A group of 16 enthusiastic lamb growers, advisors and agents visited the JBS Bordertown abattoir on 27 March to discuss their operations and tour the facilities. In Australia, JBS purchase and process lamb and beef, and have more recently started with pigs.
At Bordertown, up to 8000 lambs can be processed in one day in two shifts employing up to 600 staff. Many of these staff are temporary work (skilled) visa (subclass 457) workers in order to fill the employment needs.
JBS were very generous with their time, answering grower questions for two hours regarding JBS global business, sourcing lambs domestically, their new brand ‘Great Southern’ supplying export markets and general logistics before being suited up and beginning the tour.
BCG livestock systems officer Alison Frischke said growers walked through the kill floor which quickly takes the live animal to a carcass. Next to the processing room where carcasses (after four days of chilling), are sectioned up into useable portions of meat and vacuum packed ready for export.
“The skill of the workers, and the technology used at various stages throughout the process was extremely interesting. Nifty cutters, air blowers to separate skins from the meat, machines that could cut and pull apart sections, and another that made perfect racks, were some of the implements we saw” she said.
All carcasses are tracked through the process, identified for any undesirable carcass features and butchered accordingly. This highlighted the value of producing a consistent line of sheep that will deliver cuts that meet the quality and specifications sought by the consumers.
All by-products such as blood and stomach organs are used for blood and bone, or manufacturing sausage casings and crab sticks, so nothing is wasted.
The current market position is steady with seasonal conditions likely to influence the future price of lamb. With a large stockpile in cold stores throughout the world the expectation that lamb will again rise to $6.50 is unlikely. It is more likely to hover around the current price in the short to medium term.
Garry Armstrong of Armstrong Livestock Services said that the tour gave the producers a thorough understanding of the complexity of processing.
“How the meat is cut and distributed worldwide is quite complex, so the tour highlighted the importance of quality assurance and fine tuning their own farm business to meet market specifications,” he said.
BCG would like to thank JBS for allowing the Wimmera and Mallee lamb producers the opportunity to see the processing plant.