Poultry processor gets plucky with white meat options

After a decade of consolidation in both the poultry and meat processing industries, there are just a handful of abattoirs left that process poultry for small growers.

Finding one nearby may be tricky.

Tablelands Premier Meats in Canowindra is the only white meat processor in Central West NSW.

The abattoir was established by Stephen and Dorothy Tamplin three years ago to process their own red meat but it wasn’t long until they saw how desperate local poultry growers were for a processing service.

Today, poultry growers from around the state (and beyond) flock to the family-owned on-farm abattoir.

Their business has allowed several people to develop their own.

“We have clients who bring birds from Hay, Condobolin, Braidwood and Bathurst. Some come from the middle of Victoria – a very long way indeed,” Mr Tamplin said.

“Previously, poultry growers had the choice of sending their birds to Kempsey, Sydney or Bega – that’s it.”

He said the disappearance of small abattoirs had taken place for a number of reasons.

“The sad fact is many of the smaller abattoirs which had white meat licences were bought up by bigger operators who then closed their smaller operations so they could focus on their larger facilities aimed at the export market,” Mr Tamplin said.

He said as a rule large poultry growers had an integrated business model which didn’t allow for the processing birds for private clients. 

“The larger poultry processors won’t do private kills due biosecurity risks, product identification difficulties and efficiency reasons.”

Mr Tamplin said the start-up and ongoing costs to run an abattoir were steep.

Prior to opening the business he became a qualified meat inspector and accredited meat safety officer.

“There’s nothing wrong with having very strict health regulation - I fully support it,” he said.

“But there are audits on a regular basis plus annual licensing fees – it gets very expensive.”

Further, the administrative work required to service many small clients was time-consuming, Mr Tamplin explained.

“It’s very important to run a schedule that limits downtime between different clients,” he said.

Where Australia’s largest poultry processing establishment kills and processes 33 million birds per year, or 630,000 birds a week, Tablelands Premier Meats does 2000 to 3000 a month.

It employs up to six staff.

"We don't take up a lot of space, just 95 square metres in total when you combine the slaughter area, dressing and butchering, processing, weighing, chilling and packaging," he said.

Unlike the major processors, the Tamplins don’t specify a minimum number of birds their clients must bring for slaughter.

They charge per bird and can process chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and emus.

“It doesn’t matter to us how many birds you have, we just add them to our schedule,” he said.

They can make value-added products at their request.

On their Canowindra property the Tamplins run cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and their own poultry including chickens, ducks and turkeys.

Their own product is labelled under the Tablelands Premier Meats logo while stock slaughtered for other people is acknowledged as processed by the company.

They sell their own produce at farmers markets in Blayney, Orange and Forbes and deliver to private clients.

From woe-to-go, a chicken is processed at Tablelands Premier Meats in just 90 seconds. The steps include: