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Saltbush Lamb - Uniquely Australian, Locally Grown
Who could have predicted 18 years ago, when Dirranbandi grazier Duncan Banks secured a small amount of seed capital to cover the deposit of Saltbush seedlings through a regional NRM group (now Southern Queensland Landscapes), that the decision would result in strong local demand for his uniquely Australian brand of lamb and lend itself to the establishment of a local boutique abattoir in St George.
Declining wheat yields and the need to find a new income source for the family property of 50-years, ‘Dunwold’, has seen more than 1,000 hectares fenced into 25ha paddocks and over a million Saltbush planted along the Castlereagh Highway since 2003.
“Saltbush has enabled us to triple traditional stocking rates of sheep on our natural grasslands and provide us with continuity of feed,” Duncan Banks said.
“We try to graze a Saltbush paddock reasonably hard and then we rest it for 6 months, so a paddock only gets grazed twice a year,” Duncan said.
“It’s not a complete feeding system; they still need the grass and a little supplement to put fat on them but Saltbush allows us to have a continuous supply of lambs all year round,” he said.
“Plus the Saltbush has reintroduced biodiversity to our property; we now see plains turkeys which can scare the living daylights out of your horse on occasion and squadrons of zebra finches; and the budgies have come back this year too - these are important to the whole system.”
While Duncan hasn’t crunched the numbers on it he says his lambs can put on up to 2kg a week.
“We’ve had lambs on the Saltbush with medic growing put on some mad numbers and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you we had a mob of drought master steers put on huge weight gains in a month on the Saltbush paddocks - the weight gains are incredible,” Duncan said.
“But you can’t have sheep and cattle feeding on the Saltbush continuously, you’ve got to rest it,” he said.
For 11 years local butcher Paul Arnall of Maranoa Meats in St George has driven past the ‘Dunwold’ paddocks of Saltbush and watched their Merino sheep thrive throughout the seasons.
“One day I just decided to pull in and see if Duncan and his wife Gerry wanted to supply us with their Saltbush lamb,” Paul Arnall said.
“You see I wanted to provide that paddock to plate experience for our customers and so I recently built with our son our own abattoir in St George; so now we can process livestock not far from where it’s grown, which means the animals don’t get stressed travelling and the meat is tender,” Paul said.
“The nearest abattoir was 115km away in Surat; then 300km to Cunnamulla and 200km to Roma,” he said.
“And there’s a lot of protein and minerals in the Saltbush that is unique and provides a really good flavour to the meat that kind of lingers on your palate. My Mum is the biggest critic and Mum just won’t have anything else now.”
Currently ‘Dunwold’ provides about 15 sheep every 10-days or so to Maranoa Meats in St George.
“Usually we sell our lambs by the truckload. Now we can sell a handful at a time and it’s only a small number but over a year it adds up to a good number of sheep,” Duncan Banks said.
“It’s easy work for us; we run a few sheep in and we’re getting great enjoyment out of everyone eating the same quality of meat we get at home on ‘Dunwold’,” Duncan said.
“Cause once you’ve eaten Saltbush lamb, and especially ‘Dunwold’ Saltbush lamb you won’t want anything else,” he said.
Paul Arnall agrees saying the feedback has been phenomenal.
“We could definitely be doing double to triple what we are currently doing and I do have plans to further develop the business online and commercially into restaurants,” Paul said.
“Saltbush Lamb is a uniquely Australian product with a unique taste that is a really good talking point,” he said.
“People want local, they look for local and so relationships like this are really important to our business and to our community.”
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Southern Queensland Landscapes is seeking an experienced and influential Board Chair to lead a multi-skilled Board in managing natural resources across Southern Queensland. This is a 3-year remunerated role based in Toowoomba, QLD, with the flexibility to manage from anywhere in Southern QLD. The ideal candidate will bring: • Substantial experience leading diverse Boards • Strong relationship-building and leadership skills • Expertise in environmental and agricultural matters This role is an opportunity to shape the future of natural resource management, working closely with land managers, community leaders, and industry professionals. Are you ready to make an enduring impact? For more details and to apply, visit www.windsor-group.com.au/job/board-chair-natural-resources-peak-body or contact Mike Conroy at apply@windsor-group.com.au.
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