Farm-to-plate meat will be harder to buy after one of Western Australia’s largest butchers announced it would stop slaughtering and processing stock for independent producers.

The Dardanup Butchering Company (DBC) told customers last week it would no longer offer “service kills”, effectively freezing some farmers out of the meat market.

“Service killing” is when livestock is slaughtered and processed on behalf of a farmer who retains ownership over the meat.

The announcement has already impacted some producers and raised concerns the change will tighten supermarkets’ hold on meat prices, adding to the rising cost of living.

Shoppers ‘pigeonholed’

Denmark farmer Chloe O’Neill said the lack of competition meant consumers’ options as to where they purchased their groceries each week were being limited.

Ms O’Neill and her husband Patrick run Tingle Ridge Farm in the Great Southern, selling direct to customers and through local butchers.

Mr O’Neill said the model meant the producers could set their own prices and compete with the major supermarkets at the check-out.

“We can offer our lamb for $16 a kilo, meanwhile, chops and cutlets and even legs of lamb, they’re $26 a kilo at the supermarket,” he said.

“In ensuring that we have profitability in selling our product, we’re also offering a much better deal for our customers, because they have that choice.”

Margaret River farmer and restaurateur Ben McDondald said he had been using DBC to butcher pigs and lambs for his farm-to-table restaurant for over a decade.

He said buying third-party pork and lamb would now cost the restaurant 30 per cent extra, a cost that would flow onto customers.

Mr McDondald said he was considering changing the menu to include alternative local produce, and would not buy in meat at an increased cost where the providence could not be traced.

In a statement, DBC said capacity constraints meant the company was experiencing increased demand and had prioritised long-term service customers and its own production over service kill customers.

Producers ‘deeply affected’

DBC’s decision came after Bunbury-based abattoir V&V Walsh ended its custom kill program earlier this year.

It’s understood several smaller abattoirs in Corrigin, Serpentine and Gingin will continue to offer the service.

But Mr O’Neill said it would do little to help producers on the south coast.

“There’s Bollygum farm in Denmark, they sell very high-quality pasture-raised beef,” he said.

Plantagenet butcher Josh Liebeck sells directly to customers through his main street store in the neighbouring town of Mount Barker, 50 kilometres east.

He said while DBC’s decision would impact the region’s farmers, consumers would see little change in supply or price.

“It will have a pretty massive impact on those small businesses.

“I don’t think it’s going to have that large of an impact on, say, price or availability [for consumers], but certainly the people that have that business model are going to have a difficult time trying to replicate what they’ve been doing.”

Called for help  

Farmer Zoe Allington said she had planned to present a submission to DBC board this week to reconsider its decision.

However, the O’Neills said with dozens of businesses impacted, the state government should intervene.

“Legislation needs to be made where every abattoir has a provision in it, where you must provide space for little bona fide small businesses,” Mr O’Neill said.

“Or, update the regulation to match what happens in Victoria, where you’ve got a mobile abattoir that can go around to a farm.”

Western Australian Meat Industry Authority chief executive I-Lyn Loo said pathways already existed for mobile abattoirs to apply for permits to process meat on farms, but there were no mobile abattoirs licensed to carry out the work.