Primary Sector Category: 2024 Winner Royalburn - Fine lamb
Royalburn were the Primary Sector category winner in 2024 for their Fine Lamb.
Royalburn Station.
Nadia Lim and Carlos Bagrie have made a dream a reality by creating one of New Zealand’s only true paddock to plate operations. Royalburn Station, situated on the Crown Range Road that winds between Arrowtown and Wanaka is the perfect spot for Nadia and Carlos’ vision of being leaders in regenerative and ethical farming.
With a passion for great tasting food and even better ethics, Royalburn Station is providing their customer with meat that is not only delicious but has been considered and cared for throughout the entire process. In a bid to have the highest animal ethics and animal welfare standards possible, Royalburn invested in their own on-farm micro abattoir.
Royalburn’s Fine Lamb is a high quality, dry-aged, 100% pasture-fed NZ lamb specifically bred for its meat-eating qualities. The lambs are born, raised with no interference and then processed on the Station– it’s a true representation of the ‘paddock to plate’ operation.
The judges were delighted by the tender, succulent lamb, as well as Royalburn Station’s commitment to an integrated and sustainable approach.
"Winning at the NZ Food Awards has cemented our belief that Royalburn Station produces the highest-quality, delicious lamb straight from our farm, and it's great that we can now say to the rest of NZ that our lamb is award winning!
"The NZ Food Awards team was incredibly attentive and helpful throughout the process. We are very grateful for their guidance and expertise"
Entry (extracts):
1. Product name
Royalburn Fine Lamb
2. Product description
The highest quality, dry-aged, 100% pasture-fed NZ lamb, produced in a true ‘farm-to-plate’ system. Royalburn lamb is specifically bred to have the best meat-eating qualities with focus genetics rams crossed with our rugged perendale ewes. Their genetics, combined with a diverse diet of multiple plant species, and dry aging the meat, makes for outstanding flavour, an optimal fat to lean ratio, and finer textured meat that is incredibly succulent.
Our philosophy with sheep is to be as hands-off as possible. We like them being a little wild. We do not remove tails or ear mark our lambs, leaving them to grow stress-free alongside their mothers. In a bid to have the highest animal ethics and animal welfare standards possible, we invested in our own on-farm micro abattoir, which means our lambs are born, raised – and killed – on site, meaning no trucks, travel, standing off-pasture, etc. We wanted to eliminate any potential stresses to the animal on their last day, which also significantly positively influences the quality of their meat. Anyone who has tried home-kill meat knows and understands the (superior) difference in taste. We are also unique in that we have our own on-farm butchery and team of chefs and butchers, so our lamb is butchered on-site and made into other lamb products (e.g. lamb bacon, sausages, etc.). The lamb is then distributed to over 30+ retail and foodservice outlets around the country. We are as genuinely ‘farm-to-plate’ as it can possibly get.
Innovation:
3. Where did the idea for this product come from?
We are a 1,200-acre, diversified farm situated in the Crown Range area of Central Otago. Sheep and barley are the station’s history, however since taking it on four years ago we have become incredibly diversified and now produce everything from regeneratively-raised lamb to pasture-raised eggs, organic vegetables, honey, spray-free wheat, malting barley, sunflower oil, peas, and more. We wanted to be NZ’s first true ‘farm-to-plate’ farm, so have set up our own processing, manufacturing, packing and distribution as well.
We always knew Royalburn Station was well suited to growing lamb. However, we wanted to champion a true ‘farm-to-plate- model, directly connecting the farmer with the consumer, instead of being part of the standard commodity driven model with no direct connection or traceability. On top of that we wanted to champion the highest animal ethics and welfare standards possible, which also makes for the best quality meat. Having an on-farm micro abattoir means minimal stress to the animal as they never have to be stood off pasture, be trucked or wait around in unfamiliar environments. Having an on-farm butchery means we can dry age our lamb for five days and be true ‘nose-to-tail’; we use/sell every single part of the animal from the tongue to the tail (literally).
Our lamb is involved in a fully circular, traceable system. We even turn the leftover organ meat into pet treats, with bones and guts used in our hot composting system. Our butchery team are first and foremost trained chefs. We felt this was important because we wanted the best taste buds and understanding of what makes the best-tasting, highest quality meat and meat products. As well as doing standard primal cuts of lamb, we turn a lot of it into beautiful charcuterie – artisan sausages, lamb bacon, pre-marinated products etc.
4. How did you determine the product’s orginality?
We know for a fact that we are one of only two farms in the country that has an on-farm abattoir and butchery. The other, in Cambridge, focuses on beef, whereas we focus on lamb. There is no other meat brand in the country that can say their lamb has been born, raised, killed and butchered on farm, being true ‘farm-to-plate’. Lamb done this way is, without a doubt, one of its kind in NZ, and globally.
5. Did you consider any new technology to your company in the development of this product?
The best quality lamb meat all starts from the ground up, literally. Our farming practices are first and foremost centred around the health and biology of the soil. Healthy soil means excellent plant growth and diversity which means healthier livestock.
We have invested heavily in our genetics (Focus Genetics rams x Perendale ewes), however that is only one part of the equation. We practice regenerative farming management, with our ewes and lambs moving regularly between fresh grass and multi-species cover crops such as oats, buckwheat, phacelia, clovers, resulting in excellent nutrition and growth rates. After weaning, lambs are finished on omega-3 rich chicory. A delicious, diverse diet is key to the quality and nutrition of their meat. The old saying, “you are what you eat,” is absolutely true. Finally, the less stresses on an animal at kill time, the better quality of the meat due to lower pH levels through the muscle glycogen, lactic acid pathway.
The technology behind our infrastructure itself is new, as we had to design and build all our infrastructure from scratch. Royalburn was destined to become a subdivision of luxury houses, consequently, previous owners hadn’t invested much in the farming operations. This meant to move it forward as an operational farm, we needed to build all new stock handling systems, laneways, irrigation systems, and power systems and set up all the machinery.
Having an on-farm abattoir and butchery is almost unheard of in New Zealand, or Australia. In fact, it’s significant on the world stage with few working examples. We had to upgrade everything, filtered water systems, power systems to cope with the increased power load from the chillers and of course stock handling systems.
Secondly, it was crystal clear we need a fully integrated IT solution to be successful and meet the conditions set out by MPI. There’s a significant amount of variability from each department, coupled with dealing with fresh food, with tight expiration dates (whether fresh or frozen) and batch controls, things could unravel quickly if not managed appropriately.
We had to modify an off-the-shelf inventory system to cope with catch weight, as every lamb and cut of meat was different weights. Our sales and distribution systems must link into this, alongside our financial metrics so we can measure inputs and margins in real-time. Likewise, we’ve had to link this in with our in-store POS systems, so we are measuring wastage, gross margin, labour costs etc. This has allowed us to pull stock reports on the 2,000+ SKUs we have in store, as well as real-time reporting and monthly forecasts on every department.
6. What were some of the challenges in developing this product/business and how did you overcome them?
We were going from a standard commodity model where we could comfortably finish our lambs and send them to the works within 6 months. Our current model, of needing to manage a constant supply of lamb all year around, is much more challenging because of the seasonal challenges involved in farming (finishing 100% pasture-raised lamb in winter is harder than in summer when pasture is not growing, for example).
As we process, butcher and sell all the meat ourselves (rather than the freezing works), you have the challenge of carcass optimisation, i.e. finding a market for every part of the animal to prevent any wastage and maximise income. This is a considerable job that needed a dedicated salesperson who collaborates with our chef/butchery team to liaise and come up with and sell different cuts and lamb products in order to utilise the whole animal. It requires in-depth knowledge and skill to create new and interesting cuts and lamb products to keep chefs and our retail customers happy but also trying new things. We use and sell every part of the animal – for example the lambs tongues are sold (to Muttonbird restaurant in Wanaka), right through our tails being sold (to Amisfield restaurant in Arrowtown). A selection of offal is sold to other retail stores (including our own farm shop) and restaurants. Any leftover organ meat is used in our own commercially made pet treats.
There were significant regulatory challenges in the setting up of the abattoir. Our first challenge was demonstrating to MPI that we could run our systems in a manner that was at least as good as, if not better than the freezing works. We spent months working on our resource management plans to ensure we had the right systems and controls. When we went live, we had MPI here with us, to see through our entire process management. There is zero room for mistakes when handling raw meat. Fortunately, we’d found a very capable team of operators to run both the abattoir and butchery. These experts have come from managing massive facilities, and now retired, have been training our younger team members up, building contingency into our system.
7. In your food technologists (or similar) words, what was the proudest moment in the products journey?
From Michelle, our farm general manager – “My proudest moment was following the whole process of the first lambs through the abattoir and butchery. It made me happy knowing that these lambs had had a very happy life, and as honourable a death as we could possibly give them. Then came the cooking and tasting of the lamb, and that was a special moment as it was the most delicious, succulent lamb I’d ever had, hands down! That was a realisation that what we were doing was game-changing and that we could make a difference with the farming model, animal ethics and quality of product”
Sustainability:
8. Describe how environmental outcomes have been maximised across the entire life cycle of the product and your company processes for achieving these outcomes
FOOD MILES
Being a true ‘farm-to-plate’ model, there are literally NO food miles involved in the production of our lamb as it is all from our farm, 100% pasture-fed, processed on our farm, butchered on our farm, packed and distributed from our farm.
REGENERATIVE FARMING, BIODIVERSITY & CARBON BUILDING
We practice regenerative farming management with our sheep operation, involving rotational grazing, multi-species regenerative crops for feed (our sheep eat an amazing smorgasbord of diversity e.g. paddocks of clover, ryegrass, phacelia, vetch, buckwheat, oats, kale, plantain) and are finished on high omega-3 chicory, kale, rape, peas etc depending on the season. They are 100% pasture-fed, on spray-free pastures. Our farming practices are done in consideration for the health and biology of our soil. We have been measuring carbon mass in our paddocks which has been increasing, and this is because of our practices such as using our sheep as a rotational 'crop' with our arable operation, as well as leaving biomass (e.g. barley/pea straw) on the paddocks after harvesting instead of baling. Utilising livestock in our arable operation has resulted in a significantly reduced need for fertiliser application, about 15-20% NPK fertiliser of a standard application schedule for cropping.
WASTE TO RESOURCE
Part of our farm's ethos is that everything can be a valuable resource. As such we have two large-scale composting systems - a hot compost which utilises and breaks down waste lamb/sheep carcasses from our abattoir and is used for our native tree planting. The hot compost breaks down the carcass waste naturally at 45-65degC generated by the high microbial activity. We also have a 'cow composting' system that utilises our small herd of cattle on straw pads (straw from our arable harvests) to make compost with their faeces and urine, which gets used in our market garden (which grows vegetables and herbs used in our sausages and meat marinades).
9. Provide a specific example of environmental sustainability initiatives related to the product you have entered
Our lamb is involved in a total circular system. We use every part of the animal, tongue to tail - literally! (our tongues and tails are sold to high end restaurants), and the remaining bones and guts are added to and naturally broken down (at temperatures of 45-65degC due to the high bacterial activity) in our farm's hot compost system. The base of this hot compost is wilding pine mulch. Wilding pines are a 'pest/weed' in our region and must be removed. The pines are chipped, then distilled (to produce wilding pine oil, some of which gets used in our natural soaps) and then the resulting leftover mulch is used as the base for the hot compost which has the remaining lamb carcasses added to it. They break down naturally over a period of 3-8 weeks (depending on the season) and, eventually, the resulting compost is used in our native tree plantings across the farm. It's as close to the natural circle-of-life as you can possibly get.
We deliver our lamb (and all other farm produce) in reusable crates, which we collect and bring back to the farm to wash and reuse.
10. Describe how your company consciously addresses social sustainability across the entire life cycle of its products and your company processes for achieving these outcomes
Social sustainability is equally important as environmental and financial sustainability. We are big believers in our staff working across and learning about various parts of the farm, and having contact with our customers and the ‘end eaters’. As such we have a cross-work programme which involves staff working across the multiple units on the farm – e.g. butchery, market garden, bees and chickens, as well as in our retail store (The Royalburn farm shop) and in our distribution and delivery wing. This has helped immensely with personal development and learning opportunities and overall job satisfaction with our staff, not to mention communication and collaboration between teams. Allowing our farm staff to do some hours in the distribution/delivery wing and retail shop as well allows them the opportunity to directly talk to our customers about what they grow/raise/produce and get direct feedback (and vice versa). It is an excellent opportunity for discussion about farming between our staff and the public, especially in our current society where there is a growing gap in knowledge with how food is produced. We find this gives our staff a sense of pride and meaningful purpose with what they do and how they contribute to our community, and the food and farming community.
11. Provide a specific example of social sustainability initiatives related to the product you have entered
For example, our butchery team also work, from time to time, in our market garden, abattoir, retail shop and with our shepherd. This gives them a greater understanding of other parts of the farm and how it operates and opens direct lines of communication between different sectors of the farm. This flexibility, variability, endless learning and collaboration within their jobs creates greater job satisfaction, engagement, ownership and team work...and makes things more fun!
Excellence:
12. Briefly outline your product development process
Within the butchery, product development starts with our team of chef-butchers experimenting and creating new/different cuts and products to make use of the whole animal and products that will delight our retail and foodservice customers. For example, we have created different cuts novel to chefs such as a ‘pioneer neck’ which has become very popular. Different cuts are more in demand at different times of the year (e.g. leg in summer, and shanks in winter), so our team develop new products to use up the less in-demand cuts at the time. For example, in winter when demand for lamb leg is low, we turn it into lamb leg bacon. In summer, when the belly is less in demand, we make the lamb belly bacon.
13. How did you determine the product's likely success in the market?
It is well documented that customers/’eaters’ are wanting more traceability and connection with those who grow and raise their food, and a more ethical way of eating meat. Hence we knew our true ‘farm-to-plate’ meat would be well received. Many people would love to be able to access home-kill, however it is not allowed to be commercially sold. So what we are able to do is amazing.
14. Has any alternative technology advanced the product development or launch?
There were two types of technology required to achieve what we’ve done.
Firstly, the technology behind our infrastructure itself, as we had to design and build all our infrastructure from scratch. Royalburn was destined to become a subdivision of luxury houses, consequently, previous owners hadn’t invested much in the farming operations. This meant to move it forward as an operational farm, we needed to build all new stock handling systems, laneways, irrigation systems, and power systems and set up all the machinery.
Having an on-farm abattoir and butchery is almost unheard of in New Zealand, or Australia, in fact, it’s significant on the world stage with few working examples. We had to upgrade everything, filtered water systems, power systems to cope with the increased power load from the chillers and of course stock handling systems.
Secondly, it was crystal clear we need a fully integrated IT solution to be successful and meet the conditions set out by MPI. There’s a significant amount of variability from each of department, coupled with dealing with fresh food, with tight expiration dates (whether fresh or frozen) and batch controls, things could unravel quickly if not managed appropriately.
We had to modify an off-the-shelf inventory system to cope with catch weight, as every lamb and cut of meat was different weights. Our sales and distribution systems must link into this, alongside our financial metrics so we can measure inputs and margins in real-time. Likewise, we’ve had to link this in with our in-store POS systems, so we are measuring wastage, gross margin, labour costs etc. This has allowed us to pull stock reports on the 2,000+ SKUs we have in store, as well as real-time reporting and monthly forecasts on every department.
15. What customer or market research or expertise have you used?
It is well known and documented that customers/’eaters’ are wanting more traceability and connection with those who grow and raise their food, as well as a more ethical way of eating meat. Hence we knew a true ‘farm-to-plate’ product would be popular and well received.
We have employed some of the best in their fields in terms of livestock managers, chefs and butchers who all know and understand what it takes to produce the best quality lamb.
16. Have you created or developed a new market with your product? How do you know this?
This was less about creating a new product (lamb), and more about creating a new way to produce and supply a quality product direct from farm to market. We are one of only two farms in the country that has an on-farm abattoir and complimentary butchery, so we are fairly confident that this is a ‘first of its kind’ on a commercial level. We hope that, in the future, more farmers can follow the same track in bringing their farm to local customers' plates forming a significant market for genuine farm-to-plate produce and products.
17. What markets is the product currently in and what are your future markets? Please provide any relevant sales and distribution information
Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown regions. Our future markets are the rest of NZ. We plan to go nationwide. Our sales and distribution involves both foodservice and retail. We found this particularly important with the Covid lockdown, i.e. not to have all your eggs in one basket. Our awareness in foodservice helps our retail sales (i.e. people see Royalburn on a menu and eat it in a restaurant/cafe, then see the product in store and want to buy it), and vice versa. Over the last year we have produced and sold over 65 tonnes of lamb to over 40+ retail and foodservice outlets, and we are continually growing.
