Angus Programs - World Angus Forum

Millah Murrah Angus

Millah Murrah Angus is a seedstock beef cattle business near Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia.

Millah Murrah Angus is owned and operated by Ross & Dimity Thompson and their family.

Thei mission is to produce leading genetics for the commercial beef industry in harmony with sympathetic land use practices.

Whilst mindful of the growth and carcass requirements of down stream players in the industry, the primary focus of the Millah Murrah program is maternal function.

Millah Murrah has set a suite of sales records this century. Four times bulls have raised the individual price record for the breed with Woody W100 at $41,000 in 2003, Kingdom at $150,000 in 2015, Paratrooper at $160,000 in 2019 and Rocket Man at $280,000 in 2021. In all but three years since 2011, Millah Murrah has achieved the highest averaging bull sale of all breeds throughout the nation, raising the Angus breed average bull price record eight times in the process. The benchmark was most recently set at $34,221 for 118 bulls at their 2021 sale, and $43,633 for 128 bulls at their 2022 sale. These results doubled as world records for a bull sale over 100 head of any breed. Millah Murrah set a pair of Australasian industry records at their 2017 female sale where 234 breeding age females sold to average $13,709, topping at $190,000 for Prue M4. At their 2023 female sale, 170 head sold to a top of $140,000 at an Australasian and most likely a world record average of $29,730. At the 2024 bull sale 123 bulls sold to average $27,277 as the highest averaging bull sale of all breeds for the year.

Frank Mitloehner

Dr. Frank Mitloehner is a professor and air quality specialist in cooperative extension in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis. As such, he shares his knowledge and research, both domestically and abroad, with students, scientists, farmers and ranchers, policy makers, and the public at large. Frank is also director of the CLEAR Center, which has two cores – research and communications. The CLEAR Center brings clarity to the intersection of animal agriculture and the environment, helping our global community understand the environmental and human health impacts of livestock, so we can make informed decisions about the foods we eat and while reducing environmental impacts.

Frank is committed to making a difference for generations to come. As part of his position with UC Davis and Cooperative Extension, he collaborates with the animal agriculture sector to create better efficiencies and mitigate pollutants. He is passionate about understanding and mitigating air emissions from livestock operations, as well as studying the implications of these emissions on the health of farm workers and neighbouring communities. In addition, he is focusing on the food production challenge that will become a global issue as the world’s population grows to nearly 10 billion by 2050.

Frank received a Master of Science degree in animal science and agricultural engineering from the University of Leipzig, Germany, and a doctoral degree in animal science from Texas Tech University. Frank was recruited by UC Davis in 2002, to fill its first-ever position focusing on the relationship between livestock and air quality.

Sustainable Livestock, Sustainable Future: Why we need a toolkit of solutions to improve sustainability in Animal Agriculture?
Meat and dairy will continue to be an essential part of diets around the world, but as demand increases so does pressure to reduce the environmental impact of farming. There is no single solution that will allow the global community to meet demand and improve sustainability in our food system, we will need a toolkit of solutions to meet the needs of producers in various regions and production systems.

Simon Corah

Futurist, Entrepreneur and Expert in Human Behaviour and Trends

An expert in human behaviour and trends, and a successful entrepreneur, Simon Corah has over 25 years of experience developing evidence-based strategies for business transformation.

Drawing on his exceptional international experience and expertise, backed by extensive research, he develops strategies that enable businesses to transform themselves to capture emerging markets.

Simon is a keynote speaker who goes above and beyond to research your current business, your competition, and your customer base to tailor presentations specific to your needs. In essence, he’s not just a keynote speaker; he is a consultant backed by a team of researchers who can direct the future of your business.

Simon worked for the Saatchi brothers for 25 years from 1983 to 2007, starting as a graduate trainee in London, before moving to Sydney after five years. He became MD of Saatchis in Taiwan (1991), then CEO of Ireland (1992-95) before returning to Australia to found M&C Saatchi Australia in May 1995.

Over the following 12 years, Simon built M&C Saatchi up to become a top three Australian Agency, with a range of blue chip clients, 300 staff and $ 50 million in revenues.

Following the sale of M&C Saatchi to AIM on the UK stock exchange, Simon left in 2007, to start Growth Mantra.

Growth Mantra is a boutique strategy consultancy focused on growth. The agency forecasts markets to spot growth opportunities, then develops and brings strategies to life. As an example of its work, Growth Mantra won an international pitch to re-invigorate McDonald’s and as a consequence, developed and implemented the ‘Create Your Taste’ campaign. Growth Mantra is also the brains behind the Woolworths Metro concept. The organisation has worked with other blue-chip companies including AGL, Bupa, Coca-Cola, Diageo, NAB, Optus, and Tabcorp.

An impressive keynote, Simon tailors his presentation, ensuring it is absolutely relevant to where your business is now and where it needs to be to meet your future market.

Dr John Stika

As president of the Certified Angus Beef ® brand, John Stika leads a team dedicated to earning the trust of consumers around the world by consistently delivering the best beef experience possible. Through a vision focused on connecting people from pasture to plate, John and a passionate team work to grow demand for the branded beef and increase the value of registered Angus cattle, enhancing the lives and businesses of farming and ranching families and all who touch the brand along the way to the consumer.

John’s love for Angus cattle, quality beef and the entire community of people involved from gate to plate is rooted in his experiences growing up on his family’s small farm in central Kansas. His passion grew as he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal science and meat science, respectively, at Kansas State University, and then his doctorate in meat science from the University of Kentucky. Celebrating more than 22 years with Certified Angus Beef, John joined the team as assistant director of feeder-packer relations in 1999, and then director of supply development and packing. Moving on to vice president of business development, he led efforts to collaborate with domestic and international distributors, grocery stores and restaurants to grow their beef sales before becoming president in 2006.

With expertise and experience across the beef community, John has served as a board member of the American Meat Science Association, currently serves as a board member of the North American Meat Institute and actively engages in beef quality initiatives and related committees of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. John received the Outstanding Young Alumnus award in 2010 from the Kansas State University College of Agriculture and the Achievement award from the American Meat Science Association. John credits his success to strong mentors, a deep faith and the opportunity to collaborate with innovative and caring teammates, cattlemen and industry partners throughout his career and life. He and his wife, Deanna, have three adult sons and reside in Creston, Ohio, where they care for a small herd of Angus cattle and enjoy time with friends and family over great steaks.

Dr Stika will be speaking at The Gallery Breakfast.

Dr Mariana Caetano

Dr Mariana Caetano is a distinguished academic and researcher in the field of Ruminant Nutrition, currently serving as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide. Her academic journey began at São Paulo State University in Botucatu, Brazil, where she completed her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science, graduating in December 2005 with the prestigious “Merit for Best Performance/Academic Records in the Department of Livestock.”

In 2008, Dr Caetano completed her Master of Science in Agronomy at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, collaborating with commercial feedlots and the National Association of Lot Feeders (ASSOCON) to investigate starch losses in Brazilian beef cattle. Dr Caetano pursued her PhD research focusing on the effects of flint corn processing methods and roughage levels on Bos indicus bulls’ finishing performance. Her academic excellence was recognised through an international scholarship, allowing her to further her studies as a visiting PhD candidate at Kansas State University. Following her PhD in 2012, Dr Caetano was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Brazil. In 2013, she expanded her academic pursuits by working part-time as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Roseworthy Campus of the University of Adelaide while also engaging with PIRSA-SARDI. Her dedication and expertise led to her full-time appointment at the University of Adelaide in 2015, and appointment of Associate Lecturer in 2017. As a Senior Lecturer, Dr. Caetano coordinates the Animal Nutrition and Metabolism courses and serves as the Program Director for the Bachelor of Science (Animal Science). She represents the University of Adelaide in the Zero Net Emissions Agriculture CRC (Livestock Program) and leads the Nutrition and Methane Abatement Program at the Davies Livestock Research Centre.

Simon Quilty

Simon graduated from a bachelor of Melbourne University Agricultural Science in 1987. His first job was as a research officer with the Victorian Farmers Federation Pastoral Group for four years and was involved with bringing farmers and the meat processing sector together in Victoria with initiatives like establishing a direct shipping service from Victoria into Japan to open up the Victorian chilled beef market in Japan.

Simon moved into the meat trading and processing sector in 1990 working for Louis Dreyfus Australia for four years – spending part of his training in North America – at the time LDC was the largest single buyer of export beef in Australia. Simon’s career moved to ConAgra Foods who at the time owned Australian Meat Holdings and DR Johnston where he worked for seven years and once again resided overseas – his involvement with meat trading remained until 2010 with his own trading company and established his own brand names in various countries.

In recent years Simon has moved into the risk management sector and developed derivatives and meat swaps that are used by companies in both North America and Australia on managingto manage price risk in processed meat and livestock. Simon spent two years working as a consultant with FC Stone in started starting up the livestock and meat desk and in 2015, co-founded the Southern Aurora Group.

Today he is an independent meat and livestock analyst and also brokers swaps on behalf of large financial institutions in Australia and the US and brokers physical meat products around the world (namely from Australia, NZ and India), working with large international companies that have interests in China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the US.

In 2022, Simon was awarded a Churchill Fellowship, and he is currently overseas doing this research. The project’s aim is to look at methane reduction schemes in the livestock sector around the world with the aim of rewarding farmers for lowering methane. He is travelling to 11 countries which include the US, Canada, Portugal, Spain, and Germany. Netherlands, Belgium, France, England, Ireland, and New Zealand.

He returns to Australia in mid-May and is planning on a report to be written by August this year on his findings.

DOWNLOAD Programs

Contact Us