A STUDY by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and Dairy Australia found growing dairy beef into domestic and overseas markets offered new opportunities to dairy farmers.
It also showed the quality of dairy beef was of a standard equal to traditional beef.
Since deregulation, the number of dairy cows exported has risen from 20,000 to over 90,000 in 2021.
The MLA report found dairy opportunities needed to be found and the concept of dairy beef fit the bill.
Earlier this year, New Zealand milk company Fonterra announced it was introducing a no-kill policy for calves.
Its policy states calves are to be raised and sold for veal to meat and petfood processors.
The MLA is of the opinion that while such a policy doesn’t exist within Australia, the sale of calves for veal needs to be examined and recommendations made whether this was a viable option for Australian dairy farmers.
The board of eastAUSmilk have established a calf management committee to explore these opportunities.
EastAUSmilk co-CEO Shaughn Morgan said meetings had been held with representatives from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, to find ways in which to grow this as a viable market.
“We will continue these discussions and discuss ways in which veal and dairy beef can be sold into overseas markets from Queensland.”