SMART marketing and rewarding producers is paying off for Tasmania's only major cattle feedlot, writes ANDREW MOLE
It may have been a humble start, with only a couple of hundred cattle on feed, but it has grown to become the island's only major cattle feedlot.
Officially the Tasmania Feedlot Company, the Powranna-based business is licensed for 16,000 head on feed, has a capacity for 13,500 and currently runs about 9000.
But that still accounts for the giant's slice of the Tasmanian commercial Angus market.
More importantly, it also puts a floor in all Angus saleyard prices.
Managing director Andrew Thompson said his feedlot began when Takuya Okada, then chairman of Asian retail powerhouse Jusco, was in Tasmania almost 40 years ago.
"He fell in love with the place and saw a real opportunity for a quality cattle feedlot business," Mr Thompson said.
"So a Japanese partnership of Jusco and Itoman joined local stock agents and processors and TFC was born in 1972 with a couple of hundred steers on feed.
"By the 1980s the locals had dropped out and TFC was feeding up to 4000 head before Itoman hit financial trouble in the 1990s and Jusco took full ownership."
But Mr Thompson said it was the appearance of mad cow disease in Japan which made TFC "the flavour of the month".
All of a sudden he said Jusco wanted thousands of 200-day fed Angus, and they "wanted it tomorrow".
"Then we quickly ramped up to 9000 and for a couple of years around 2001 to 2005 we did max out at 13,500 head on feed," Mr Thompson said.
A dedicated paddock buyer, TFC looks for cattle at entry weights between 400kg and 450kg.
But they will buy at the annual calf sales - and keep a very close eye on everyone doing the same - to cover future needs.
Those animals are backgrounded on TFC's own (and with contract backgrounders) paddocks until they reach entry weight.
Steers have to be vaccinated pre-entry, either by the owners or the feedlot will work with them to ensure standards are met.
Like all feedlots, bovine respiratory disease is an issue but one Mr Thompson thinks they have a tight rein on.
"The more a steer spends in the feed pens and the less in hospital pens the better for us," he said.
"We want them putting on an average 1.3kg a day across the 12 months, with feed from our own mill and mixer, and they have to be in peak condition to do that."
With the exception of some grain, all the feed is Tasmanian.
Cattle go for slaughter at about 700kg with the turnoff about 300 head most weeks.
They go to Swift at Longford or Greenham at Smithton where they are boxed as chilled primal cuts.
The offcuts and processing meat is frozen and also shipped to Japan.
"They don't waste a thing there, they do things with meat we would consider very creative," Mr Thompson said.
"The Angus breed and TFC have grown together over the past 38 years. So has our owner, which has now merged to become Aeon, the largest retailer in Japan. When we launched the feedlot, Tasmania was all about red cattle with small lines of black. Today it is the opposite, and I think we had a lot to do with that.
"Also, the Angus has progressed from being a dumpy animal to one with a large frame which you can get 700kg of meat on."
Mr Thompson said while they valued estimated breeding values, for them structure is king.
He said without good legs and feet a steer would struggle in the feedlot environment.
Feet are essential for coping with the often wet conditions at TFC and "700kg is a lot to carry around without good legs and structure".
Temperament is also a major player, with so many animals living so closely together the calmer the steers the better their performance.
"We track weight gains on vendor lots, breeders in particular want that data, and look for a marbling score between two and three," Mr Thompson said.
"The Japanese like white fat and meat a cherry red colour with some marbling.
"One of the keys to the success of this product is its marketing. When I was there last week (in Japan) Aeon butcher shelves had TVs running looped vision of our rolling green countryside, clear fresh streams and snapshots of the feedlot and talking about Tasmanian Grainfed Angus Beef.
"They also run a picture and signed statement from the Premier of the day which confirms TFC has no GM or animal proteins in its feed, does not use HGPs or antibiotics. You can't believe how important this is with Japanese consumers."
TFC has a Japanese general manager, Akira Miyamura, who has been in Tasmania four years and just had his visa extended for another three years.
He plays a key role in the business, managing throughput from the retail shelves in Japan back to acquiring cattle in Tasmania.
"We offer winter and spring contracts, and we do set the price here, but that is essential to keep mainland buyers out of our market," Mr Thompson said.
"Charlton and Rockdale will both have a go here if they are short of cattle and we need to be on the ball to ensure they do not cut into our requirements, which means working closely with our producers and rewarding them for the right products.
"We are fussy buyers but we produce a quality product. For example, we have tried the F1 strategy with Wagyu but that did not work out for us."
However, their meat will still sell for about $60/kg, with some primal cuts commanding even more.
"That's not in the league of the fullblood Wagyu in Japan but it still puts us in the mid to higher end of their market and that's exactly where we are aiming," Mr Thompson said.
