Capacity constraints at one of the last abattoirs offering contract kills have left WA's independent meat industry at risk of collapse.
Western Australia’s cottage meat industry is at risk of collapse after one of the last large abattoirs accessible to small producers decided it could no longer process their meat.
Dardanup Butchering Company last week gave paddock-to-plate farmers who have been using its abattoir four weeks’ notice it would cease custom kills.
It's understood capacity constraints at the Westpork-backed joint venture have affected the processing of its own products, which underpin the 270-staff operation.
DBC was understood to be the final abattoir offering the service in the area.
The decision has left small producers scrambling to find alternative options weeks out from opening ham orders for the busy Christmas period.
Bridgetown-based Allington Family Farm has used DBC to kill its lambs and pigs, which are sold at farmers markets in Perth on weekends.
Zoe Allington said the decision had put nearly half of the farm’s income at risk.
“We have animals slaughtered there every single week throughout the year,” she said.
“This closure is coming at the worst time of year.
“Coming up towards Christmas, as our production increases … we have 60 pigs or so that need to be slaughtered between now and the end of November so that we can fill orders we will have for our Christmas hams.
“There is a small number of micro-abattoirs killing very small numbers [which are] going to be absolutely inundated; they are already fully booked.”
Mrs Allington said four weeks was not enough time to find alternate arrangements for small farmers.
Custom killing is a practice whereby farmers can send their livestock to an abattoir but retain ownership of the meat, enabling them to market and sell products directly under their own brands.
The method is popular for regenerative and organic farmers, and generally manifests in premium products with messaging around providence, traceability, animal welfare, and feed.
The normal practice is for abattoirs to process livestock and on-sell it to buyers such as supermarkets, restaurants, and overseas clients.
Most facilities these days also offer strong traceability credentials.
The lack of custom-kill options leaves affected producers mulling lengthy and costly drives to the Wheatbelt or battling over limited capacity at small-scale processors.
The decision is also likely to affect butchers and restaurants that sell paddock-to-plate products as a point of difference in their stores and on their menus.
Allington and foodie hotspot Glenarty Road, near Augusta, are among the most prominent businesses affected by the decision.
Dardanup Butchering Company was founded by Toodyay farmer Frank Panizza in 1950 and has about an 8 per cent market share in WA.
Industry background
Abattoirs are a high-volume, low-margin game, and in WA have been subjected to substantial supply and price fluctuations in recent years.
Craig Mostyn Group, Western Meat Packers Group, and Harvest Road are the major abattoir owners in the state.
Fletcher International, Livestock Shipping Services, and WAMMCO also run abattoirs in WA’s south.
WAMMCO and Craig Mostyn Group have been investing in new facilities to increase capacity and storage.
Western Meat Packers bought Australind’s mothballed Goodchilds abattoir in 2022 for $1.1 million.
An abattoir once owned by Gina Rinehart, which has been closed since 2009, in Waroona sold for $2.2 million in July last year to Indpac Trading Australia.
Developer Craig Graham and information management specialist Stephen Litton are listed as directors of that company.
Westpork took a 50 per cent stake in Dardanup Butchering Company in 2022.
On the other hand, Minerva Foods closed its Esperance abattoir in late 2023, citing a review into the facility.
Business News has tried unsuccessfully for two months to contact Minerva to ask whether the live sheep export ban would spur the Brazilian multinational to reopen the facility.
Its Tammin abattoir is still operating.
Up north, the Kimberley Meat Company appears to have been saved at the last minute by Canadian investment vehicle AIMCo, which has offered to buy it for $8 million, a fraction of what it was valued at in 2022.
The Carnarvon goat and lamb abattoir has been gathering dust since 2004 and has been on the market since 2021.
In terms of options for paddock-to-plate farmers in the South West, the small Southern Brook Abattoir was opened in 2018, the first such facility to do so in about three decades at the time.
Small abattoirs in Gingin, Keysbrook, and Corrigin have limited capacity to support the volume of businesses now looking for a new facility.
The state government operates training processing sites at the Karnett Prison Farm in Serpentine and WA College of Agriculture campuses.
The setback comes as WA’s sheep farmers weigh up their future after being burned by the federal government’s looming live sheep export ban.
Processing has been touted as a solution that would deliver more money and jobs to regional communities, but there are serious doubts about the industry’s ability to achieve this without more government support.