Producers plead for another abattoir

The workshop heard from Wandering Clover Fed Beef owner and Rural Woman of the Year award nominee, Nicola Kelliher, who spoke about what she had learned through developing her own signature beef brand, as well as the problems she had encountered with abattoirs.

Ms Kelliher, originally from England, said it had always been a dream of hers to export her beef to the United Kingdom, so her family could enjoy it.

However only one abattoir holds a European export licence, WAMMCO in Katanning, and this is for sheep meat only - curtailing Ms Kelliher's plans for expansion into these markets.

Workshop host and CY O'Connor Foundation deputy chairman Alan Peggs said V&V Walsh in Davenport was in the process of becoming EU accredited to export lamb and beef.

In the Peel region specifically, there was only one operational abattoir, the Karnet Prison Farm, which has a restricted licence and limited capacity.

Mr Peggs said an abattoir in Waroona, formerly known as Clover Meats, was undergoing renovations and may be operational in the near future.

Brian Jacobson, operations manager for the Waroona abattoir, said he expected the abattoir to be open for lamb and goat processing by the end of June.

"It will take a little bit longer to get the beef up and running but I'd say in 12 months it should be capable of doing 500 head a day," Mr Jacobson said.

He said a new export licence for the facility would be up to a new owner, however he imagined having an export licence valid for the United States.

The abattoir process was the only portion of the Wandering Clover Fed Beef supply chain which Ms Kelliher didn't have control over.

She discussed the need for an abattoir in the Peel region with WA Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis who agreed.

Ms Kelliher said being able to produce more than required for domestic consumption in the Peel region alone, it was key that an abattoir in this area had an export licence."She's (Ms Jarvis) very open and recognises the need for this, as well as the fact that it needs to be export quality to meet those export markets," Ms Kelliher said.

Another problem she had processing her Hereford beef cattle was that abattoirs at the time were only processing grainfed animals for the supermarket supply chain.

She said a small sized abattoir in Picton wouldn't take 75 head a week.

"It would be wonderful to have an abattoir that is open to all niche producers, that is not restricted by commercial interests," Ms Kelliher said.

"We need to make sure we are able to have independence in a way that is structured, but also in a way we can work collaboratively together," she said.

Helen Humphreys, Carlaminda Farms, Ferguson Valley, said her beef business sold sides or quarters of carcases direct to customers, about six head at a time.

One of the challenges Carlaminda Farms has encountered is around its preference to hang meat for seven days.

"We believe that it gives the meat good time to rest, to get much better quality meat from that animal," Ms Humphreys said.

"The main issue we have is, those cool rooms at butchers are prime real estate, and they're our animals.

"We find that we have to be really picky with the butchers that we choose, so that we can dictate that seven day hang time," she said.

Ms Humphreys said Carlaminda Farms was looking at building a boning room on the property, however this opened another can of worms in terms of regulation.

Completing their own boning would offer another level of traceability.

Mr Peggs said an abattoir in the Peel region must be cost-effective, capable of accepting small numbers, as well as large seasonal numbers, and cattle above a 300 kilogram carcaseweight.

"It needs to be traceable, you want to make sure you receive the cuts of beef from the animals you sent in, to maintain your provenance," he said.

Mr Peggs said producers needed to be able to receive carcase data linked to an individual animal, such as carcase weight, marbling score and Meat Standards Australia grading.

This would provide beneficial feedback for farm management practices, and breeding strategies, but also enable another means of marketing beef based on nutritional value.

"You can really hone down your genetics this way," Ms Kelliher added.

"These carcase attributes can be important tools for marketing your product and demonstrating an objective value," Mr Peggs said.

Mr Peggs analysed the costs of different abattoirs, including a mobile abattoir.

He said over 12 months, the cost of slaughter had gone up by $60-90 per head.

The mobile abattoir was the most expensive option, costing about $260/head.

"There'd have to be some big benefits to justify the extra costs with the mobile abattoir," Mr Peggs said.

However, once the numbers were boiled down into dollars per kilo at the checkout, it turned out to be more profitable for producers to sell their own branded meat.

"As we have heard, getting to that end is quite a long journey, and takes a long time and effort," he said.