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Six generations of involvement in the Australian meat industry
From a sole trader family business in the mid-1860s, HW Greenham & Sons Pty Ltd has grown in to a multi-million dollar meat processing business, with buying and export centres in Tongala (north-eastern Victoria) and Greenham Tasmania Pty Ltd operating at Smithton in Tasmania’s pristine north-west.
Greenham buys cows from local suppliers through its liveweight scale operations or "over the hooks" trading at its plants. The Tongala plant processes mainly cast-for-age dairy cows for export to the United States for the Burger King organisation. The Smithton plant in Tasmania exports premium quality beef to the USA and Japan, buying dairy cows, bulls, heavy beef cows, Jap ox, calves and yearlings.
HW Greenham & Sons Pty Ltd
The current business, HW Greenham & Sons Pty Ltd, began in 1933, for some time operating from the Melbourne City Abattoirs. As the company grew it mainly supplied domestic markets, with some frozen lambs exported to the United Kingdom. By the 1960s the company was exporting to the United States, processing up to 600 cattle per day.
A leader in the Australian meat export business, Greenham was the first Australian company to set up a hot boning plant following overseas investigations into methods of achieving cost reduction and competitiveness. The plant was built in Tongala - a premium dairying area in Victoria - and started operations in January 1993, working two shifts per day, to produce lean grinding meat for the United States market.
An enterprise agreement was negotiated between the company and its employees - the first enterprise agreement in the Australian meat industry - after the Federal Government introduced free enterprise agreements. The Greenham abattoir was the first to be operated anywhere in Australia without trade union involvement.
The company entered into contracts with grinding plants in the United States, which supply the Burger King organisation, exporting more than 24,000 tonnes each year.
In December 2001, the company bought the closed Blue Ribbon meatworks at Smithton in Tasmania, establishing Greenham Tasmania Pty Ltd. Today, Greenham Tasmania Pty Ltd employs more than 100 people and exports prime meats to the USA and Japan.
Working directly with cattle producers
Greenham purchases the majority of its cattle direct from farmers close to the company’s operating plants. At present 100 percent of the Tongala plant requirements is purchased direct from local suppliers through company-sponsored liveweight scale operations or local "over the hooks" trading at the abattoir.
An ardent supporter of education and training as a means to improving agricultural industries and supporting rural communities, Greenham provides two annual $10,000 scholarships to young people in Victoria and Tasmania who intend to further their careers in either the dairy or beef industries.