Anna Plains, Reid River and Llanarth Pastoral Company all expanding cattle feedlotting operations outside Charters Towers

An extra 14,100-head of feedlot capacity slated for the Charters Towers region as beef producers adapt to high meat prices. See who’s expanding.

The business of beefing up beef is experiencing some rapid growth of its own in the Charters Towers region.

In November there were three different applications before the Charters Towers Regional Council requesting approval to create or upgrade feedlot facilities.

When combined, these three applications total an extra 14,100-head of feedlot capacity.

The rise in feedlotting isn’t new, with a 25,000-head facility proposed in Calcium, outside Townsville, in 2019.

Anna Plains received council approval for its 935-cattle feedlot near the Dalrymple Saleyards on December 7.

Alongside Anna Plains, Reid River and the Llanarth Pastoral Company are putting plans into motion to capitalise on the increasing year-round demand for high quality beef.

The largest of the three proposals is the Llanarth Pastoral Company’s which seeks to expand the capacity of the Kenny cattle feedlot from 999 standard cattle units (SCU) to a whopping 11,000 SCU by 2025.

A SCU refers to a fully grown 600kg animal.

In the Llanarth Pastoral Company’s application to council, it states the massive upgrade would have an “invaluable economic benefit” to the region and is an important step in the overall expansion of the intensive agriculture industry.

The Llanarth feedlot will be a standout if approved not only for it’s sheer size, but because it includes the construction of a massive curved roof to supply shade and airflow to all new cattle pens.

The curved barn roof style is used a lot in Australia – particularly in the dairy cow industry – to provide cool shade and airflow. Picture: DALE WEBSTER

The Anna Plains feedlot will be built at 202 Florence Road, Southern Cross – formerly a short-term drought feeding paddock on the property owned by Kennedy Pastoral Trust.

Tom Kennedy said the high cattle price was behind the decision to build.

“At the end of the day we’re getting $3/kg whereas people were being paid $1.80/kg in 2014,” Mr Kennedy said.

“In South Australia, Victoria and NSW any feedlot under 1000 SCU doesn’t need to have a license but you do in Queensland, so the residents should feel very safe that everything is being looked after.”

Reid River Export Depot is one of the biggest pre-export quarantine facilities in Queensland, but the business is seeking to construct a 3075 SCU feedlot to diversify income.

RDC Engineers director Rod Davis has been assisting both Reid River and Anna Plains with their applications.

“These (applications) are a reflection of the buoyant state of the lot feeding industry right now. I’m doing a lot of projects across QLD and NSW,” Mr Davis said.

Mr Davis said a lumpy live export industry and high cattle price is driving pastoralists towards lot feeding.

“In live export, cattle come in all at once and you feed them for 10 days or so, then they go and you wait for the next ship. If another ship doesn’t come for two months, your assets (yards and feeding infrastructure) are being under-utilised,” he said.

Originally published as Anna Plains, Reid River and Llanarth Pastoral Company all expanding cattle feedlotting operations outside Charters Towers