Peechelba Beef

Technology

At Peechelba Beef, in addition to our own highly skilled and experienced staff, we contract specialist veterinary and nutritionist services from leading Australian experts in their respective fields.

Our rations include rolled, tempered wheat and barley that have been treated with a digestion-enhancing, natural enzyme.

Matt George, Nutritionist

Nutrition Service Associates is the largest international feedlot consultancy firm dedicated to intensive cattle nutrition and animal performance management programs.

NSA operates in Australia from offices in Kenmore (Brisbane), Qld. NSA provides full time access to nutrition and cattle performance technical support with staff conducting regular site visits to client feedlots around Eastern Australia. These visits are the platform for the assessment of cattle performance, cattle programming, feed quality, milling, bunk delivery and employee education. From each of these visits, a constructive, yet critical report is forwarded to management to permit ongoing feedlot performance improvement.

Moreover, the association with NSA includes access to additional technical support (if required) from nine specialist feedlot nutritionists (consulting to over 18% of US production) and academia (three Professors) held on retainers by NSA in the United States, updates on relevant cattle research, topical issues, and of possible importance to many Australian feedyards, carcass evaluation and data analysis relative to Australian Supermarket, Korean and Japanese beef quality issues. Aside from our extensive field experience, NSA personnel have a presence (and therefore knowledge of new product development) on many US pharmaceutical company technical review boards, US National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Australian Veterinary and Meat Industry consultative committees. Moreover, we employ independent academics and biochemists to evaluate feed products, test bonding capabilities of chelated trace minerals and other issues of relevance to keep NSA staff informed.

Recently, Nutrition Service Associates has focused on the development of feedlot data monitoring and performance diagnostic systems. Since 2001, extensive feedlot performance (with appropriate incoming shrink adjustments) and feed intake benchmarking is being conducted. Additionally, this program has been developed to monitoring feedlot performance relative to incoming cattle characteristics, property of origin, back-grounding growth data, and, benchmarking carcass data relative to Augment and Meat Standards Australia carcass grading languages.

Kevin O'Sullivan, Vet

Kev Sullivan was born and raised on the Darling Downs in Queensland. He graduated from The University of Queensland, St Lucia with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc) in 1981. Kev worked in western Queensland on the BTEC programme and spent a short but interesting time in dairy practices in the northern districts of Victoria before settling in a mixed practice in Allora. In 1986, Kev moved to Bell on the northern Darling Downs and started Bell Veterinary Services.

In 1986, a swine consultancy practice commenced, servicing pork producers on the Darling Downs and in 1989, Bell Veterinary Services commenced feedlot consultancy. Bell Veterinary Services has grown to a four-vet practice and now consults to a number of feedlots both small and large in eastern Australia.

Kev has presented at many conferences and meetings over the years including the Australian Veterinary Association conferences, Beef CRC meetings and Australia Lot Feeder Association conferences.

He also conducts workshops and has the full training programme for feedlot livestock staff.

In recent years, he has been both a guest lecturer and external examiner (cattle and swine) at The University of Queensland Veterinary School (St Lucia).

Though intensive livestock production is his passion, he has many other interests including cricket, playing the piano, cooking and restoring classic sports cars and has an appreciation for fine wine.