FOR the first time the Australian Lot Feeders Association is offering exclusive access to leading feedlots through its inaugural BeefEx Pre-Conference tour which will take participants through the heartland of Australia’s grainfed beef industry on the Darling Downs.

BeefEx is the grain fed beef industry’s premier biennial conference, that brings together every facet of Australia’s grain fed beef supply chain. It takes place this year from 22-24 September on thew Gold Coast.

The six-day pre-conference tour offers unparalleled access to leading feedlots, where innovation and best practice will be in action.

Participants will meet with key service providers and industry partners, gain valuable insights into the latest products, technologies and research shaping the future of the sector, and hear directly from the people driving progress across the industry.

The tour is run by Quadrant Australia, an agricultural specialised travel company.

Bookings close Friday 24 July. For more information visit the Quadrant Australia website.

Tour Itinerary:

Day 1 Thursday 17 September – Arrive at Gold Coast

Make own arrangements to arrive at the group hotel, located in the heart of Broadbeach, a central suburb of the Gold Coast.

At 6pm gather for welcome drinks followed by dinner, which will provide an opportunity to meet others in the tour group and receive an overview of the tour program.

Day 2 Friday 18 September – Gold Coast to Brisbane

The overland journey will commence after breakfast. The first stop will be at the Teys Centralised Distribution Centre at the Port of Brisbane.

Commencing in 1946, Teys has always been a company with true family values at their core.

Built by the Teys family, the business has grown by staying true to their word and delivering the best of Australian beef to customers in Australia and around the world.

The Cargill ownership brings global scale, which has strengthened their commitment to Australian producers and customers worldwide.

Lunch at The Norman Hotel, “Brisbane’s Worst Vegetarian Restaurant”.

In the afternoon, spend time at Australian Country Choice’s (ACC) processing plant at Cannon Hill, Brisbane.

ACC is Australia’s largest vertically integrated beef supply chain and is 100 per cent family owned and operated.

Their whole-of-chain operations include seedstock production, cattle breeding, backgrounding, farming and lot-feeding to beef primary processing and multi-specie further processing, value-adding, retail packing and distribution.

This processing site is one of the only beef processing facilities in the world that will slaughter, bone, value-add, retail-ready package and distribute under one roof and in an unbroken cold chain.

Arrive at your accommodation in Brisbane. Dinner will be onsite this evening.

Day 3 Saturday 19 September – Brisbane to Dalby

Travel west into a fertile region known as the Darling Downs.

Spend time at Camm Agricultural Group’s Wonga Plains Feedlot, which has been custom feeding Wagyu and other cattle for 30 years.

This fourth-generation family business has a rich association and involvement in the Australian beef industry.

With a licensed capacity to 21,000 SCU, the feedlot facility is now a high-grade modern complex with state-of-the-art milling infrastructure.

Lunch at the Bowenville Hotel (established in 1857). This hotel has long been a gathering place for locals and travellers.

The afternoon’s visit will be to The North Australian Pastoral Company’s (NAPCo’s) Wainui Feedlot and Farm.

NAPCo began in 1877 when the five founders leased Alexandria Downs Station in the Northern Territory.

Now spanning a vast area of Australia and with a herd of approximately 200,000 cattle, NAPCo is an outstanding Queensland business, typifying the State’s pastoral heritage, pioneering spirit and resilience.

Wainui is a vertically integrated grainfed beef business, with 90pc of feeder cattle being sourced out of the company’s own vast breeding and backgrounding properties further north. The yard’s operating capacity is 14,500 SCU.

Arrive in Dalby, the regional hub of the Western Downs, with an agricultural heart producing cattle, cotton, wheat, sorghum and sunflowers.

This evening, there will be a private dinner function at the Urban Paddock Café, set in the historic Quambie House. The menu will feature Mort & Co’s grainfed beef.

Day 4 Sunday 20 September – From Dalby

Today will be spent in the surrounding area, with more exceptional visits planned.

Firstly, DOM Distribution will host you at their premises, where you will have the opportunity to see and hear about their products that are being utilised by the feedlot industry.

With years of working across agricultural, industrial, and hydraulic sectors, DOM Distribution understand the gear, the challenges, and what it takes to keep things running smoothly.

Next, Strathdale Wagyu Australian Feedlot – Struggle Downs, owned by the Hamblin family for four generations, will host a visit.

Since 1943, the property has provided value to the Hamblin family, now it acts as the finishing operation in the Strathdale Wagyu chain, with innovative feeding and technology as its future.

The fully shedded compost bed barn, provides complete cover for the animals and their rations.

This new and innovative design allows for a 24-hour automated surveillance and ration delivery system to provide the ration – robotic feeding for improved consistency and animal welfare.

A representative from DOM Distribution will be onsite to speak about their Greenline Robotic and Automated Livestock Feeding System.

Lunch at the Victory Hotel Cecil Plains.

The afternoon will provide the opportunity to spend some time at Mort & Co’s Grassdale Feedlot, Australia’s largest feedlot, where scale and innovation combine to create a world leading facility.

Mort & Co is one of Australia’s largest privately-owned beef cattle lot feeding, management and marketing companies, and a leading exporter.

Grassdale Feedlot has a license for 70,000 SCUs and has been further leveraged to include connected complementary operations around cotton seed oil production and manure-based fertiliser manufacturing.

Return to Dalby. Dinner this evening will be in a function room at the Dalby Leagues Club.

Day 5 Monday 21 September – Dalby to Toowoomba

To the northeast of Dalby, a morning visit to the Australian Agricultural Co Aronui Feedlot.

AA Co was established in 1824 and is Australia’s largest integrated cattle and beef producer, with around 456,000 head spread over their properties in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Aronui Feedlot is the oldest commercial feedlot in Australia, established in 1964 and purchased by AA Co in 2002.

The vast majority of cattle on feed are exclusively Wagyu and are internally bred. The feedlot typically operates with a capacity of 16,000 to 17,500 head.

GrainCorp’s Performance Feeds will show you why they have become a major Australian manufacturer of liquid and loose lick livestock supplements.

This key manufacturing plant at Dalby services the intensive beef and dairy feedlot and grazing sectors in the surrounding Burnett, Maranoa, and northern/western Downs regions.

Lunch at the historic Jondaryan Woolshed: aimed at being one of Australia’s premier tributes to the great Australian wool industry and its links to the development of agriculture on the Darling Downs.

Spend the afternoon at Stockyard Beef’s Kerwee Feedlot.

Over 65 years, Stockyard has grown into a multi-generational business producing the finest beef enjoyed around the world.

Kerwee now has a finishing capacity of over 20,000 cattle and spans 1,280 hectares of rich soils and abundant pastures, which feeds their Wagyu and Angus herds.

Overnight stay in Toowoomba. This evening, a farewell dinner in a function room at the hotel, featuring grainfed beef.

Day 6 Tuesday 22 September – Toowoomba to Gold Coast

An early departure this morning. Visit ACC’s Brisbane Valley Feedlot.

While ACC has specialised in producing short-fed, grain-finished cattle and beef, they are starting to diversify their supply chain to include producing high-quality long-fed cattle, such as Wagyu and Black Angus, to further service the demands of customers in the premium beef market.

Next, you will be hosted at the University of Queensland’s Gatton Campus, where a representative will present an overview of the ongoing research being conducted at the University.

An early lunch will be catered at the Gatton Campus. Depart Gatton for the Gold Coast.