To start of the day we visited the Wagga Wagga Saleyard. This was a very different experience. The saleyards here are way different from the ones in America. Most of the cattle sold here are already fat cattle to be slaughtered. The autioneer style was completely strange and took some time to even understand what he was saying. They pens are also very different and the cattle are weighed prior to entering the selling arena. They also have screens at the top of the arena that show the prices, weights, buyer, seller, and type of cattle for the just sold, currently being sold, and the ones up next to be sold.
After the saleyard, we literally went across the street to the Cargill/Teys abattior. They even have a walkway under the street to bring ther cattle they buy from the salyard to the plant. This abattior was very different from the JBS plant we visited earlier in the week. The set up was much more Americanized and had more of a flow. We didn't get to see the kill floor which made the tour way less cool, but we did see the boning room. This room was much more organized than the JBS plant. The Cargill plant also only did cattle and they process about 1200 per day.
The final stop of the day was the Cargill\Teys Jindalee Feedlot. We weren't allowed to take any picutes here which sucked, but it was still fun. We drove around the feedlot and saw all of the cattle that they were feeding out on a grain based program. At this feedlot they used HGP (hormone growth promotants) which is usually not used in most of the other feeding operations in Australia. That was very interesting to hear that they weren't allowing the uneducated consumers control that part of the operation like some others. The most used feed that is fed here is steam flaked wheat, which we got to see and I thought was interesting since I have never seen it and am specializing in nutrition.
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