COLES beef cattle contract-holders claim they are yet to see any direct evidence of a price increase for the absence of HGP in fed cattle, which is already leading to productivity declines and the need for longer feeding to bring cattle to target weights.
Last week, one supply contract-holder said he was now having to feed his non-HGP Coles cattle 10-15 days longer to hit target weights, at his cost.
He said daily gains were down by 0.2-0.3kg/day, which represented a considerable decline in gain over a 60-70 day program.
Coles/Australian Country Choice (ACC) advised suppliers that as of September 1, no feeder cattle should be implanted with HGP, in order to meet the November 1 company deadline.
However, many suppliers have, in fact, eased back on implant use in advance of that schedule.
The company said it did not intend to change its feedlot exit weights in the post-HGP era, but instead wanted suppliers to adjust management regimes to maintain current weights.
That could entail three to four weeks longer in the backgrounding phase and six to 10 days in the feedlot, it said.
ACC also claimed boning room yield trials conducted so far suggested non-implant carcase yield loss was "nowhere near" the $20/head figure some had earlier forecast.
The specific impact of HGP sacrifice on recent Coles non-implant fed cattle is not easy to pin down, however, persistent rain over the past two months in many lotfeeding areas in the east has had its own moderating effect on rates of gain.
The HGP issue was part of a broader cost/price complex, driven more by current seasonal conditions and the general shortage of feeder cattle due to major herd rebuilding.
Only six weeks ago, suitable feeder cattle were about 170c/kg over east, but had now gone past 200c/kg, representing a rise of better than $80 on a 320kg feeder calf.
On top of that, finisher ration price had risen $15/t in the past four weeks as grain prices had jumped.
In response, the Coles contract price for October did not go close to covering those additional production costs, and any HGP recognition, if it existed at all, had disappeared, one contract-holder said.
Some Coles contract-holders last week said the company's October supply grid, due to start this week, had probably made some attempt to recognise the HGP sacrifice.
But the recent explosion in store cattle prices in the Eastern States, in combination with rising feedgrain prices, had largely overwhelmed that adjustment.
