Northern NSW export beef processor and brand manager Bindaree Food Group has completed a deal to toll-process some of its cattle at nearby Northern Cooperative Meat Co at Casino, as part of the company’s extension into higher quality product ranges.

The agreement was announced during a dinner held last night as part of Casino’s annual Beef Week.

Bindaree has been utilising a service kill at Casino for the past 18 months on a more casual basis, but the deal announced last night formalises the longer-term relationship to kill additional cattle at the NCMC plant.

During the period of limited slaughter cattle supply since Australian beef herd rebuilding started in 2021, Bindaree’s own beef plant slaughter capacity was being utilised by three separate service kill customers, limiting Bindaree’s capacity to slaughter its own cattle. That trend was also influenced by the loss of China market access by other export processors – forcing service kill customers to look elsewhere to plants that retained China access, including Bindaree.

Today, Bindaree only maintains a single custom kill client – Coles – with others moving on.

Despite that, Bindaree itself has a growing requirement for slaughter capacity – partly driven by the launch of a new premium brand program, targeting higher quality grainfed beef.

The company’s new ‘The Founder’ brand program (coined in honour of Bindaree’s patriach, the late John ‘JR’ McDonald) will be filled with 150-180-day grainfed Angus, HGP-free cattle, fed at Bindaree’s own Myola feedlot as well as other contract feedyards. The program anticipates achieving marbling scores ranging from 2-5, with the majority in the 3-4 range.

“For genuine beef lovers who want a decent sized, satisfying steak on their plate, I actually think that 3-4 marbling range is ideal, whether that’s in a New York steakhouse or a smart hotel in Sydney,” Andrew McDonald told Beef Central.

Mid-fed grain programs like this have made a strong comeback in Australian brand programs over the past few years, as supply chains look to differentiate more of their product away from more ‘generic’ 100-day feeding programs.

Bindaree’s new ‘The Founder’ brand will be directed principally into export markets including North Asia and North America, with some domestic supply into food service.

The initial expectation is for between 200 and 500 cattle each week.

The upwards extension through the quality chain (Bindaree currently runs a 100-day Angus program as its lead product) will see regular weekly kills at both Casino and Bindaree, depending on other processing commitments.

At last night’s launch, Bindaree drew attention to the fact that the company had its earliest origins as a service kill client at the Casino plant from 1981, via its Yolarno Pty Ltd wholesale business. That came long before the McDonald family’s purchase of the Binderee Beef plant in 1995.

The new contract signed last night commits Bindaree to a minimum three-year service kill with the Casino Food Co-Op, providing a financial injection and extra jobs for the area.

“Casino was our very first home, and the company’s first ever products came out of the Co-Op,” Mr McDonald told last night’s dinner.

“Although now we have facilities across Australia, the Casino region continues to play an important role for us in both supply and production, and this agreement is a further extension of that long and warm relationship,” he said.

Mr McDonald said the beef processed at Casino would also be used in the company’s other new line of products, Bindaree Butchery, to be sold across Australia and internationally as well.

“This is the latest step in a significant expansion by Bindaree, which also includes around $60 million in recent and upcoming investments in plant and equipment. “Together, our additional expenditure in Casino and our own capital works at our Inverell facility and elsewhere will bring great benefits for regional NSW beef producers by making us more competitive more strongly on global markets,” Mr McDonald said.