Reopened outback abattoir creates a business boom as it attracts 200 workers

It might not be on the menu, but goat meat is one of the reasons Tanya Milgate’s Bourke bakery is thriving.  

The outback New South Wales community is celebrating the good fortunes of the previously-troubled Bourke abattoir, which processes sheep and goats. 

“It’s good for us and it’s good for the whole town,” Ms Milgate said. 

The facility was shut down just four months after construction in 2018, when drought and rain limited goat supply.

Three years later, it was purchased by Thomas Foods International (TFI) and is now processing 3,500 head of goats a day.

According to TFI, 90 per cent of the goats processed are farmed and 10 per cent are wild. 

As the abattoir grows and more people come to town for work, small businesses like Morrall’s Bakery are also seeing a turnaround.

Ms Milgate has owned the business for more than 11 years and said the population growth meant new catering opportunities and sales.

She has even been able to put on more staff.

“We have had to put more on in our shop but if they keep putting more on out there and we keep getting busier, we’ll keep trying to employ to try and keep up with demand,” Ms Milgate said.

200 workers come to town

Abattoirs need a significant workforce to operate, and at Bourke there are 200 staff from Australia and overseas, including 40 Pacific islander workers.

But finding employees has not been without its challenges.

TFI CEO Tony Stewart said one of the major difficulties over the past 18 months was finding staff.

“It’s been an effort to look at all avenues to attract people to come and work with us in Bourke,” he said.

“We already had the distribution network and the customers globally to support the production coming out of Bourke, so it’s really been a question of building up our capabilities on site,” he said. 

Mr Stewart said TFI still planned to increase staff numbers by 25 per cent.

“We’re very excited about the ongoing potential to continue to develop our business in Bourke,” he said.

Booming goat production numbers 

Goat slaughter rates in New South Wales have increased by almost 5,000 per cent in the past two and a half years following the reopening of the Bourke operation.

Figures from Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) show Victoria is still the largest processing state for goat meat, with NSW third behind Queensland.

But senior market information analyst Erin Lukey, said NSW slaughter rates rose 44 per cent in the past quarter, and more than 300 per cent in the past year, as the new processing facility came online.

Ms Lukey said she expected production numbers in NSW would continue to rise.

“These are the largest on record, so we will likely continue to see inflated numbers,” she said.

The future of the facility

TFI has announced a $50 million investment to expand the plant and build up the facility’s freezing, cold storage, and distribution capacity.

“We’re running at about 3,500 head a day. Once we’ve completed all of that capital investment, our target is, in time, to take that up to about 6,000 a day,” Mr Stewart said.

Western Queensland-based goat producer David Counsell said the growth in Bourke was a good thing for the industry.

“When you get people investing in wanting to be in goat processing for the next 50 years in Bourke, that means they see a bright future,” he said.

“Because there’s nothing else you can do in an abattoir unless you’re processing animals.”

Bourke Mayor Barry Hollman welcomed the development with open arms.

“With the jobs that they’ve created out there, it’s probably seen an increase in our town of maybe 250 or 300 people,” he said.

“When you have a population of about 2,500, having that many come in is a huge boost for your town.”