Agricultural
21 June, 2023
New feedlot proposed at Leyburn
A development application submitted to Southern Downs Regional Council proposes to build a beef cattle feedlot on a property to the east of the Leyburn township.
The material change of use application was submitted by RDC Engineers on behalf of Darren William Hamblin, trustee for Hamblin Family Trust.
The Hamblin family owns and operates Strathdale Wagyu, a commercial and stud beef cattle business.
In addition to the 5723 Toowoomba - Karara Road ‘Struggle Downs’ property at Leyburn where they hope to built the feedlot, they operate three properties in the Middlemount area between Emerald and Mackay and two properties in the Sarina area, just south of Mackay.
A document submitted as part of the application says the Hamblin family wishes to develop a 4,110 standard cattle unit feedlot on Struggle Downs as part of their diversification and value added strategy.
“The feedlot will be unique in Queensland with a proposal to develop a heavily-automated covered housing lot feeding system which will be designed to facilitate robotic feeding technology and data capture and management for tracking performance and guiding selection decisions,” the report said.
“Currently the supply chain includes breeding, weaning and backgrounding of cattle on their own properties with finishing undertaken at the Kerwee Feedlot at Jondaryan on the Darling Downs.
“All finished cattle are processed at the John Dee abattoir at Warwick.”
The document says the Hamblin family have a Wagyu herd of around 6,000 head.
It is also proposed for caretaker’s accommodation to be constructed on the site.
Struggle Downs consists of ten separate cadastral portions that total 716.73 hectares (1771 acres).
The closest portion of Struggle Downs is approximately 500m from Leyburn township.
Existing infrastructure at the site includes a hay shed, cattle yards, storage sheds and a shearing shed.
