Opportunities in Meeting Market Specifications

There is a major opportunity available that a large number of livestock producers miss out on. When you sell animals that do not live up to your customer's specifications, the customer will discount the price they pay.

Most processing plants express these specifications as "the grid". It usually involves an expected weight, and an expected amount of fat cover. Too heavy, too light, too much fat, or not enough fat, all then attract a discount from the agreed price. Other factors such as dentition, meat colour, and so on can also play a role.

In an ideal world, customers would like to think that livestock can be made in a standard size with uniform attributes. In the real world, there is going to be variation, and it is this variation that needs to be managed to keep customers happy. A failure to meet market specifications also means a variation in the price you receive. How can you manage this to your advantage? To bring out one of our trusted mantras: "You can't manage what you don't measure."

• Understand your livestock, track their progress and condition, and match animals to the market specifications. There are multiple markets available to you, but you need to understand your individual animals. Your customer wants to know, and will pay you based on how many individual animals fit their specifications, not an average based on the mob price.
• Review your feedback sheet from the processing plant and add up all of the discounts. Or better yet, import the carcase data back into KoolSoftware so you can review grid performance and carcase scores by sire, bloodline, and other factors in the carcase dashboard to identify opportunities.
• Match your turn-off times to specific market requirements so you can tailor the turnoff. Sapien's weight prediction dashboards help you predict which animals will be ready when, so you can work with your customers on an informed basis.

Variation is what will dominate your decision making of the future. Where there is variation, there is opportunity. Measure it, understand it, and use it.