A sirloin steak off a pasture raised Black Baldy steer produced and processed by Claystone Meats has taken out a gold medal for grass-fed beef in the prestigious 2023 Royal Sydney Show Fine Food Show. Running for almost four decades, the annual industry flagship event, attracted 33 entries across the branded beef divisions.
The antibiotic and HGP-free steer was the first entry by Christian and Stacey Allen, Claystone Premium Canberra Meat, in the competition, with the carcase hung for 21 days and the steak scoring 95 points.
Christian, a fifth-generation cattle breeder, and Stacey, a third generation commercial Hereford breeder, like the Hereford and Black Baldy’s fertility, finishing ability off grass and doability in their cold winters.
“We find the Herefords have the outer muscular fat and the Angus the intramuscular fat so together they are good unit for us, and are doing what we need them to do,” Stacey said.
The couple and their two children live on a property on the outskirts of Canberra at Hoskinstown, using sustainable methods and low stress handling techniques to produce ethically raised beef.
They join Hereford bulls to Angus cows and Angus bulls over Hereford cows, retaining a portion of the F1 females in the herd and pushing the steers and surplus heifers through the Canberra butchery.
The couple wanted to value add to their 300-cow commercial beef herd and take control of the supply chain from paddock to plate by processing through their own boning room to take advantage of a large consumer market on their doorstep.
“We started the butcher shop just over two years ago and it has grown incredibly quickly from supplying a few local restaurants to online sales, most supermarkets in Canberra and now direct to Sydney consumers, and 88 Canberra restaurants,” Stacey said.
“Covid forced the business into trading via an online model and it pivoted really quickly. It has been a very strong learning curve.”
Claystone has released a pet food line, Pawstone Pet Meals, which uses all natural ingredients and no preservatives, and is due to be launched on the Chinese market in November.
“We wanted to utilise as much as we can from the animals and what we have in store, and also recognise pet food is not seen as a luxury item by consumers. A lot of animals have allergies to preservatives and fillers in dog food, so we removed them to produce a scientifically tested product,” Stacey said.
Claystone’s purpose-built chill chain, warehouse facility and small shop front in Canberra is the base for the company’s wholesale production and employs 12 staff.
“We process beef and lamb, and source in chicken and pork. We have a buyback program in place whereby we buy back calves at weaning from our bull clients provided they hit all the health and liveweight targets. That enables us to get genetics we trust back into our program,” Stacey said.
“Before covid, I was still going to work on the farm and do a little in the shop but the rate of growth and support we’ve had meant I’m now full time in the shop.
“We have a strong relationship with a Canberra brewery and have 30 tonnes of brewer’s grain delivered each week. Through those colder months we can supplementary feed the cattle with silage and brewer’s grain.
“At the moment the steers are being finished on a grazing rye crop to a carcase weight of 260kg with an adequate fat cover.
“The consumer market in Canberra is conscious of where their food comes from, and our food miles are super low. They do want to know the cattle are ethically raised and are happy to know the animal has been cared for plus it is important the cattle are antibiotic and hormone free.
“The majority of people doing a weekly grocery shop are not looking for heavily marbled meat. For a special occasion we produce dry aged meat which is a more marbled product.”
Stacey said the quantity of sausages and minute steaks in the Sydney market had increased off the back of recent rises in the cost of living compared to a year ago.
Claystone has strong wholesale demand for quality beef mince.
“Value adding is the key in this business,” she said. Claystone Meats also recently provided the beef bacon for the egg and bacon rolls served on the Hereford stand at the 50th Ag Quip Field day event that was held in Gunnedah 22-24 August 2023.
When it comes to marketing, the business attends one weekly farmer’s market and has a heavy social media presence, producing several reels per week featuring Stacey promoting different cuts and recipes.
“We are active on Facebook and Instagram with a post per day plus a story, and do a lot of electronic direct mail marketing,” she said.
“It is something you have to do consistently, otherwise you get bumped down the algorithm.”