25/02/2026
All the best to Belvedere Valley on their evolving venture in supplying quality meat direct to consumers.
Micro-abattoirs are attracting growing interest across Western Australia.
Belvedere Valley is a family-run cattle farm near Manjimup in the South West, specialising in grass-fed Wagyu beef.
The farm has recently been granted approval to build a small on-farm abattoir, joining a growing number of producers taking processing into their own hands.
Co-founder Judith Bennett said difficulty accessing local service-killing facilities pushed the business to bring processing in-house.
"We had always liked the idea of having that complete system, but it was something that we were sort of just thinking about and doing a little bit of planning towards," she said.
"Then suddenly, one day, our want became a real need."
Ms Bennett said it was "fairly well known" that there was a shortage of local processing facilities in WA for small beef producers.
"The facilities we have available have become very large and very commercial and efficient," she said.
"Adding in the occasional small producer's cattle probably isn't the best option for them, and it became increasingly harder for us to get in anywhere."
The family, which already operates an on-farm butchering facility, is now retrofitting an existing building and expects the micro-abattoir to be operational this year.
Ms Bennett said the micro-abattoir would also offer processing services to other local farmers facing similar challenges once it is up and running.
"Because we know that it is very challenging and some service kills being stopped at some of the abattoirs," she said.
"And being regenerative farmers, that's something that we feel we want to do as well, which is support our community.
"I really believe local processing is an important part of the future of regional communities."