Quality hide processing system

A new system of hide processing developed by the Northern Cooperative Meat Company (NCMC) at their Casino tannery, could deliver premium hides to operators who process stock through their plant. The system allows each hide which passes through the tanning division, Casino Hide Traders (CHT), to be matched to the carcase and the source. A comprehensive recording scheme tracks each hide's performance, quality and yield, allowing graded payments to each supplier/producer. The NCMC system has appealed to Hereford Prime who asked CHT's marketing manager Ian Scher to explain. Chairman Ian Watson said the CHT system fitted well with the company's policy of value-based payments, which already delivered graded payments for beef to HP suppliers through the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) programme. Watson, who is also a director of Meat and Livestock Australia, said at a later interview: 'We have only just become aware of the work done by NCMC, but we are already considering using the hide information to reward producers who have management systems that encourage production of better quality hides. 'We intend to use the comprehensive information obtained by NCMC to pay producers on a body-by-body, hide-by-hide basis. Through the message of more dollars, it will encourage our suppliers to get on top of things like lice, ticks and barbed wire.' Scher estimated that in the case of HP's average kill, a green hide was equivalent to about 8.4% of a beast's liveweight, and on a 425kg liveweight animal, the average hide was worth about A$85 or roughly 11% of the farm gate value. Even with no change in current market conditions, hide value could reach A$100 (US$49.35) for improved quality. In the hide business, as with beef, the emphasis is on yield. Not only do defects reduce the amount of hide available as finished leather, a tannery has to spend more to correct any defects. The difference in price even between an NCMC/CHT classified Grade 3 hide and a Grade 6 hide (which has widespread parasitic damage) was about A$37 on an 425kg animal; a Grade 1 hide from a similarly-sized animal was about A$110, and Grade 7 was around A$46. Scher said most hide damage found at NCMC/CHT was from ticks, but damage caused by lice and mites was increasing despite the readily available treatments. Also rising was pinholes caused by lantana and blackberry. However, barbed wire is still a major cause of hide damage. He added that cattle producers continue to put-up barbed wire fences, but as they are currently enjoying good returns, they should seriously consider reinvesting some of the profits in cleaning up their properties, de-horning, and above all replacing barbed wire.