FORMER founders of the Yeeda Pastoral Company Jack and Vicki Burton have turned away from the generic, high volume, low-priced beef market and are instead looking to offer a premium meat product from their Kilto station in the Kimberley.
Having stepped down as chief executive and sold his family's share of the Yeeda Pastoral Company in November 2019, northern WA's only abattoir at the time which processes about 1300 head of cattle a week, Mr Burton said he found he still had a passion for creating a local beef product, albeit on a smaller scale.
"We want to show that we can value-add Kimberley cattle through irrigation and our feed yards to get a quality product that is equivalent to any of the well-known brand names from the east," Mr Burton said.
The family that bought Kilto station in 1993 and started Yeeda Pastoral Company in 2000, retained ownership of Kilto station when they sold their share of Yeeda and built a small abattoir adjacent to their feed yard to process about 50 head of cattle per week.
"We plan on doing a smaller volume, higher quality product that will service markets around the Kimberley and Pilbara, including restaurants and local tourism operators," Mr Burton said.
With the ever growing popularity of the "paddock to plate" theme supporting the boutique abattoir's smaller scale business model, the family allowed seven to eight months for the approvals process and said they were hopeful of having the abattoir functioning by the beginning of the tourist season in April.
Dealing with the Broome Shire, Department of Environment and Conservation, Western Australian Meat Industry Authority (WAMIA) and Pastoral Lands Board to get their abattoir up and running, Mr Burton said the red tape burdens associated with launching the business were "massive", so they employed a person to work through the regulatory approvals full-time.
"The red tape is very frustrating and I think a lot of people would get to the point where we are now and just throw the towel in," he said.
"The processes that you are required to go through use up a lot of financial resources and time and those resources should be going into the facility and getting the product out there.
"We've been down this rabbit hole a few times so we've budgeted some time for it and we probably have the right attitude towards it.
"You never know if there is going to be a hiccup somewhere, but we are hoping to be operational for the 2021 dry season."
Looking forward, through their joint venture with Kununurra-based MG Company (which represents the Miriuwung and Gajerrong (MG) people - the native title holders of large areas in the north of the East Kimberley region - and their sub-lease arrangement with Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation at Carson River Station, the family also plans to pursue an indigenous-branded premium quality meat product.
Mr Burton said once they received word of a start date, they would start getting their animals ready 80 to 100 days prior.
"A fair bit goes into processing the animals, so we will get the animals on irrigation and on feed, because we want to age and handle the product well," Mr Burton said.
He said plans for the boutique abattoir had already received a lot of good feedback from the local community, with local restaurant owners showing interest in featuring their product on their menus.
"A lot of people wanted to use our product from the Kimberley Meat Company but we were never confident enough to go into that high end space, but with this smaller scale abattoir we will be able to hold our hand on our heart and guarantee our customers a quality item," Mr Burton said.
