Sustainability has been entrenched with Teys i mean they've you know been in business for 75
years uh like a lot of our 7000 producers that are partners of the business family business though
throughout its founders have had a culture of continuously reinvesting in the business.
Now what we're seeing is increasing trends and concerns from customers and consumers around
sustainability and so um that just means we we're going further and broadening our horizons
on sustainability and looking more at our investments and ramping that up over time.
Renewables is just part of the sustainable future for us it just makes so much sense i mean for one
it's cheaper but also the emissions reduction benefits that come with it so
you know you've got the business side the financial side where it literally helps us
have lower cost but also the environmental benefits so reducing our our emissions as we
work towards that industry goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. So the solar produces about 50
of our electricity needs so it offsets about 50 of grid and in about a similar amount with the
emissions associated with that for what we call scope 2 emissions. Um and it's a really nice fit
it's a perfect fit for a feed lot because we have a seven day operation we're milling you
know obviously feeding the cattle every day and milling grain fresh every day and so there's just
a really nice match there with with sunshine hours and the time in which we mill as well
over time we've been picking off all our metering points so it starts with data
and automating that data flow so that's you know you take humans out of that need to manually read
meters and things like that or other data points around animal welfare for example the management
team now has a utility management system um so on a daily basis and or in real time they can look at
how their boilers are performing or how the soul is performing it's more about what actions are
taken with that data. We're always reviewing uh our highest emissions sources so you know
doing things like energy audits doing energy mass balances getting technical but here specifically
at the feedlot we did do a detailed what's called a level two energy audit we can identify and then
prioritize where we should focus our efforts and that started with energy efficiency so
first we bring down and remove any need so a good example a simple example is replacing old lighting
with LED we're actually removing kilowatts that you no longer need and then after that
adding in solar renewables to service what's left. One of our main inputs is purchasing grain and
feeding the cattle and to process that grain uh requires electricity for running the roller mills
and motors for transferring grain through augers and things like that but also steam so steam's
required to heat the grain and flake it and so doing that more efficiently so doing the same
thing with less is beneficial for the business and then if we no longer have to import or buy
grid electricity i.e putting in solar that allows us to make the investment and generate our own.
We're feeding for a variety of markets 100-day cattle into also into domestic market as well as
some 120 and 150 day cattle feeding into an export market with some Japanese and Chinese customers.
Being located on the Western Downs we have supply from cattle from north and west and
central Queensland so we feed a variety of cattle from a 50 boss indicus content mainly which fit
best fit for the climate here at Condamine and also fit our customer requirements
the feedlot has been part of the National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme which is a auditable system
quality assurance system through AUS-MEAT ensuring that compliance in all areas from animal welfare,
environmental sustainability,. Animal welfare and safety for our people are main focuses of
the Teys business and obviously at the forefront here at the Condamine feedlot. We're employing
around 35 to 40 people on site to conduct the daily operations. Many of our staff participating
in industry accredited TAFE based training around animal welfare and also antimicrobial usage we're
able to track every interaction that we have with that animal to ensure compliance around welfare
and antimicrobial usage. So every interaction that we have with an animal needs to be a positive one
we need to provide them with clean clean fresh water, nutritionally balanced diet so that
they can ensure that they reach their full growth potential. Our pen riding team checks our pens on
a daily basis on horseback. Teys, Teys have always been an innovator in the beef industry especially
around animal welfare we were an early adopter of shade in pens, manure was collected from
the feedlot on a a turnaround of around every 70 days that manure is then stockpiled and composted
and then on sold to local grain growers it is a is a full cycle.
The Australian Beef Sustainability Framework is a driving force for practice change across the
supply chain having those data sets as they are built over time but the important thing is they're
evolving and they start to tell us trends and look at sustainability right across the value chai.
So having frameworks like that are really really important and even you know looking at some of the
methods and and indicators in there to help influence how we approach sustainability.
We're expanding every year so even this year uh our investments looking to be about 50 percent
bigger than it was last year and it's multiple times bigger than what it was say five years
ago . This year alone we're looking to roll out a solar farm at one of our abattoirs which will be
eight times as big as this one, we're also looking at another feedlot and
doing a solar farm there similar to this one we're investigating by energy development so
lots of opportunities to convert waste into energy through things like porch grass and
food grade tallow um so we've got this really interesting mix of renewable energy opportunities,
be it solar be it waste to energy but co-gen and we're looking to bring all of those together with
energy efficiency so that we can you know work out how to be more sustainable. And if you look
at the beef industry as a whole you know we're part of the solution we're supplying food but
also we've got this fantastic opportunity to sequester carbon and a bait carbon and and so
that balance can be achieved and to derive a really good outcome for society and producing
really nutrient dense food but also contributing to those overall goals around sustainability.