-supported research into animal welfare was recognised at last week’s national BeefEx awards.
An MLA study into short duration lairage at ACC’s Cannon Hill processing plant was named runner-up in the Communicate your Research competition.
University of New England (UNE) honours student Holly Speers accepted the award, presented on the main stage at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane.
She and her research technicians Sarah Carter and Hayley Archibald managed data collection and analysis during the project, which included trials across multiple plants and cattle – including 2000 short-fed cattle from ACC’s Brisbane Valley feedlot.
The young researchers, led by Associate Professor Peter McGilchrist, found that shorter lairage times of between two to four hours increased carcase weights by 2.11kg compared to the normal 16 to 24 hours in a smaller dataset from 450 cattle fed at UNE’s Tullimba feedlot.
They also swabbed the hides for micro such as E.coli and total viable count. They found lower counts on short-lairage animals, reducing the risk of carcase cross-contamination.
Their report concluded that the shorter lairage increased hot standard carcass weight (HSCW) by minimising dehydration and muscle glycogen loss without any risk to food safety.
“Shorter lairage duration improves efficiency across the entire supply chain,” said Holly, adding that more research is ongoing to validate the findings with more domestic, short and long-fed cattle.
The results provide winter-based evidence alongside a similar MLA project that found summer herds yielded up to 7.4kg more HSCW after short lairage. That study also suggested that shorter lairage could deliver environmental and sustainability benefits via reduced emissions intensity per carcase (estimated as a 1.2% reduction in emission intensity equal to 0.34kg CO2-e/kg).
MLA estimates short-duration lairage was practiced on approximately 15% of the grain-fed beef turnoff during the 2023 financial year.
The Communicate your Research award, sponsored by Bovine Dynamics, provides students an opportunity to share their research in relevant intensive animal and veterinary science disciplines. Students delivered an oral presentation and poster to share their research.
The UNE lairage study team (L to R) Sarah Carter, Holly Speers. Peter McGilchrist and Hayley Archibald.
