Blair and Josie Angus' bold processing vision became a reality on Tuesday when 10 head of cattle walked up the ramp of their multi-million dollar facility.
Signature Onfarm is a greenfield, beef processing plant built to strengthen the value of the meat processing supply chain on Sondella Station, situated 65 km north-west of Moranbah.
The facility is export accredited and capable of servicing up to 200 head of cattle a day when fully operational by March 2022.
Angus Pastoral Company run 35,000 head of cattle across 160,000 hectares in central and northern Queensland.
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While they and existing Signature Beef suppliers will utilise the facility, there will be opportunities for new customers to come onboard.
The processing plant includes staff living facilities which are 1.5kms from the facility with a 70-person maximum, rural accommodation village and support services.
Mrs Angus said they had secured the right number of staff to get underway this week, which would take them through to Christmas.
"We will have a full team onboard by March 2022 with the majority living onsite," she said.
After years of setbacks and dedication to meet industry requirements, the new abattoir will also give other producers in Central Queensland access to a local, state of the art custom kill service.
"The design of the facility was very much ourselves and it is designed to be able to be very bespoke in how it processes, particularly in the boning room as we had firm ideas on what we wanted," Mrs Angus said.
It was 18 years ago that the Angus family began selling their own branded beef products, creating Signature Beef to market it.
Today customers span 30 countries and the height of Australia's eastern seaboard.
Signature Beef have been service brokers for quite some time.
Building their own abattoir reduces the company's risk of continuing to outsource processing and expands the opportunities of their home region.
A big part of the bold vision for the Angus family was to bring beef processing back to the bush and get young people from the cattle industry to broaden their knowledge of the supply chain industry.
"This will really suit kids from the bush and from the cattle industry to get involved beyond the farm gate and to see what it looks like in a smaller and more bespoke and more-like-home environment," she said.
The on-farm facility will minimise the need for cattle to be transported 1250 km away to the Northern Meat Co-operative at Casino, NSW.
Mrs Angus said the services of the Northern Meat Co-operative at Casino will still be used by Signature Beef to supply clients in southern Queensland.
Minister for Agriculture Mark Furner said Signature Onfarm was an exciting venture.
"They already produce quality meat and I have enjoyed it on many occasions," he said.
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Helen Walker
Helen is the Toowoomba-based journalist who loves nothing better than covering anything horse sport related, however she covers all commodities and personality yarns. Over the years she has lived in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Longreach and Roma filing stories for the 'bible of the bush'. Contact 0459 827414.
Helen is the Toowoomba-based journalist who loves nothing better than covering anything horse sport related, however she covers all commodities and personality yarns. Over the years she has lived in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Longreach and Roma filing stories for the 'bible of the bush'. Contact 0459 827414.
