THORNBY feedlot at Sanderston has earned glowing praise from Thomas Foods International for the mammoth milestone of supplying more than 100,000 lambs to the processor in the 2022-23 financial year.
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The family behind the Thornby feedlot name, the McGormans, have been supplying TFI for 14 years and are TFI's largest single supplier of lambs in Australia by a comfortable margin.
TFI Group managing director Darren Thomas said the 100,000 lamb milestone was a great achievement and a credit to Alex and Fiona McGorman and their staff.
Upon presenting them with a commemorative plaque and gift certificates in honour of the milestone, Mr Thomas said he couldn't recall a like-for-like processor-buyer relationship in SA.
"The support means a lot more than just the number and a lot more than just the lambs," he said.
THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE NUMBER
Thornby had supplied TFI with 108,000 lambs by the conclusion of the 2022-23 financial year.
When the 100,000 mark was reached, 80,000 had been processed at Lobethal, 11,000 at Tamworth, NSW, and 9000 at Stawell, Vic.
While they have been suppliers to TFI for more than a decade, Thornby underwent a business re-structure 2.5-years ago when brothers Alex and Paul went separate ways - Alex continuing the feedlot business, while Paul took control of the family's Kangaroo Island property.
The Sanderston operation employs 24 staff, with about 40 per cent of that females and the feedlot team led by Mel Simons.
Mr McGorman said the staff had been integral to success of the feedlot, which feeds lambs year round.
All lambs are bought in as stores, through private relationships and agents, with a lot from Kangaroo Island, the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Broken Hill, NSW.
Some are also sourced from WA and through AuctionsPlus, although local suppliers are always prioritised.
The McGormans target 35 to 43 kilogram entry weights and the lambs are put through a 16-day induction phase and spend an average of 70 days in the feedlot.
All up, 25,000 lambs can be in the feedlot at a time and are fed a barley, lupin and Laucke pellet mix ration.
"If we have a reasonable (cropping) year, we'll supply about a third of the barley, and we buy in the rest from as locally as we can," Mr McGorman said.
"We used about 12,000 tonnes of barley and 4000t of lupins this past year."
Mr McGorman said the long induction period, and strict animal health principles, had resulted in very low death rates.
Lambs are given clean feed and water daily and are worm tested before they enter the feedlot, while any human interaction is limited as much as possible to reduce stress.
The McGormans Merino lambs average about 26kg dressed, while the target dressed weight for crossbreds is 27-28kg.
Thornby also shore 875 bales worth of wool from the lambs.
The TFI-McGorman relationship largely runs through TFI livestock buyer Phil Heinrich.
Mr McGorman said hallmarks of the relationship were honesty and the pair didn't sign contracts - "we still use handshakes".
LAMB GOES GLOBAL
As well as finding its way into local stores, the Thornby lambs also finish up in North America, Japan and Korea.
TFI livestock manager Paul Leonard said the majority of the company's lamb was sold in North America.
TFI owns a value adding and processing facility just outside of Philadelphia, and has direct relationships with major retailers.
The company also has registered grainfed lamb programs into Japan and Korea.
TFI processes close to 100,000 lambs a week in Australia and Mr Leonard said Alex and Fiona McGorman were its biggest supplier.
"To put it in perspective, our next largest supplier would be about 60,000 lambs a year," he said.
"We've got thousands of lamb suppliers but you could count on two hands, nationally, those that sell us 6000 lambs a year individually.
"When you go over 10,000 lambs, you'd be back to one hand."
Mr Leonard said TFI valued the honest and transparent relationship it has with the McGormans, one that was not driven by a transactional mentality.
The McGormans can always be relied upon for a last-minute load of lambs if TFI needs to fill kill space, while TFI always finds room for Thornby lambs.
"You know the quality of the lambs is going to be outstanding because they're not subject to seasonality," Mr Leonard said.
"They've been fed a grain ration mix and are fed into specification (22-30kg) because they know that we want."
Mr Leonard said the 100,000 head achievement would have been unthinkable some years ago, particularly in SA.
"It has never historically been a large lamb feedlot state compared to say NSW, where there's a more temperate climate and more access to grain," he said.
"I think their location has been beneficial. They're on the edge of that low-rainfall sandier country that doesn't get boggy, but also has close access to grain.
"They also have a reliable and respected buying brand in Thornby and have developed a lot of contacts throughout Australia. They've built a lot of trust between them and store lamb producers."
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