When Darling Downs farmer Andrew Rogers attended a Rotary meeting in 2008, his life and the lives of thousands of people he had never met changed forever.
Key points:
- BeefBank is a charity that processes donated cattle into food for the needy
- The Lotus Glen prison farm raises cattle to donate
- One donated animal can feed 3,500 people
That day, a director from the charity group Foodbank was giving a talk about the challenges they faced.
Foodbank is a non-profit organisation that supplies food to charities and community groups, acting as a conduit between the food industry’s surplus food and the welfare sector.
“He said that they got a lot of donations of fruit and vegetables, but they didn’t get much protein donated,” Mr Rogers said.
“They really needed protein like sausages, mince and steak.”
From that conversation, a new organisation, BeefBank, was set up by Rotary to collect donated cattle to be slaughtered, processed and donated to Foodbank.
The owner of the donated animal is given a tax-deductible receipt for the value of the animal had it gone to market.
“We use as much of the animal as we can. Mince, sausages, and stewing steak go a lot further,” Mr Rogers said.
“We work on the average of 10 meals per kilo of meat.
“An average animal weighing 650 kilos live weight would give around 280 kilos of meat, that’s about 2,800 meals.
“Over the past 15 years, we have donated more than one million meals to people in need.”
Starting in Queensland, Beefbank now supplies meat around Australia via Foodbank to various charities.
Mr Rogers said that they were not asking cattle producers to donate their top-line animals and instead donate cattle that may not be market-worthy.
“We have said, don’t give us your prime animal that will get you top market value; instead, give us an animal that is not so fantastic as it will be minced.”
Once the animal has been sent to the nearest butcher or abattoir, the meat is frozen, transported to Foodbank and distributed to homeless shelters and kitchens, with BeefBank paying for all transportation and abattoir costs.
“With some charities, 20 cents of every dollar donated might get through to the person in need and the rest goes to admin fees and wages,” Mr Rogers said.
“With BeefBank, 100 per cent of the donated animal goes to where it has to go at no additional cost to the farmer.
“We pay for everything.”
Prisoners raising cattle
One of the biggest donors of animals to BeefBank is the Lotus Glen jail on the Atherton Tablelands.
The jail has its own cattle herd, where prisoners are taught animal husbandry and farm work, with some of the animals being donated to BeefBank.
“About 10 years ago, a former warden at the jail was a fan of our project, and he approached us to get involved,” Mr Rogers said.
“The program is fantastic because the prisoners have the opportunity to give something back to the community through this process.”
Lotus Glen Low Custody Manager Doug Vidler oversees the inmates working on the prison farm, including the cattle program.
“Over the past 10 years, we have donated approximately 50 head of cattle,” Mr Vidler said.
“We donate about five animals per year, sometimes more, especially if we have cattle that are not marketable through the sale yards.”
Giving back
The Lotus Glen farm is the state’s largest low custody facility, sitting on over 2,500 acres with about 120 inmates working on the property.
The prison farm normally runs around 350 head of Droughtmaster/Brahman cross, which helps prisoners develop animal skills they can use upon release.
“We do several courses through TAFE, including cattle management and rural studies,” he said.
“One of the main reasons we run cattle is it gives the First Nations men some real skills to go back to their communities and use those skills to get jobs.
“BeefBank gives the prisoners some pride knowing that they are giving something back.”
Locals helping locals
Several years ago, Mr Vidler asked that the meat grown at Lotus Glen be donated to local charities rather than shipped to Brisbane.
“I asked them if they could donate some of that meat to Rosie’s Kitchen in Cairns, which helps to feed the homeless in the local area,” he said.
“Once our animal has been slaughtered it weighs about 350 kilos, so that’s 3,500 meals for the homeless or hungry.
“We like to donate during the winter when it’s cold and then again around Christmas so that they get a decent Christmas meal.
“We are now looking at how we can donate some of this meat to communities like Kowanyama, Pormpuraaw, or other communities.”
More cattle needed
While regular donations from the Lotus Glen facility are appreciated by BeefBank, Mr Rogers said they were always looking for more donations from the north of the state.
“It doesn’t matter how far north that animal may be. If that producer is sending a truckload of animals to be processed, we are happy to help with transport costs for that one animal,” he said.
“We only get a handful of donations from the far north of the state.
“The donations from Lotus Glen really help, but the majority of our donations come from the south-east and south-west of the state.
“We would love to have more donated cattle from the north of the state.”
