SAM Kekovich's lectures to the world on why we should eat more lamb are making many beef producers angry and frustrated.
Especially given that prices for lamb and mutton are at record levels and show no signs of retreat.
Even though the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator, currently 323c/kg carcass weight, is up 40c/kg on its December low, it is still 10 per cent below the pre-global financial crisis rate of October 2008.
Australian Beef Association chairman Brad Bellinger says it's not good enough.
ABA is blaming supermarkets, processors, Meat and Livestock Australia and the peak industry bodies.
ABA's campaign for righting the wrongs has five goals.
Details of three of those five goals have already been released.
They include lifting the producer's share of the Australian beef consumer dollar to 40 per cent, equal to that received by the rest of world's beef producers and considerably up on ABA's claimed current share of 26 per cent.
ABA also wants to ban imports of beef from countries affected by mad cow disease, and it wants MLA's National Livestock Reporting Service to publish a weekly "real" cattle price graph, indexed to 2000 prices.
Goals four and five are yet to be released, but don't be surprised if they include more powers for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the replacement of the industry Meat Standards Australia program with a US-type beef grading system.
ABA's campaign will win support from many specialist beef producers.
But this week MLA managing director David Palmer hit back.
"I would be the first to admit that we are going through a disappointing slump in cattle prices," Mr Palmer said. "But how long this is going to continue, I can only speculate."
Mr Palmer said three overriding factors were having an enormous bearing on prices and farm profitability.
The first is the run of poor seasons.
The second is the lack of discretionary spending in Australia's premier markets of Japan and the US.
And the third is the relatively high exchange rate.
Mr Palmer rejected the notion prices were at an all-time low.
"Back in 1975, cattle prices were 32c/kg dressed and we were selling sappy vealers for $30 and $40," he said.
"It was also a time when per-capita beef consumption was 66kg, or nearly double the current rate."
Mr Palmer says ABA's claims about the farmgate share of the retail dollar were not correct. He suggested 30 per cent, rather than 26 per cent, was closer to the mark.
He said the US price for fed or finished 150-day cattle was relatively constant at US85c/lb, which in Australia terms is 205c/kg, about what Australian feedlot cattle are selling for.
Mr Palmer said retail prices in both countries were also about equal.
He quoted prices for the big Costco supermarket chain, which now sells in Melbourne.
"In August 17 last year Costco was selling MSA 100-day rump for $8.99/kg," he said. "On the same day, a choice sirloin in the US stores was selling for $9.05/kg."
Mr Palmer said the big price advantage to US producers resulted from cheaper grain prices and lower overheads in feedlots.
He estimated this advantage at $100 per animal.
