Australian cow numbers have grown and stabilized after a drought a few years ago, and global demand for beef with stagnating supply has meant good prices there, as they are in Canada.
Bryce Camm, chair of Australia Beef, a similar event to Canadian Western Agribition, attended the show in Regina, Sask. recently. His family is involved in a feedlot in southern Australia and runs a large number of cows in northern Queensland.
“We join about 30,000 females a year and take a lot of those through to our feedlot down in the south and into a couple of beef brands as well,” he said during Agribition.
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He says that unlike North America, the number of cows in Australia has been growing since a drought ended a few years ago. However, that growth has more recently leveled off.
The beef price is strong in Australia, says Camm, although not at the high of a couple of years ago.
“Prospects are pretty strong for global beef, particularly on the back of a declining U.S. cow herd,” he said.
Camm attended Agribition with Australia Beef chief executive officer Simon Irwin to learn from the Canadian event.
Agribition and Australia Beef both attract a similar number of people, are held in cities of similar size and have similar challenges, Irwin ways. That’s why the two shows have signed a memorandum of understanding to continue to work together.
Irwin says there’s no larger beef event than Australia Beef in the Southern Hemisphere, so he’s happy to come a similar-sized event at Agribition to learn.
Australia Beef has a large beef show, with more breeds than at Agribition, and it also has more focus on cooking demonstrations, concerts and community events than does Agribition.
