Beefing up the Response to Bobby Calves: Creating Value and - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Beefing up the Response to Bobby Calves: Creating Value and Preserving Trust The Australian Dairy Conference Canberra 2019 Dr Sarah Bolton BVSc (Hons)

A Social License to Operate • ‘The privilege of operating with minimal formalized restrictions’ • Comes from maintaining public trust by doing what’s right • Loss of social license makes it harder for Image source: abc.net.au, 18.6.16 industries to operate

Dairy’s social license under threat • Activist campaigns often target early life processing and at-birth euthanasia of bobby calves Image source: www.veganaustralia.org.au, 17.1.18

Dairy’s social license under threat • Rejection is not just coming from animal activists • A calf as a ‘waste product’ is at odds with wider public’s personal values • The ‘Public’ vs the ‘Consumer’ Image source: www.weekly<mesnow.com.au, 6.2.18

How to maintain public trust • Restrict the flow of information? • Educate the public into understanding? • Re-align industry practices with public values? Organic, grass fed Jersey steers being reared for value added beef in Denmark

Creating and communicating value • The inherent low value of bobby calves is the crux of the issue • No one magic solution • Many partial solutions • Opportunities to create value • Must not ignore the monetary value associated with maintaining social license to operate

Options for value creation – the toolbox • Holstein beef • Sexed semen • Targeted beef over dairy cross • Dual Purpose breeds? • Marketing – Health/Taste – Welfare – Reduced Carbon footprint Belgian blue x jersey steer at Old Hall Farm, UK – Rosé Veal, Jersey Beef?

Jersey Beef – turning challenge into opportunity • 25% slower growth rate • Reduced carcase yield (~ 50%) • ++ IM fat, excellent eating experience • Similarities drawn to wagyu Image source: www.instagram.com/p/BkRswZylycv/, 21.6.18 • Yellow fat starting to trend?

Thise and Ko: Selling the Jersey beef story • Thise – Danish organic Jersey milk processor • Looked to phase out bull calf euthanasia • Created viable alternative – branded grass-fed Jersey Beef product • Sells for higher price per kilo than conventional beef