The Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association (TFGA) has welcomed the announcement by the state government that they will provide assistance of $30 per head to beef producers to get their cattle to Tasmanian abattoirs for processing.
The assistance, announced today, is the result of a campaign by King Island Beef Producers Group Inc., the King Island TFGA Meat Council Representatives and JBS Swift, to reduce the cost of shipping the cattle to north-west coast ports.
TFGA’s King Island branch chairman, Rod Graham, is a member of TFGA’s Meat Council. He said that the closure of the island’s JBS abattoir a year ago means an average of 1000 head are sent off the island each week. After freight equalisation, the cost per head to ship the cattle to either abattoir is $110-$115, which is unsustainable.
“Since the closure of the abattoir, about half the cattle are shipped each Sunday to Devonport for trucking to the JBS abattoir at Longford on Monday, where they are killed separately that day to maintain of King Island Beef brand. The other half are shipped to Greenham’s at Smithton on a smaller vessel,” Mr Graham said.
Local beef producer and TFGA meat council member, Roger Clemons, added that “We had been seeking $60 per head assistance,” he said, “so we have half what we wanted and now we would like the other half through greater freight equalisation payments. They haven’t gone up since 1996.
“But this will make a big difference. If you ship 500 cattle, it means another $15,000 that you can spend on the farm.”
Ms Davis said the abattoir closure was as significant to the island’s producers as a natural disaster.
“In an instant, their future was jeopardised,” she said.
“Under the resulting partnership agreement between the government, the industry and the authorities on the island, we have all tried to introduce efficient alternatives, though, of course, the ultimate solution would be the reopening of the abattoir or a new one in its place.”
TFGA chief executive Jan Davis
