Poultry processing plants have developed close to markets and labour sources, with many of the largest operations within 50km of a capital city. This keeps distribution and transport costs down and ensures labour and other services are available.
Chicken grow-out farms, where chickens grow from day-olds until they are ready for processing, are generally within 100km of the processing plant. Growers look for:
a nearby feed mill
guaranteed water supply
guaranteed electric power, preferably three phase
access for heavy transport for feed and live poultry
available labour, depending on farm size
available services such as tradesmen, servicemen and veterinarians
Major Chicken Meat Producing Regions of Australia:
While major centres of chicken meat production have developed near major capital cities, the industry is becoming more regionalised as urbanisation spreads. Major areas of meat chicken growing are:
NSW - outskirts of the Sydney metropolitan area, Mangrove Mountain / central coast, Newcastle, Tamworth and Griffith areas and Byron Bay
Queensland - Redland Bay south of Brisbane, and other areas to Brisbane’s south, south west and north and in Mareeba
Victoria - Mornington Peninsula , east of Melbourne, and Geelong and Bendigo areas
South Australia - outskirts of Adelaide and the Two Wells area
Western Australia – Perth’s outer metropolitan areas.
Tasmania – outer metropolitan areas
Northern Territory – no commercial meat farms
Distribution across the six States
NSW %
VIC %
QLD %
SA %
WA %
TAS %
Total
% of total slaughterings
34.3
27.9
18.3
9.1
9.0
1.4
441.6 million chickens
% of total chicken meat produced
34.9
28.8
17.0
9.3
8.7
1.3
731 471 tonnes
Notes: These figures are ACMF estimates based on statistics contained in ABS Catalogue No. 7215.0 - "Livestock Products, Australia " and industry statistics for the year 2004
The actual figures relating to a specific sector of the pie charts below appear when the mouse is pointing to them.
Note: The actual figures relating to a specific sector of the pie chart above appear when the mouse is pointing to it.
Breeding farms owned by the integrated chicken companies are strategically located across Australia, with a trend towards the siting new Great Grandparent and Grandparent breeder farms in areas more isolated from the traditional poultry rearing areas. This is to reduce the risk of these valuable flocks being exposed to disease agents.
The three largest integrated companies each import new genetic stocks regularly, and have Great Grandparent, Grandparent and Parent breeding flocks. Many medium-sized companies maintain Parent breeding flocks, which come as fertile eggs or day old chicks from the three largest companies, while the remainder purchase day-old broiler chickens.
Hatcheries are located close to major chicken growing areas.
Most feed is supplied from mills owned and operated by the vertically integrated chicken companies. The remainder is supplied by commercial feed mills, formulating diets to the nutritional specifications determined by the chicken companies. The location of company feed mills is driven largely by transport costs, so most major feed mills are close to significant areas of chicken farming – although access to feed ingredients is also a factor.
Typical Infrastructure Costs
Typical Infrastructure Costs
The cost of facilities is very high and those in the industry are clearly committed to it for the long term. The following example illustrates this point. The total infrastructure required to support the production of 750,000 broilers per week (about 8% of current total production capacity of the Australian chicken meat industry) is estimated to be worth 325 million dollar, made up of the following major components:
A processing plant capable of handling a volume of 750,000 broilers per week costs in the vicinity of 45 million dollar.
Fertile egg production (breeder farms) required to grow 750,000 broilers per week represent an investment of the order of 60 million dollar, while a modern hatchery complex costs around 25 million dollar, and a feedmill to produce the volume of feed necessary costs about 45 million dollar. Broilersheds needed to ensure a supply of 750,000 broilers per week represent an investment of some 150 million dollar (equivalent to around 50 average farms housing 150,000 chickens; see next dot point below).
A typical family farm would house 100,000 to 150,000 broiler chickens and produce a total of 550,000-800,000 birds a year in several batches. The cost of establishing a new chicken farm (incl. land) with a capacity of 150,000 birds is likely to cost in the vicinity of 3 to 3.5 million dollar in terms of up front investment.
The two largest integrated companies (Inghams and Baiada) are headquarted in NSW, the traditional "home of the chicken meat industry" but have operations in all other states. A further two major processors are located in the Sydney Basin; another processor is located in Byron Bay (NSW), one in Mt Cotton (QLD), one in Bendigo (VIC) and one in Thomastown (VIC)
