WA lotfeeder Paul O’Meehan, centre, receives his Woolworths 2023 Meat Supplier of the Year award from Woolworths’ chief commercial officer Paul Harker, left, and commercial director of meat, Tim Dunning

IT’S those small details – the ‘one percenters’ – that add up to deliver consistent year-round performance, says the winner of Woolworths’ 2023 meat supplier of the Year award.

Western Australian lotfeeder Paul O’Meehan earned Woolworths’ top award for fresh meat suppliers during a glittering Trade Partner awards dinner attended by around 1000 people at Sydney’s Convention Centre last week.

Other divisional award winners on the night included food industry powerhouses like Nestle, Fonterra and Mondelez.

The O’Meehan family has supplied Woolworths with slaughter cattle for well over 40 years – starting with Paul’s father in the late 1970s, and continuing with grainfed contracts once the family’s Daniel’s Well feedlot was established around 1998.

Daniel’s Well is located 400km southeast of Perth, and around 100km north of Albany at the bottom of WA’s wheat belt.

The primary reason for establishing the 5000-head capacity feedyard was to value-add grain produced from the surrounding farming country. The O’Meehans crop around 12,500ha (31,000 ac) of country surrounding the feedlot, producing all of the grain requirements (mostly barley), and most of the silage and hay.

The yard feeds yearling type domestic cattle almost exclusively, split between the Woolworths supply contract for delivery of 92 head a week, and the business’s private beef brand called Stirling Ranges. The remaining 10pc of pen space is used for small custom-feeding commitments.

Both main programs carry much the same spec: milk-tooth feeders (steers only), Angus-based but with a few British and British Euro derivatives, 350kg at entry, fed 60-100 days, aiming for finished liveweights of 500-550kg.

Both the Woolworths and Stirling Ranges finished cattle are processed at V&V Walsh near Bunbury, which processes MSA cattle for the Woolworths supply chain in WA.

Growth in paddock procurement

The O’Meehans run few breeding cattle themselves, preferring to buy-in all of the feeder cattle requirements. Some bought cattle are backgrounded on site.

There has been a gradual increase in the proportion of feeders bought out of the paddock, instead of saleyards in recent years – now accounting for at least 60pc of feeder requirements. That has grown from only 30-40pc over the past five or six years.

The decision to feed steers only had taken some of the inconsistency out of carcase performance, especially in areas like fat cover and carcase weight, Mr O’Meehan said.

The feeder requirements are bought out of a catchment area stretching from Esperance along the WA South Coast to around Pinjarra. A single buyer is responsible for all saleyards and paddock purchases for the yard, working with 40 main suppliers.

Western Australia is known for the overall quality of its yearling type domestic cattle. In fact MSA data for last financial year (2022-23) shows average MSA index scores for the state are among the highest in Australia, while non-compliance against MSA was the lowest of all states.

All these elements have added up to unbelievably consistent performance across the almost 5000 head of cattle that Daniel’s Well consigned for Woolworths over the past year.

The steers graded:

• 99.7 percent against MSA grading criteria
• 99.9pc against weight spec, and
• 99.4pc against fat spec

“Consistency is something we think we’ve been pretty good at for a long time,” Mr O’Meehan said.

“The fact that we don’t feed heifers is helping us with this, in reducing the risks around fatness. They’re just not as tight, and as easy to keep in line,” he said.

High gain performance

Given the young age profile of the feeders on hand, the Daniel’s Well yard averages around 2.2 to 2.3kg average daily gain.

“But having said that, we do limit-feed a few, when they get a bit too quick for us, to even out supply a little,” Mr O’Meehan said. “That means that some of the feedback on gain performance we provide can be a little corrupted – but it’s about getting as close as possible to the centre of the carcase weight and fatness spec.”

Nutritionist John Doyle from Integrated Animal Production designs the barley-based ration for the yard, based on tempered grain.

Value seen in forward contracts

“In an industry which can show considerable volatility, having a Woolworths contract provides us with a reliable, dependable base to work from,” Mr O’Meehan told Beef Central.

“That contract is something that we value very closely. Being priced forward, as it is, it means we know what we can spend on feeders or other commodities. They (Woolworths) are good payers, and we have developed a great relationship with our customer over the years.”

Hot competition

The Woolworths national meat supplier category which the O’Meehans won last week covered everything from beef and veal to pork, chicken, lamb and seafood. Some of the other finalists for the award were global and national household names in the food industry.

“I was so pleased for the beef industry, and Western Australia, when our name was read out,” Mr O’Meehan said.

“It’s a great tribute to our small team that works at the yard, led by yard manager Brett Page – all those little ‘one-percenters’ that people contribute add up,” he said.

“To meet those carcase and MSA specs, week-in, week-out, and year-round, as consistently as our cattle did is something our team is proud of.”

The yard relies on only three permanent staff, topped up during busy times out of the Daniel’s Well cropping team.

“Everything and everyone contributes to the outcome – but there’s no doubt that having access to good cattle to start with, and feeding them a good ration is a solid base,” Mr O’Meehan said.

Woolworths Greenstock beef strategic sourcing manager Sam Ditchfield thanked A O’Meehan & Co for its valued partnership over the last 47 years.

“Working with thriving multi-generational businesses like yours is part of what makes our job at Greenstock so rewarding,” Mr Ditchfield said.

“It is an honour to work with feedlot operators like Paul and Brett who have exceptional commitment to consistent quality and I look forward to many more years of partnership with them.”

The O’Meehan family’s own Stirling Ranges beef brand fed alongside the Woolworths cattle, has entered a couple of prominent branded beef competitions recently, earning silver medals at the Sydney Royal Fine Foods Awards, and golds, silvers and a bronze at Perth Royal Show’s branded beef competition.