Biloela sends 125k pigeons to Sydney yearly, but can't keep up with demand

The Stringer family of Biloela run Aussie Squab, a farm and processing plant that sends around 125,000 squab (young pigeon) to Sydney and Brisbane from 10 suppliers across the Callide Valley each year.

The Stringer family has been growing pigeons within a co-op of local growers for decades, but took over the processing facility two years ago.

Enterprise manager Sue Stringer has been working in the family business for twenty years, but took on the management role from her father Trevor in early January this year.

She plans to upscale the processing plant from three to four days per week in an attempt to better match the demand from her city-based wholesalers, but needs more stock.

"My wholesaler can't keep up with demand in Sydney, but there's massive demand all over the country"

Aussie Squab's wholesaler Alan Giang from CCB Group & Co agreed that he was unable to keep up with demand.

"There is massive demand throughout all of Australia, not only in Sydney," he said.

"I also distribute interstate but due to limited supplies I cannot distribute everywhere with high demand. I distribute some to Adelaide but I do not have enough to supply Melbourne."

Ms Stringer said although there were different grades of meat, the price for a top graded product after processing was around $20, however a meal in a restaurant may cost upwards of $50.

Aussie Squab currently trucks their product out of Biloela to Sydney and Brisbane every three weeks, processing around 800 squab per day at their on-site abattoir.

Mr Giang said 95 per cent of the time, he was selling onto Chinese restaurants.

"It's long process, it's not a cheap thing to eat, it's a delicacy.

"Generally they braise it in soy so the flavour goes into the meat, then it's taken out and the skin is fully dried through hanging and they vinegar it when it's dry, then it's deep fired to create the crispy skin.

"It's usually served in quarters or six pieces, but it's cooked whole."

Ms Stringer also likes to consume squab, and does so on the barbecue.

"It doesn't taste like anything else. It's a game meat as they're obviously a game bird. I like it because it's easily digestible protein and they have a nice fat layer on them, which makes them nice and tender."

In addition to the abattoir, the business also grows squab, with around 1400 breeding pairs housed in 74 pens at the two hectare property in Biloela.

Last year they invested in 700 birds from Victoria for their breeding flock for the first time in 30 years.

"That will give us some new genetics to work with here and expand that genetic pool," Ms Stringer said.

Ms Stringer said while Aussie Squab did not have the ability to grow more birds, some suppliers were looking to increase flock size.

She said the best way to increase production was for growers to improve pen management.

Breeding pairs mate for life and can produce anywhere between ten to 22 squab per year.

"They have a double nest box each and they will have chicks in one side and lay in the other side of that nest box and that's a constant.

"If you don't have your pen managed in that way, it's chaos. So you might have a male who's not got a partner and he just disrupts the whole pen.

"For years pen management wasn't done... some growers did it, but a lot didn't.

"They'd just put 20 females and 20 males in and let them go, but they're realising now that having the pen settled and working in mated pairs is much better for production."

Ms Stringer said they are the fastest growing poultry bird, being able to be harvested just 28 days after hatching.

Generally females lay for around five years and can be processed after as a lower graded meat bird that would be used more in soups and stocks.

The squab grown by local suppliers are delivered to the facility the night before processing and taken off feed approximately eight hours prior.

"We keep our suppliers within a 100km radius just to cut costs of fuel," Ms Stringer said.

While Ms Stringer usually doesn't deal directly with the customer, she plans to change this in the next couple of months during a visit.

She plans to talk to restaurants, chefs, and customers about the product.

"I want to get some feedback directly about the product and how much we can grow."

Unlike chicken, squab are sold with their heads and feet intact, and customers are looking for birds with good fat coverage, skin colour, and do not want imperfections on the skin.

"Nothing is cut off because if the oil seeps into the skin during the deep frying process, it will bust open the skin, but customers want the skin intact," Mr Giang said.

With demand up, the difficulty growers were facing was finding the balance between making money despite increasing running costs, while still maintaining excellent quality.

"We've managed to keep a really tight control on quality in the plant, so what we send into Sydney is top quality," Ms Stringer said.