Australian Cattle for International Conditions
The Opportunities in 2011
There's nothing like getting the cows in to get excited about the year ahead.
The calves are looking good and just about ready to wean. With such a mixture of conditions across the country we must think about the tremendous opportunities that lay ahead of us this year rather than focus on the day to day, (and the "it's too hard") mentality that often gets in the way. Our thoughts do go out to those in the east with too much water and those in the west with not enough.
I'm putting it out there. My biggest hope for 2011 is that as a breed we get our voice united and our message clear. A targeted marketing strategy that shows active direction from the Board. It shouldn't be passive acceptance of what ABRI thinks we should do for marketing.
And let's be clear - Marketing is not advertising but advertising can be part of marketing. More ads is not guaranteed to make anyone any money except Rural Press.
The message conveyed through our material and actions should be - Making money because of Murray Greys! - that using Murray Greys improves my business. Sell the profitable traits that are important to the commercial producer. Efficiency, temperament, meeting carcase specs...
There are people out there that actively choose Murray Greys, let's tell more of their stories. But please take care! Avoid using stories of those that have a Murray Grey cow herd and have gone looking for bulls of other breeds (it does nothing for our marketing message believe me!)
Just show some scrutiny in the stories we promote. Ask yourself..
What message is this sending?
In today's technological age, we can all do our bit to contribute to the messages about Murray Greys. We can all be content producers, through our blogs, websites, facebook pages,YouTube and forums such as this one. Wouldn't it be great if all this communication was enabled through our very own www.murraygrey.com.au?
We can revitalise our own websites... They are your shopfront. If you walked past a shop in town that hadn't put anything new in their window for a year, 2yrs, 5yrs would you think they cared about their business or products? It doesn't have to cost much, just your time.
If you want a new website just set up your own blog - go to www.wordpress.com or similar and start writing. They've got a really easy guide. It can be informative not just opinion, and take lots of pictures and video and post that too. Then you could just buy your domain name, redirect it to the blog and 'Wha la! Don't pay the website people anymore and manage it yourself. Then tell us all about it so we know where to look.
(Ask someone in their 20s and they can help you do all this right away and hell, why not write a bit more on here too! :-) Start off by playing with a Facebook business page, it's free and we'll all 'Like' it.
Publish your own newsletter and especially sale catalog online, was just shown a good one on www.issuu.com (search Bundaleer and see what you can do)
All this marketing doesn't have to cost the earth, it just has to be on message. - that is -ONE message. I hope we see more of it, hear more of it, watch more of it and feel more of it in the marketplace.
There are so many opportunities in 2011. Let's take them!
Happy New Year to you
Tags: beef, cattle, grey, marketing, murray
Views: 44
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sam Owen on -
Kate,
Well written, concise, informative and constructive. I would add that the most effective marketing is often the cheapest, one-to-one communication e.g. a follow up phone call, a farm visit or a newsletter to your commercial clients. AND, as a potential customer of any other Murray Grey Stud having a full set of EBVs is the best marketing option for any herd.
Sam.
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Permalink Reply by Rod Hoare & Helena Warren on -
Running a large broadly based advertising campaign would be very expensive and somewhat ineffective. It seems to me that the breed needs a multifaceted strategy that has specific and targeted goals for important sectors that impact on our breed. These might be:
- existing members- communicating, supporting,
- existing clients - newsletters etc as suggested by Sam.
- potential new breeders - breeders of other breeds - identifying their weaknesses and promoting our strength.
- people new to cattle - identify why people pick MGs - temperament, colour etc
- agents - need to remove bias by some agents against greys
Each of these target groups need a different approach. So to use an analogy, rather than using a shotgun we should use a rifle with a telescopic sight.
Most importantly we need to work out a marketing strategy. Perhaps any strategy would be better than what we are doing now.
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Permalink Reply by kay lord on -
Rod Hoare & Helena Warren said:Running a large broadly based advertising campaign would be very expensive and somewhat ineffective. It seems to me that the breed needs a multifaceted strategy that has specific and targeted goals for important sectors that impact on our breed. These might be:
- existing members- communicating, supporting,
- existing clients - newsletters etc as suggested by Sam.
- potential new breeders - breeders of other breeds - identifying their weaknesses and promoting our strength.
- people new to cattle - identify why people pick MGs - temperament, colour etc
- agents - need to remove bias by some agents against greys
Each of these target groups need a different approach. So to use an analogy, rather than using a shotgun we should use a rifle with a telescopic sight.
Most importantly we need to work out a marketing strategy. Perhaps any strategy would be better than what we are doing now.
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Permalink Reply by kay lord on
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Hi All,
Yesterday's reply seems to have been lost somehow.
Iwas agreeing with Rod and Helena and narrowing the targets a bit viz. new breeders, established breeders dissatisfied with their current product and agents.
Thinking it over I feel we should pay some attention to agents because they influence the others. I don't know why they think as they do. Do any of you?
I'm thinking of info brochures addressing their maybe mythological, beliefs. Perhaps some sort of open day just for agents?
Maybe we could offer incentives to breeders to try a MG bull or buy some commercial heifers?
Cheers,
Kay
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Permalink Reply by Rod Hoare & Helena Warren on
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Thanks for the support, Kay.
Yesterday I sent an email to MGBCS which says, in part:
"I thoroughly support doing more advertising but there needs to be a marketing strategy at Board level to focus and direct our overall approach. There may be a strategy in existence but, if so, I am not aware of it.
The Society has a Mission Statement: "To increase the market share of Murray Grey cattle for the economic production of superior quality beef." It is a pretty good aim and is on the bottom of every webpage.But how does the Society plan to do this? There needs to be a strategy.The usual way to start this is by doing a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) .Our strengths are well documented on the website.Weaknesses need to be documented and analysed.Opportunities are there but need some lateral thinking.Threats also require some thought.Once the opportunities are identified and agreed upon we can work towards getting greater market share.The simplistic solution is to get more people to breed MGs but how can this be achieved?Individual studs or BPGs advertising may increase awareness of where prospective breeders could go to get seedstock but does not help them to choose MGs.Where are the opportunities to get more breeders to breed MGs?Two options here:- People new to cattle breeding- Getting existing breeders to change breeds.These two oportunities are influenced quite differently and need different approaches.The commercial breeder is mostly concerned about dollars. When saleyard prices give a substantial preference to Angus and even black Murray Greys, we are fighting a losing battle until this bias is addressed and overcome. Some of this prejudice is driven by agents who advise their clients to get into Angus as they fetch higher prices thereby creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.It is sometimes difficult for a Board to find time to develop strategy when they have limited time and a multitude of issues to consider. Perhaps an option would be to appoint a sub-committee to draft a marketing plan for Board consideration."People choose to breed MGs for various reasons and we need to understand why. What attracts them? I have asked a few. Some like the silver colour, others the temperament. For an example see: http://fw.farmonline.com.au/news/state/livestock/cattle/lifestyle-c...Attracting breeders from other breeds is still the biggest potential market for expansion in our opinion. There are a lot of Angus in our area and they have fetched a premium which the red breeders resent. (This used to be a very strong Hereford area.) We sell most of our bulls to go over Herefords and even to a Devon breeder.MGs are generally well respected by other breeders - we just have to identify the factors that will tip them over the edge and try some Greys. We have a few black bulls available for those that want to breed black baldies - they seem to be popular, particularly as breeders.>Perhaps some sort of open day just for agents?We agree but don't know how to do it! We invited local agents to our last Open Day - one said he would come and didn't. We put fliers in agents offices and one Landmark guy arrived unexpectedly which was good. Some people say the agents will not come to an Open Day if it was held on a Saturday.We find that two things stand out in attracting commercial buyers:- They like seeing Breedplan figures even if they don't fully understand them
- They are not terribly impressed with show results or overfed and fat cattle.
These are just our opinions; it is a pity that we don't get more ideas thrown around. We need to explore all possibilities and options.
Best wishes
Rod and Helena
Cadfor Murray Greys
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Permalink Reply by Kate James on -
Great to see the topic is engaging people and stimulating discussion again.
We need to be a bit careful that we don't perpetuate the Angus myth. I think the existance of any black premium varies hugely by location in relation to some particular feedlots and can quite often confused with a numbers premium. ie got 10 steers to sell, get discounted. got 110 steers to sell same specs - most likely get a premium because it is 2 pens to a feedlot.
Regardless, I'm not here to talk about that because it just reinforces the idea. As a solution, why not pay National Livestock Recording Service to record breed for the year and then crunch the numbers? They record the price of every pen sold at the saleyards by weight, number, muscle and fat scores. just add a breed or colour code. We might find some good stories to tell or at least we would have the evidence of any such variance and where it is located. - we are still guessing! Then we would know what the current situation is.
I was particularly interested in the market segmentation part of Rod's initial reply to the discussion and breaking it down further. Think this is where we need to go to find solutions.
What I'd love to do is start a new strand on the marketing strategy beginning with identifying their needs/characteristics, (a bit like a SWOT but not exactly), then while we are thinking about those we can also add ideas as solutions. Keep replying or cutting and pasting but don't remove anyone's additions of ideas. Will kick it off with a few but the baby is crying again................Keep up the good work everyone. We're all thinking about it.
Existing members-
NEEDS communicating, supporting,
Existing clients - need communication also
Potential new breeders - breeders of other breeds - identifying their weaknesses and promoting our strength.
* Research their preferred communication tools and produce material specific for them with a commercial focus
People new to cattle - identify why people pick MGs - temperament, colour etc
* Produce or direct people to services relevant to starting out such as cattle selection/structure
Agents - need to remove bias by some agents against greys
* need MG advocate to go to ALPA conference or similar and start interacting with the industry
* breeders need to go to sales more often and build relationships with the agents
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Permalink Reply by Rod Hoare & Helena Warren on
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I agree with Kate that we start a new thread which is looking at opportunities. Leave the discussions to this thread.
We do need to consider our limitations prior to developing a market strategy.
For example, there is little point trying to get a feedlot to specialise in MGs when there are not enough MG steers.
We would need to get more breeders to build up the supply side.
In my opinion these are our limitations:
Most existing studs are very small.
Inadequate numbers of breeding cattle for people wanting to breed MGs.
Inadequate supplies of suitable steers for feedlots.
Limited genetic base and no overseas gene pool on which to draw.
Very limited commercial base.
Many large studs established in 1970's & 80's by business people are now being dispersed.
Lack of studs run by large, established farming families to provide continuity.
Many MG breeders do not trust or use Breedplan .
Too few MG’s to make maximum Breedplan assessment and progress in individual herds and nationally.
Many MG auction sales are unattractive to commercial buyers because of lack or low EBVs and no scan / carcase data.Some studs have introduced other breeds in an attempt to increase frame size or muscling producing calving difficulties, unexpected horns or white markings.We can not change things if we don't acknowledge where we are at.
Another group of people that we need to target, or discuss our situation with, are the various DPI officers and other advisors. In my experience DPI staff have a very positive view of our cattle, even if they have some questions about some breeders. They would be worth asking about where we might have some opportunities.
I know, for example, that Greg Meaker at Goulburn DPI has done some profit and loss analyses. These demonstrated that even if MGs are fetching less in the saleyard, a new breeder can buy them more reasonably and end up with a slightly better profit margin. It would be worth getting updated figures into these analyses.
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Permalink Reply by kay lord on
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Rod's summary is really to the point and suggests we should narrow our target to something achievable.
Meaker's resarch is interesting. Mark, who is definitely the numbers man in our partnership, has been saying that our cattle are more profitable but don't let the secret out in case too many people cash in. He says he would make our figures available to update the study even so.
I have observed that our buyers and enquirers are frequently business owners and/or tertiary qualified. They have arrived at Greys by research. I also observe that there is a bit of a feeling out there that "real men" treat Greys a bit like quiche.
This may be some help with how we choose to communicate!
Kay
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Permalink Reply by Neil and Jo-anne Southorn on -
Hi
Have just caught up with this discussion and Neil and I will give it a bit of consideration before we put up our thoughts.
However, I remember a number of years ago the Society spent quite a bit of money having a consultant work with members to design a marketing strategy. The outcome of this should be somewhere? Does anyone else remember this? It never went anywhere but a shame to waste it.
Jo-anne
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Permalink Reply by Neil and Jo-anne Southorn on
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Hi
Neil and I did our bit of thinking over our early morning cup to tea!
We agree with Kate that advertising is only a part of marketing. Multiple avenues need to be utilised eg, newsletters, post, electronic both email and web and publications, face to face at sale’s, shows, field days, open days (Beef Week) and telephone (ringing clients and other cattle breeders).
Occasional advertising shows a presence and a pride in our product however it needs to be regular and fresh.
Promote good news stories, small and large but regularly. Regular Customer/Consumer/Industry networking is required for this.
Quality standards need to be met. EBV’s and actual performance + fertility + temperament + confirmation + style + meat quality + assurance that free of genetic and disease risks. Subsequent dealings with clients need to be done with honesty and integrity.
Agents will sell the occasional bull and may (?) direct potential bull buyers to your sale but they tend to focus on fat and store sale’s. Your relationship with them most probably rests on how many animals you send to these sales. Our agents generally ring us each week and will come out if we ask them. We find that most people are happy to buy their females through the yards but like to source their own bulls direct. We do as well if not better than other breeds at Forbes Livestock Exchange and have often topped the sale.
Focus on Murray Grey’s and stop worrying about other breeds.
We have plenty of genetic choice and we are proud that we don’t have to go offshore. Over the years there has been quite a lot of infusion of other breeds both up front with Angus (often with North American bloodlines) and on the side with Euro breeds (rumoured) so it is even wider than it appears. Matching animals with different strengths so that the progeny are better than the parents is a large part of the challenge and fun.
Establishing the points of difference (not sameness) to other breeds is what will take us forward.
Jo-anne
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