‘Polly’ honoured for industry dedication

Surrounded by family, friends, industry colleagues and RASWA councillors, Mr Trefort was presented with his award on Tuesday by WA Governor Kerry Sanderson at a luncheon hosted by RASWA president Rob Wilson.

Mr Trefort was recognised for his service to the lamb industry and agricultural education.

Thrilled but humbled, he said he could never have imagined one day being recognised among other WA agricultural pioneers and visionaries in the hall of fame.

“I’ve been a passionate Western Australian for the past 72 years and just wanted to keep agriculture at the forefront,” Mr Trefort said.

“I’m a fourth-generation farmer, my family entered the Narrogin district in 1888 and took up land blocks Number 1, 2 and 3 in 1892.

“It wasn’t easy being first, you couldn’t wait for things to happen you had to make them happen and it’s the mantra our family has lived by ever since.”

Mr Trefort said it was what had driven him to enact changes to the prime lamb industry and to agricultural education in WA – the two sectors for which he was inducted.

“At the time lamb was going nowhere, meat was a by-product of the wool industry and sheep were walking wool factories but weren’t producing great carcases,” he said.

“And the government had imposed a tax of $8.60 per lamb which made it impossible to compete on the world scene.

“We were selling lambs at 12 to 16kg (weight) to the Middle East and no one was making any money,” he said.

“We had to change, to make lamb bullet proof, move away from Merinos and breed something better.

“Like a footy coach, I got good people around me – the likes of John Milton, David Pethick and David Lindsay and we worked on the feeding and the breeding,” Mr Trefort said.

“We asked the consumer what was wrong with our lamb and they said too fatty, too seasonal and not enough meat.

“Our first contract was with Barry Howieson at Bi-Lo.

“We did 250 lambs a week from 11 participating growers and labelled the product as “Fresh from Narrogin farmers.”

“It took off and we doubled the farmgate price from $1.70/kg to over $3/kg in two years.”

The Q-Lamb concept was born and the grower base grew from 11 to 250 farmers, while the lamb kill escalated from 250 a week to 1500 a day, all processed at the Trefort family’s Narrogin-based Hillside Meats processing works.

“Farmers’ contracts stipulated they had to feed the lambs our Q-lamb pellet devised by John Milton and that way we had full control from paddock to plate and could guarantee quality and year-round supply,” Mr Trefort said.

“We increased the size of our lambs from 12 or 16kg to 27 or 28kg and educated the consumer on the different uses for lamb with 57 different cuts from one body.

“Just a couple of weeks ago, a group I now work with sold 500 lambs which averaged 28.7kg, so big lambs and 80pc of their feed ration was carrots from an industry that throws away about 200 tonne of product a week.”

Mr Trefort said early adopters of the Q-Lamb product were Fraser’s Restaurant at Kings Park and The Old Swan Brewery at Crawley.

The company also broke into Singapore, overcoming the New Zealand stranglehold based on the belief that New Zealand lamb was the only quality product available.

On the educational front, Mr Trefort fought to get the seven WA agricultural colleges of the time, including his local and beloved Narrogin Agricultural College, into one entity to improve their teaching clout and efficiencies.

“We had to break down the parochialism and start working together as a combined force because the bigger your group, the greater your strength,” he said.

“Look at them now, all the gear, facilities and diverse learning opportunities they have.

“With the help of CEO Julian Krieg we got more land for Morawa, Narrogin and Cunderdin, kept Denmark alive and it’s now got one of the best robotic dairies and moved Harvey to the Wokalup research centre with more and better facilities.”

Mr Trefort, a current Sheep CRC board member, was on the board of WA’s Combined Advisory Council of Agricultural Colleges for 20 years, including three as chairman, a board member of Meat & Livestock Australia for 14 years and awarded an honorary doctorate in science from Murdoch University in 2007.

He said he was bigger and louder than most which was why he usually became the frontman for deputations and campaigns but he acknowledged the incredible support of many people along the journey, including his family and thanked those that who nominated him for the award.

RASWA is WA’s oldest not for profit organisation and its Agricultural Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to recognise those agricultural achievers whose vision, skill and leadership had a significant impact on WA agriculture.

Mr Trefort is its 61st inductee.