Once opened, the Barham facility will process a wide variety of animals from poultry up to beasts with a maximum live weight of 500kg.
It also enables producers to have full control of the supply chain to ensure the ethical treatment of their animals and to value add their produce.
The construction of the facility was overseen by Steve Tamplin of Tablelands Meats, who has extensive experience in owning and operating a micro abattoir.
Construction was delayed due to an administrative error that saw the land on which the abattoir was to be built classified as ‘community land’ instead of ‘operational land’.
In having the land reclassified, a public hearing was held on February 3, 2022 and run by an independent chair - Edward River Council’s director of infrastructure Mark Dalzell.
The meeting was in favour of the reclassification after addressing the concerns raised, which was then formally approved by Murray River Council.
The micro abattoir process was launched by Lauren Mathers in September 2018, when representatives from 35 local producers attended a public meeting.
By the following February the Murray Plains Meat Co-Operative was formally established, with Mrs Mathers as its director and chairperson.
Mrs Mathers has, in recent weeks, stepped aside form the position and discussions are underway to appoint an external chairperson moving forward.
Funding to kick start the project was delivered in 2019 and 2020, with $375,000 allocated under Murray River Council’s Drought Communities Program Extension allocation and $450,000 from round two of the Murray Darling Basin Economic Development Program.
~ with Lloyd Polkinghorne/Barham-Koondrook Bridge
