Signature Beef
The Angus Family purchased their first cattle station in 1960. Their Angus Butchery in Bowen was the first investment that helped bring their prime beef to their customers’ doorsteps. With their brands of Oino Gustus, Kimberly Red and Sondella, Signature Beef quickly grew into one of Queensland’s most recognisable premium beef brands, merging a strong tradition in cattle-raising with a culture of innovation. Signature Beef exports to 30 countries, selling our premium cuts to some of the world’s top restaurants, butchers and wholesalers.
“Bespoke Beef is our delivery service which brings us closer and connects us to the final end user. Delivering to households and restaurants across Melbourne, Sydney and Southeast Queensland, it provides us with an opportunity to share our story of the land, the cattle, and our family history.”
Angus Pastoral Company operates four properties along the east coast of Australia, running a herd of 40,000 Angus Belmont Red cross cattle on 160,000 hectares of prime cattle country.
Signature Onfarm now rounds out the group with a state-of-the-art greenfield abattoir. The company offers an immersive supply chain experience and a world of opportunity. “We focus on taking our product to the next level by capturing as much value from the animal as possible.”
Opportunity
At the heart of innovation is asking yourself, “how can we do things better?”. The Angus family’s innovative mindset continues to reap the rewards of business growth.
In 2021, Blair and Josie began the construction of their 200-head-a-day abattoir after a four-year approval process, funding the abattoir with their own savings and a loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.
Signature Beef’s innovative streak doesn’t stop there. The cattle property runs completely off-the-grid by converting waste materials into valuable soil composts and heating their water supply using recycled waste heat.
One of the property’s most energy-intensive activities was keeping water temperatures at 90 degrees celsius to help sterilise knives & equipment, but a partnership with a UK research institute helped them replace heat with a spray steriliser. They now use an innovative spray steriliser for their knives reducing energy and water use by 94%.
“We’re constantly talking to the research community to find ways to improve our business,” Mrs Angus said.
Josie acknowledges the difficulty of running a remote cattle property but dismisses calls that her cattle stations are in the middle of nowhere by saying her farm is in the “centre of the universe.”
“We’ve learned to be completely self-sufficient which is only possible because we’re constantly looking at ways to improve our energy usage and find value from resources around us.”
“Being innovative is something we teach our children and it’s kept our business going for five generations,” Mrs Angus said.
In 2022, Signature Onfarm processed their first lot of cattle. “We now have a crew of 52 staff with 47 living in our on-site at our village located 1.5km from the abattoir. As a small team, we aim to develop a competitive team of multi-skilled operators who focus as a team on getting the job done and done well. We have a focus on building craftsmen and women who are proud to stand by every product we produce. Our team are enthusiastic, practical and hard-working people who strive for a singular goal, producing the best beef that we can.”
Results
- The abattoir will bring meat processing jobs back to outback Queensland, cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in transportation costs and give Josie and Blair better control over the quality of their brand.
- With their abattoir “We’re confident we can increase carcass yields by up to 3% and give the best possible cuts to our customers,” Mrs Angus said.
- Spray steriliser – making the job both quicker and more efficient by saving them 94% on energy and water consumption.
- Circular economy.
- Quality product.
Founders
Blair Angus
Josie Angus
