A new business is bringing a whole new meaning to 'paddock to plate' in the Riverina.
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Provenir is Australia's first licensed mobile abattoir and after less than a year of operating was awarded Gold and Best in Class in the Branded Beef category of the 2019 Australian Food Awards.
The company takes its processing equipment to client's farms and do all the work onsite.
Chris Balazs, CEO and co-founder of Provenir, said he hated loading his livestock onto the back of a truck.
"I work so hard to get them in top condition only to risk losing it all to a bad trip," he said.
"As well as the high welfare of the livestock, Provenir is focused on providing full traceability and true provenance.
"By processing on-farm and utilising the latest in digital traceability technology, we can provide full transparency and guaranteed provenance that is validated by the customer themselves."
Mr Balazs said he was incredibly proud of everyone involved in getting the company off the ground.
"We started operating June," he said.
"It has been such a long journey to get to this point.
"So many people thought it was not going to be viable."
Nick Austin owns a property at Mundarlo and decided to jump on board with the idea of a mobile abattoir.
"We provide them with suitable cattle," he said.
"That means grass-fed, no hormones, no fed antibiotics and low-stress handled."
Mr Austin is part of the farming group Eight Families which run under holistic principles.
"Besides running a business, we try to regenerate the landscape on which we operate and make sure that we are looking after animals ethically," he said.
"The transport before slaughter, besides the ethical component, it reduces the meat quality.
"When they approached us, we thought it was a great idea."
Mr Austin said the mobile abattoir spends half a day setting up, and then two days to complete the processes.
He added consumers are increasingly aware of where their food comes from.
"They want to know it comes from a clean, healthy environment without a huge number of chemicals," he said.