The Weekly Grill

IN today's episode, host Kerry Lonergan sits down with regular market commentators Chris Howie and Matt Dalgleish from Ep3, to discuss the impact of recent rain on cattle supply, demand and price, and the prospects for beef heading towards 2027. The pair discuss the recent performance of store and slaughter cattle markets since October rain, export prospects for 2027 under the current tariff and q...

IN today's episode, host Kerry Lonergan sits down with Herron Todd White's Quality Director and specialist agribusiness property valuer, Doug Knight to dissect the current feedlot sale and expansion boom.   Australia's feedlot sector has doubled in size in the past 11 years to 1.66 million by July 2026, driven by vertical integration, strong overseas demand (notably long‑fed Wagyu) and rising inve...

IN today's episode, host Kerry Lonergan sits down with the 2026 Zanda McDonald Award winners: New Zealander Karn Dhaliwal, a former rural banker turned diversified agribusiness entrepreneur who is developing opportunities in dairy beef, and Australian Bryce Neyland, an engineer leading large-scale almond and macadamia projects. They discuss practical farm management, strategic planning, leadership...

IN today's episode, host Kerry Lonergan sits down with Louise Martin, president of the Isolated Childrens' Parents' Association.     Louise explains how rising boarding costs and reduced government support are forcing rural families to leave home for their children’s education. The ICPA is calling for a one-off $24 million boost to the Isolated Children Boarding Allowance to help close the gap and...

IN today's episode, host Kerry Lonergan sits down with one of the keynote speakers at the recent BeefEx conference -  retired Australian Armed Forces Brigadier, Professor Ian Langford.   Prof Langford draws parallels between military leadership and intensive beef production, explaining how discipline, clear objectives, and strong culture drive performance in feedlots, and across the broader beef i...

In today's episode of The Weekly Grill host Kerry Lonergan sits down with a geographically diverse group of lotfeeders attending last week's BeefEx grainfed industry conference, to discuss the current feedlot operating environment, the impacts from the rapidly drying seasonal conditions, grainfed beef trade outlook and the challenges and opportunities they see lying ahead. Among the cohort Kerry s...

In today's episode of The Weekly Grill host Kerry Lonergan sits down with big thinking US lotfeeder, Dr. Kee Jim. Dr Jim was a keynote speaker at Beef Ex 2026. He discusses his company's vision, the challenges, and benefits of building a modern 200,000‑head feedlot in Nebraska.  He covers supply strategies including dairy‑beef programs, impacts of low US cattle numbers, trade and import challenges...

In this week's episode Kerry Lonergan catches up with Professor Derrell Peel of Oklahoma State about the U.S. beef market: record‑high prices amid multi‑decade low cattle inventories, limited herd rebuilding, and the roles of drought, feedlot practices and profitability. Professor Peel also discusses rising imports for lean grinding beef, trade disruptions with Mexico and Canada, Brazil’s growing...

In today’s episode, podcast host Kerry Lonergan interviews veteran cattle industry stakeholder, stock agent and bush poet Dennis Scanlon about his career in Australia’s beef industry — from sale yards and abattoirs to roles with Elders and the earliest days of Computer Aided Livestock Marketing (CALM, now AuctionsPlus), and its predecessor, New England Livestock Computer Marketing (NELCM). Along h...

Western Australian cattle vet Enoch Bergman has become a prominent campaigner for better understanding and management of pestivirus - a disease costing the industry an estimated $100 million each year. In this interview with podcast host Kerry Lonergan and Beef Central's Jon Condon, he talks through latest approaches to disease management and prevention, including greater levels of pesti screening...

In this episode Kerry Lonergan speaks with Paul Holmes a Court of the Heytesbury Group about his company's purchase of Livestock Express’s 11‑ship fleet, the strategic reasons behind the acquisition, and how it supports the northern live export trade and the broader Australian beef In May,  Heytesbury took delivery of 11 livestock vessels previously operated by Livestock Express , in a significant...

Host Kerry Lonergan and live-trade veteran Patrick Underwood caught up recently to examine the current state of Northern Australia’s live export trade, covering rising Darwin cattle prices driven by tightening supply, currency pressures from a weak rupiah, and Indonesian market controls. They discuss alternative supplies (Indian buffalo meat), growing interest in buffalo exports, shifts from Brahm...

Host Kerry Lonergan reports from the Brisbane Exhibition as the International Charolais Congress brings around 120 delegates and nearly 270 Charolais cattle to the ring. Interviews with Charolais Australia CEO Colin Rex and breeders from Canada, the United States and Europe cover the breed's role as a terminal sire, adaptability to different environments, market demand, rising carcass weights, and...

Join Kerry Lotting as he interviews Terry Nolan of Nolan’s Meats about his family’s beginnings in a Gympie butcher shop and how hard work, relationships and bold decisions built a major processing business. Terry  was guest speaker at the Queensland Rural Press Club's annual Ekka breakfast in Brisbane this morning - a gathering of more than 800 stakeholders.   Terry and his family are close to fin...

In this episode Kerry Lonergan chats with Mike Stevens, principal of Meridian Agriculture and one of Australia’s leading succession planning experts. They discuss why succession planning must start early, why people and family communication come first, and how legal, tax and ownership structures should follow careful family decisions. Mike shares real-life success and failure stories, common mista...

In today's episode of The Weekly Grill, host Kerry Lonergan chats with regular market experts Chris Howie and Matthew Dalgleish about how current weather patterns — including an emerging El Niño — are affecting feed, regional conditions and livestock supply across Australia. They review cattle and sheep herd numbers, slaughter trends, meatworks capacity, rising lamb prices, the growth of sheep fee...

In this episode Kerry Lonergan interviews Felicity Richards, Chair of FarmSafe Australia, about recent on‑farm fatality statistics, leading causes (quad bikes, side‑by‑sides and tractors), and common contributing factors such as lack of helmets/seatbelts, speed, and unsafe mounting/dismounting. In the lead up to Farm Safety Week, the conversation covers vulnerable groups (older farmers and young c...

Counting down to LambEx 2026, The Weekly Grill host Kerry Lonergan explores booming lamb prices and the new carcass feedback program adopted at GMP Gundagai. He chats with GMP CEO Will Barton about DEXA scans, MEQ probes, GLQ scoring and producer bonuses for premium outcomes. Kerry then chats with lamb producer Jenny Bradley as she shares her experiences with the new feedback program and her opera...

In today’s episode of The Weekly Grill host Kerry Lonergan is joined by Beef Central's Jon Condon as they dial in AusMeat Chair, Allan Bloxsom, to discuss AusMeat’s new, industry-agreed rules for breed-specific content claims that take affect from July 1. The conversation covers how the new export trade descriptions will work (e.g., Angus F1, Angus 50, Angus Composite), verification options (pheno...

This week on The Weekly Grill, host Kerry Lonergan sits down with Simon Irwin, CEO of Beef 2027, to talk about learnings from Beef 2024 and the plans for the next event in Rockhampton; they discuss record attendances, exhibitor demand, and the event's economic impact. The episode covers major challenges and innovations: accommodation shortages and solutions (Airbnb partnerships, Camplify and carav...

Along with eight other young beef industry stakeholders, NSW's Millie Unthank is one of this year's Graeme Acton Beef Connections program participants. In this episode of The Weekly Grill, Kerry Lonergan interviews Millie, Ag Tech Manager for the McDonald family's MDH operations in North Queensland. She outlines her rural upbringing, studies in bioengineering and computer science, and how she move...

In today's episode of The Weekly Grill, host Kerry Lonergan interviews Darren Thomas, CEO of Thomas Foods International, about the company’s growth from family beginnings to a multi-billion-dollar global business. They discuss key issues including China tariffs and trade challenges, the rebuilding of Murray Bridge after the 2018 fire, expansion into the US, goat and seafood operations, feedlot gro...

In this episode of The Weekly Grill Kerry Lonergan interviews veteran cattleman Dick Slaney about his extraordinary career from North Queensland to Venezuela, the US and across Asia. Dick recounts hands-on experiences in live export, feedlots and abattoirs, his role in introducing stunning practices in Indonesia, and reflections on the resilience and changing dynamics of the Australia–Indonesia be...

In this episode Kerry Lonergan interviews respected Australian Cattle Vet Dr Ross Ainsworth about the growing threat of exotic livestock diseases discussed at the recent Wagyu Edge 26 conference in Brisbane. Dr Ainsworth explains how foot-and-mouth disease could abruptly close export markets, devastate herd values and force mass culling, and describes how lumpy skin disease spreads, its impacts an...

In this week's episode of The Weekly Grill Kerry Lonergan speaks with Andrew Henderson of AgSecure about how fuel and fertiliser shortages expose critical weaknesses in Australia’s food system. They discuss diesel as a ‘‘master constraint,’’ the risks of just-in-time supply chains, and the need for a national food security strategy, strategic stockpiles and greater domestic and regional production...