Kimberley Meat Co plant near Broome

THE embattled Kimberley Meat Company and its parent company Yeeda Pastoral Company has finally changed hands with settlement taking place on Friday 31 October.

The Kimberley Meat Co (KMC) near Broome in WA and its parent company were placed into voluntary administration in February 2024 with more than a $100 million in debt.

Before it went into administration the company had been investigated by the WA Government for more than 400 cattle deaths in 2022 and the illegal dumping of abattoir waste.

In August 2024, Canadian super fund manager Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo) purchased the combined Yeeda Group of companies, including the Kimberley Meat Company and two large nearby pastoral leases, Yeeda and Mt Jowlaenga stations covering 475,000ha of mostly leasehold country and almost 14,000 head of cattle, for a reported $55 million.

Settlement of the sale was delayed because of legal proceedings, said at the time to be about disputation over stock numbers. However a spokesperson said that while some small legal matters are still ongoing, the major hold up blocking the acquisition has been settled, enabling Yougawalla Pastoral Co (YPCo), which operates under AIMCo, to take over last Friday.

Chief Operations Officer with Yougawalla Pastoral Co, Justin Morrissey, said the company could now start on its $20 million upgrades to the KMC plant to get it operational.

“There are some key efficiency upgrades needed for the plant to be operational again and the construction of a rendering plant is the major focus,” he said.

“We have suppliers and contractors ready to go but had to wait for settlement – now that has happened we can get to work straight away.

“For the long-term viability of the plant it needs to be efficient and cost effective, so we are better off doing the upgrades now rather than doing it ad hoc while we are operational.”

KMC will be operated by its own executive staff and board separate to the YPCo Pastoral Leases.

Mr Morrissey said the plant had all the relevant licenses it requires and is just waiting for upgrades to make it operational, which it hopes will be in the last quarter of 2026.

“We would rather have a soft start at the end of next year, processing mainly our own cattle so we can iron out all the bumps. That way when we open it to the rest of industry in 2027 it’s full steam ahead,” Mr Morrissey said.

“We are looking forward to having the plant operational and are really excited for North West cattle producers to have a local abattoir and market available again.”

Feed yard will help supply cattle in the wet

Yougawalla Pastoral Co plans to build a feedyard at its existing Shamrock property, which is located 160km from Broome and has 12 centre pivots producing fodder.

“We are still finalising the design (of the feedyard), but we are looking at around a 6000 head capacity which would give us two to three throughputs a year depending on how long we feed for, we are hoping 15,000 to 20,000 cattle a year out of it,” Mr Morrissey said.

“YPCo will use the feedlot to finish off some out of spec cattle or for accessing stock in the wet season, but the bulk of cattle (for KMC) will come straight out of paddocks in the North West to the abattoir.”

It is hoped the feedyard will allow the company to hold cattle during part of the wet season so KMC can operate for 10 to 11 months.

The plant will offer custom kill opportunities for northern producers and is also considering upgrading the facilities so it can process wagyu cattle.

“We have had conversations with Pardoo and have got provisions in our planning (of upgrades to KMC) to allow that extra level of detail for wagyu processing, that is all part of our planning to make sure we can include that in the future,” Mr Morrissey said.

Yougawalla has been able to re-employ some previous KMC workers but admitted staffing the plant was going to be a challenge, with many workers no longer in the region.

Mr Morrisey said it has also been important for the company to work with businesses that were owed money by the previous operators of Yeeda.

“We have and will continue to give preferential treatment to those contractors who are owed money by the previous owners,” he said.

“We want to make amends to the past and working with local contractors and businesses is key to our future, so we have already engaged previous contractors.”

Upgrades planned for pastoral properties

As part of the purchase of KMC, YPCo will now also takeover two large nearby pastoral leases, Yeeda and Mt Jowlaenga stations covering 475,000ha.

The sale included cattle and will see Yougawalla now have 100,000 head across all of its properties.

“Next year we will invest in upgrading waters, fences and yards (on Yeeda and Mt Jowlaenga) to get the stations back to the full capability we know they can be,” Mr Morrissey said.