FLETCHERS International Exports purchased Ronneby Park on Youngs Road, near Beaufort River, last month for $1.9 million, with the intention to develop a 108 hectare sheep feedlot facility accommodating 90,000 head.
The farm totals 424ha across two lots.
A development application for approval for the feedlot facility was submitted to the Woodanilling Shire and outlines the intention of the family-owned WA business to supply sheep, held for 35 days, to its Narrikup abattoir.
It is expected that the feedlot, which will operate seven days a week, will employ 12 full-time staff and several additional contractors.
Between four and six road trains will leave the feedlot each day to supply the abattoir.
Fletchers International Exports owner Roger Fletcher wouldn't commit to an actual cost on the development of the feedlot but was committed to spending what it was worth to ensure the best facility possible, with the highest standards.
Mr Fletcher commented to Farm Weekly at the Make Smoking History Wagin Woolorama recently that the focus was on his customers globally and the need to ensure consistent supply in a variety of cuts to meet the demand of those markets.
He said there were several options in WA that could have been suitable for a feedlot but every site had its positives and negatives.
The positives of this site outweighed its negatives.
Ronneby Park has a good supply of underground water for livestock, which will be provided at four litres per head per day, equalling a total extraction of 131 million litres per annum.
"We bought the family farm at Beaufort River to develop it," Mr Fletcher said.
"To grow out better lambs so that we can do different cuts."
Mr Fletcher said the bigger the lamb the better because it was "too expensive" working with 18 kilogram lamb carcasses.
The proposed feedlot would have 130 pens designed to hold up to 600 head of sheep each, there would also be a biosolids stockpile area for sheep manure, a separate biosolids stockpile area for carcase management, sedimentation and evaporation ponds for the capture and treatment of effluent runoff, a sheep processing area for drop off/pick up and drafting of sheep and an area for feedlot facilities/operations which will include truck turnaround areas, grain and silage bunkers and feedlot machinery and equipment.
The feedlot will be built into the landscape which already includes a conservation area around it to the north and "revegetation will occur in the valley (depression) south of the feedlot site", according to the application.
The development application also seeks approval for employee quarters and supporting facilities, totalling 16 rooms.
The development footprint for the feedlot and supporting infrastructure is about 108ha.
"The balance of the site will continue to be used for predominantly livestock grazing," the application said.
Fletchers is a private, family-owned company which operates two world-class processing facilities at Dubbo, New South Wales and Narrikup.
The two plants have a combined processing capacity of more than 90,000 sheep and lambs per week, equating to 4.5 million head per year.
Due to the drought conditions experienced across many of Australia's sheep producing regions last year and confidence returning among restockers as rain has fallen, competition in the market has soared, pushing prices up.
As a result processors have had to pay more to secure stock.
The purchase of Ronneby Park and development of the feedlot is expected to take some pressure off the sourcing of sheep numbers in WA and provide better quality control for the business.
