Langdale Farm’s Fiona Stocker isn’t worried about the possibility of not having Tasmanian meat for Christmas. Instead, she is concerned about losing her business.
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“We are about to lose our business and so is every other pig farm in the north of Tasmania,” she said.
Her concerns come after JBS Australia’s shock announcement to cease operations at the Devonport City’s Abattoir on November 15.
The state government is hoping to find a new operator for the pig line and is working with industry to accommodate the transition. A round-table industry discussion was held on Wednesday.
“There’s a very small one [abattoir] in the south, which reopened recently, but that is too far to transport our pigs for both animal welfare and commercial viability, and that business will not be able to deal with the demand,” Mrs Stocker said.
“To be clear, unless there’s a miracle this is the end for us. In three weeks time we face taking all 45 of the pigs we have on our property to slaughter, closing our doors, saying goodbye … cancelling our presence at the spring seasons events we have booked into, shutting down the business we have poured our hearts and souls into for the past seven years and trying to figure out what the hell we do now to earn a living and support ourselves.”
Mrs Stocker also raised her concerns that Tasmania may lose their rare breed speciality, which she said the industry had put a lot of “hard work” into.
Butchers from across the state are also worried that even if a company is found to run a pig line, there may still be a void in the service kill beef and sheep lines, leaving them to compete with supermarkets.
