Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) is seeking applications from organisations or partnerships of organisations to co fund research and development opportunities targeting any of the following key strategic themes: automation, animal health and welfare, animal performance & emissions reduction. This opportunity is broad, with the exact scope to be defined by the applicant. As part of this opportunity MLA, via the MLA donor company can contribute up to 40% of the total project cost (not including project administration fees).

Applications and supporting documentation as requested in the RFT must be lodged electronically to tenders@mla.com.au

Request for tender

Summary & Background:

Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) is seeking applications from organizations or partnerships of organizations’ to co fund research and development opportunities targeting any of the following key strategic themes; automation, animal health and welfare, animal performance & emissions reduction. This opportunity is broad, with the exact scope to be defined by the applicant. As part of this opportunity MLA, via the MLA donor company can contribute up to 40% of the total project cost (not including project administration fees).

Project objectives:

1. Complete impact driven R&D in areas relevant to the key themes of feedlot automation, animal health & welfare, animal performance and emissions reductions (in no particular order or priority).

2. Report findings publicly

3. Undertake and report ex-ante & ex-post cost benefit analyses.

Brief project design and methods:

Applicants need to develop and propose clear research objectives, as well as a robust methodology to achieve the project objectives, and this should be outlined in the MDC application. Please include a description of the development cycle required for the proposed product/materials in the application. Quality of brief project design and methods to achieve project objectives including adequate partners, resourcing and expertise to facilitate proposed R&D are selection criterion.

If experimental phases involve animals, Animal Ethics approval must be obtained, and maintained for the duration of the project. Methodologies should be appropriately powered from a statistics perspective to detect treatment differences for the experimental units being utilized, and power calculations should be included in the application.

Applications must include a suitably qualified on-site study/project manager with a demonstrated ability to deliver to ensure that project methodology is achieved. On-site study/project managers should be located at the feedlot or research site for the duration of experimental work for the project.