Meating the demand, making our cows work for us! 2011

THE formation of a new marketing co-operative is delivering new options and profits for the already successful Silver Gully Square Meaters Stud on the NSW Central Coast.

Silver Gully principal Christine Wade is a well known and respected breeder with an enviable record for producing Royal Show winning cattle. Her focus has consistently been on raising her cattle in a biologically sustainable manner and on the end market – the consumer.

“By utilising the principles of rotational grazing to reduce the burden of weeds, worms and disease, we have minimised the use of artificial products,” Christine said.

“Square Meaters cattle are such easy to manage cattle and by simply following good animal husbandry principles we find we do not need to rely on artificial pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers in our herd management.”
“The quality of our grass fed, free range beef reflects this, in stark contrast to the grain fed feed lot products that are found in the supermarket.”

After enjoying her own beef for years Christine recently formed a co-operative with the Raines family, also at Mangrove Mountain, to sell Square Meaters beef direct to the consumer.

“The Raines had purchased stud stock from us, and we have found that offering potential stud clients a market for their produce increases interest in stud sales.”

”This also guarantees the quality of the product we are able to offer to our clients.”
”Another advantage to forming a co-operative is ensuring a constant supply for our market.”
Christine said that being able to procure and produce enough numbers of quality steers is critical to growing a paddock to plate business.

“A co-operative not only increases the actual numbers of animals available for slaughter but also improves the availability of product throughout the year if the members of the co-operative have different calving times. The end result is that we are now able to send away a constant numbers of steers more frequently.”
Maintaining the quality of the end product is another crucial factor.

“Quality is critical to our operation, our clients are fussy, they know what they want and they know where I live,” Christine said.

“We cannot afford to bring someone into the co-operative who is not going to be able to supply us with quality stock.”
To that end Christine is enlisting members to her co-operative who are her “seedstock” clients and aims to ensure each member brings a particular set of skills.

“We organise the logistics of the client list, transport, sales, delivery etc, Steve Raines is our quality assurance officer and has taken responsibility for ensuring that the animals are properly finished.”

“As we enrol new members into our co-operative, if their animals require finishing we would provide them with that service at a cost. This will be particularly important for first time breeders.”

One of the biggest challenges of any ‘paddock to plate” business is building a customer base.
Christine said word of mouth advertising had proven 100 per cent successful so far but as supply grows she is going to use the Silver Gully website to advertise the meat packages and streamline the ordering process.
“Certainly selling the meat packages is a more lucrative venture than selling stud stock, simply due to the ease of sales. The meat sells itself, and we can’t supply enough.”

Silver Gully meat packages are sold on a quarter-carcass basis at a rate of $12 per kilogram. The meat is presented packaged into serving portions and includes all cuts such as sirloin, scotch fillet, T-bone, BBQ blade, rump and round steak, mince and sausages.

The packages range from 24 to 30 kilograms demanding on the size of the steer.
“On average, a 30kg package priced at $360 will last a family of four 3-5 months.”
”We offer a money back guarantee on our product if the consumer is not satisfied. We have never had an unsatisfied customer and it is with great pleasure that we receive our repeat orders from clients wanting to know when the next package is arriving.”

Proof of the market acceptance of Silver Gully beef came in September when the Central Coast Chamber of Commerce hosted a VIP luncheon for various ministerial departments in the business and tourism industry at Parliament House.
Silver Gully was asked to supply the beef.

“The co-operative was utilised, as alone we couldn’t supply enough beef at short notice for 30 head, and the Raines dug deep and generously handed over their scotch fillet.”

”Why were we asked? Consistent quality is the answer; there was no room for error at this luncheon and when it counted the most, Square Meaters beef delivered.”

The net result of developing end product paddock to plate sales is a much healthier bottom line at Silver Gully.
“The imperative to sell stud animals has lessened with our new income stream,” Christine said.
“If people want to buy our stud animals well and good but we now don’t have to sell cows and calves or bulls to ensure the viability of our operation.”