Tasmanian beef producers will be learning how to improve the genetic superiority and reproduction rates of their herds at a "Bred Well Fed Well" workshop at Landfall Angus farm.
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The Bred Well Fed Well workshops by Meat and Livestock Australia have been running within the sheep industry for ten years and are now being offered for the beef industry.
Up to 180 farmers from Tasmania are participating in this week's workshops, including 35 at the Flinders Island which had already been held.
La Trobe University Agricultural Sciences researcher Jason Trompf said the workshops were aimed at improving breeding and profitability within the beef industry.
He said compared to mainland Australia, which had suffered from a few off seasons, Tasmanian farmers with productive beef herds were well-placed to take advantage of a national opportunity.
"The current national herd is at a 30 year all time low, so it is a real challenge within the beef industry to rebuild the herd and stimulate turnoff rates," he said.
"After a run of better seasons Tasmania is really benchpressing the rest of the country and it can be a real land of opportunity for the Tasmanian beef producer looking forward for the next few years ... the purpose of the workshop is to lift their sights and show them what they need to do to capitalise on that."
Dr Trompf said the first part of the workshop looked at genetics and coached farmers to develop a clear, breeding objective, while the second part looked at nutrition regimes.
"We coach farmers to have a clear, breeding objective; what are their goals, what are they trying to achieve in their operation, and what can they do with genetics and the bulls that they buy to make progress against those goals," Dr Trompf said.
"It is about trying to bring some discipline and focus for the harvesting of better genes into their beef enterprise ... to use available tools to go out and select the better bulls that drive genetic gain in the herd."
He said the objective is to breed a balanced, high-performing animal that is fit for farm and fit to meet meat market specifications.
"They must have a systematic plan where they interrogate the bull catalogues against their performance targets, they go to the saleyards with their shortlists, they target the animals they've outlined and visually appraise those animals."
Dr Trompf said another way to improve herd efficiency is to tighten heiffer joining lengths.
"Rather than having the ages of calves all spread out, the average age of your calves is older."
