No More Pig Processing at Burrangong
NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA - There will be no more pig processing when the B-E Cambell Group's abattoir at Burrangong reopens.There is disappointment at news the Young abattoir will not be killing pigs when it eventually reopens, reports ABC. It means the Young district's biggest pork producers will have to keep sending pigs hundreds of kilometres away for processing.
Around 300 people lost their jobs when Burrangong Meats collapsed in February last year.
The new owner, the B-E Cambell Group, has twice deferred the expected reopening of the plant and now says it will not include a pig floor.
Retired pork producer, Dugald Walker, says his family has been shipping 2,000 pigs a week to Melbourne for processing since the closure.
He said: "We were hoping that that would happen, and maybe we have faint hopes that that will happen some stage in the future but as we understand it's not on the books now."
The B-E Cambell Group has confirmed it cannot have the pig operation certified as halal.
Mr Walker says smaller piggeries can process at nearby Cowra but it is not an export abattoir and does not have a full-time pig chain.
Mr Walker estimates profit losses of two dollars a head for the trip to Melbourne.
He explained to ABC: "It would be a lot better if they were able to killed closer to home because of those dollars, the cost of rolling the truck down the highway and the potential yield loss.
"They can't shut down, there's a huge capital investment in their piggery operations and you can't really wind it. You can tweak it but you can't stop it and start it.
"It has to cost in both meat yield and in freight. I'm not sure of the exact figures, but it would have to be a couple of bucks a head. It's a small cost but with the numbers going through they add up by the end of the year," he said.