NORTH EAST AND GOULBURN MURRAY
Part of the Farmer Group Rural Newspapers Covering Victoria Published since 1986
FEBRUARY, 2018
FONTERRA INVESTMENT PAGE 5
www.farmernews.com.au
MACHINERY
BULL AND ON FARM SALES
PAGE 17
PAGES 18-22
Mitta Valley welcomes new beef co-operative A trip to a feedlot several years ago convinced us that 100 per cent grass fed beef was the way to go. - ROBIN SCALES
PLANNING AHEAD: Earlier this month, John Scales saw his dream of a locally run beef co-operative become a reality, with the formation of the Mitta Valley Beef Co-op. He is pictured with granddaughter, Evie Glass.
AS of this month, the North East is home to a new beef co-operative. Mitta Valley Beef Co-op was officially formed on February 4, with a membership base that is expected to include up to 20 families from the local area. Almost 12 months in the making, the Mitta Valley Beef Co-op will herald a new approach to farming for those in the North East – with prices guaranteed in three month blocks. The brainchild of Robyn and John Scales, the co-operative started off as a modest farming operation. “We initially wanted to sell wholesale carcasses direct to market,” Robyn said. “But we were approached by a local butcher, who asked for six beasts a week. “We couldn’t supply the six beasts year round; we knew there were other families in the valley that could help, but we also knew we had to maintain the quality. “It was at that point that
BY RHYLL McCORMACK rmccormack@ nemedia.com.au
we thought we need to set up a proper group.” The Scales family are fifth generation farmers, and run 300 Hereford cows on their property, Banimboola, in the Mitta Valley. Keen members of the Mitta Valley Landcare, they have always appreciated their lush riverside grazing – and the quality it produces. “A trip to a feedlot several years ago convinced us that 100 per cent grass fed beef was the way to go,” Robyn said. “More than 80 per cent of the beef in supermarkets comes from cattle that have been fattened on grain in a feedlot; those cattle become unnecessarily stressed, and are subjected to unnatural, often unethical conditions.”
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