The Forrest family’s Harvest Road, one of the largest integrated agribusinesses in Australia, and the owner of Harvey Beef, announced a $50 million investment to develop an intensive cattle feeding hub in Western Australia.
Part of the Minderoo Group, Harvest Road is an impressive privately-owned ag investor with a portfolio containing five properties totaling 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres). Additionally, its Harvey Beef business is active in both domestic and more than 30 foreign markets.
The project, which sidesteps the term “feedlot”, will be developed on a collection of mixed farming acquisitions totaling 17,000 acres (7,000 hectares) in Koojan in the central midlands wheat belt region. With input and guidance from world-renowned animal behaviorist Professor Temple Grandin, the operation will focus on a “free range inspired model”, and will implement innovative cattle husbandry to result in the “radical improvement to animal welfare”. By using self-feeders in grazing paddocks, Beef Central reports that the Koojan site will allow for much greater freedom of movement for its cattle than traditional operations.
“Today’s food consumers are food citizens,” said Greg Harvey, CEO of Harvest Road Group. “They express their right to have ethically produced foods that are clean and traceable. This project will build an international reputation for West Australian beef that delivers a high-quality product to consumers with confidence.”
Grass to Grain
Initially, the property will contain up to 40,000 head of cattle at a time, with about 20,000 involved in the hub’s 100-day grain feeding program, with a target of supplying 60,000 head of cattle to the Harvey Beef processing business per year. Eventually, there are plans to double these numbers.
To feed a herd of this size, the backgrounding and cattle grower project also calls for the building of a large-scale feed mill to process the 100,000 tons of grain that will be sourced from local farms each year, and will include a renewable energy plant to provide the required power.
“Western Australia by rights should be producing the highest quality beef in Asia,” said Harvey.“We have a unique provenance as one of the most isolated and pristine agricultural regions in the world, and WA needs to capitalise [sic] on that.”
The Koojan project is being touted as not only the “most innovative, cost efficient and high-quality cattle operation in WA” but also will help solve the challenge of inconsistent supply for Harvey Beef throughout the year.
As Harvest Road shifts its focus from grass fed to grain fed cattle, the Koojan site is expected to begin backgrounding activity this year, and expects its first cattle group to complete a 100-day grain feeding program by the end of 2020.
“For years now, Western Australia has missed many opportunities in the top end of the beef market, by failing to develop and consistently supply premium products that add value to our local cattle trade,” said Kim McDougall, general manager for livestock at Harvest Road.
The chosen location in Australia’s grain belt will not only avail Harvest Road of a steady supply of feed grain, but is also ideally located to take advantage of the north-to-south cattle channel linking Minderoo’s cattle breeding properties in the north, the Harvey abattoir, and other cattle producers, according to Beef Central.
“Now, the world can taste the true quality of our locally produced beef, and we can keep the processing on shore to create jobs, ensure the ethical treatment of our animals and give producers a real alternative when they come to sell their cattle,” said McDougall.
-Lynda Kiernan