May 25th: Day 3

May 25, 2012 : Day 3 : Touring JBS and Webb Black Simmentals

Some of the sites out in the country of Australia

This morning we started our day off at 7:30. We packed our luggage up and were on our way to Seymour. Our first tour site was JBS Australia, which was an abattoir . I was excited to tour the plant because just like the United States there is very limited visitor access to the harvesting plants. As we went around the abattoir there were some differences in the processing. It was very interesting how they did some of their animal harvesting compared to ours in the United States. Unfortunely I do not want to go into detail because some people have certain opinions and just like America we have to be very careful what we put out to the public, and JBS in Australia has asked us to be selective on what we put in our blog. I absouetly loved this tour site. Recently JBS in Australia started seasoning some of their beef and lamb. The seasoning they started using was garlic butter, and rosemary seasonings. One other difference between America and Australia was that they vaccum seal with plastic plates . Where as we use styrofoam. JBS abattoir kills 5000 sheep and 1200 cattle a day. If you didnt know this is one of the largest meat works in the Southern Hemisphere.

Our last touring stop for the day was at Webb Simmentals. This operation is basically ran by three individuals. Two brothers started and then they hired on a stud manager. When talking with all the individuals the biggest issue they face is getting the Simmental breed out to Australia, for them the best way they can promote is through word of mouth. Webb Simmental usually had their sale in March. They calve in the fall (October) and spring. They also talked about how temperent was very important in their operation and if their bulls arent very nice then they get rid of them. They said that many farmers get killed by bad temperant bulls each year, and this is something that they dont want for their operation. We asked if they had some of a national promotion, they do which is called MLA. In Philip Webbs word, "we are jealous of what Americans can do with their promotion and see results." Their hope is one day to get their simmentals into American just as us Americans have gotten ours in Australia. Today was a great experience and cant wait to learn more !

Webb Black Simmentals

-Kara