Stockyard’s frontier efforts earn beef honour

When you hear Stockyard Beef’s Lachie Hart talk about the early visits his family business made to Japan - beef samples and business cards tucked under arm - the reality of what that actually means sets in.

His father Robin set up Stockyard Meat Packers in South East Queensland in 1973 and Lachie, having spent a year in Japan studying the language and working during holidays raising Wagyu and Kokusangyu cattle, went to work building relationships with end users.

The Harts were operating on little more than murmurs the Japanese market would eventually be liberalised and a firm belief in the potential of high quality chilled grainfed beef from Australia into a nation with a very high standard of eating quality.

For four years, Mr Hart met with supermarkets and food service chains, held taste testing events, exchanged meishi and listened to the feedback.

When the quota arrangements finally shifted, there was an immediate power shift, says Mr Hart, away from the importers to the same end users Stockyard had worked so hard on.

Today, Stockyard Beef is one of Australia’s best known and most respected global beef suppliers and has in its stable our most awarded beef brands.

In recognition of those early, faithful days, his intimate involvement in the development of Wagyu in Australia and the fact he continues to lead many of his colleagues into the industry on a daily basis, Lachie Hart has been inducted into the Wagyu Hall of Fame.

The honour was presented at the Australian Wagyu Association’s annual conference in Mackay last week, alongside a life membership to Greg Gibbons, general manager of feedlots for the Australian Agriculture Company.

Mr Gibbons said the Wagyu breed had so much to offer, not only in eating quality but to the broader beef industry in terms of traits and attributes, and he believed we’d see Wagyu infused right across the beef game in years to come.

Mr Hart’s induction means he joins an esteemed, small group of people - Shogo Takeda, Chris Walker and last year’s inductee Queensland producer Wally Rea.

Interestingly, Stockyard’s relationship with Mr Rea has been its longest and strongest alliance and Mr Hart described it as a perfect example of how a producer, lotfeeder and band owner can work together, obtain and analyse carcase data, and effectively develop their own actual breeding values for continuous improvement in a breeder’s genetics.

Given he was raised on a Santa Gertrudis breeding property at Eidsvold, Mr Hart admits bewilderment when first introduced to the Wagyu.

As their business grew in Japan in the 1990s, Stockyard started feeding Angus, developed brands to support the category, and then moved onto crossbred Wagyu, initially from Paddy Handbury and soon followed by Nick and Vicky Sher’s Wagyu-Holstein crossbreds.

Today, Stockyard brands go to 20 countries around the world and the management philosophy remains firmly on looking to the future.

It is currently involved in research and development into blockchain, net feed efficiencies within the feedlot, nutrient additives for ruminants, renewable energy and various objective carcase measurement solutions.

“It’s thrilling to see the advancement of technology and development within our industry and it will be a challenge for each of us  to keep up with the pace,” said Mr Hart, who is also the chairman of the Australian Meat Industry Council.

“I believe technology will  be a key driver in the future of our industry, not only in increasing productivity and driving genetic gain but also in helping brand owners understand more about their products.

“Brands owners will one day be able to measure flavour profiles and deliver to our customers a guaranteed eating experience consistently and reliably.”

Wagyu genetics would have an important role to play but the value would not be in the name Wagyu but in the consistent and reliable outcome the genetics can deliver to a brand’s eating quality, he said.