Windhoek and Okahandja plants to operate simultaneously

Hereby all Meatco producers are notified that the Windhoek factory will no longer be closing for two weeks in March as communicated earlier. This decision was made to accommodate the additional demand for slaughter space from producers in the prevailing drought conditions.

As from 16 March 2015, both the Windhoek and Okahandja factories will be operating at the same time. At the moment Okahandja is still closed for slaughter but once opened, it will be up and running until December 2015.

There are plans for the Windhoek factory to close down for maintenance in August 2015, depending on the number of cattle received. If Windhoek closes then, it will remain shut for maintenance until December 2015. In this time the Okahandja factory will be fully functional and operational.

Meatco has launched Emergency Marketing during the drought as follows:

Drought conditions usually result in an increase in animals being marketed, which means there is also more meat available. The good news is that Meatco’s Livestock Procurement has everything under control, with 7 192 animals that were slaughtered in February 2015, in comparison to 4 677 last year.

For March, booking requests for 12 000 cattle were made, which is 4 000 more than expected. Both abattoirs will run simultaneously to accommodate the large number of cattle on the booking requests.

Plans Meatco has made for this difficult time:

• To keep both abattoirs running from April to June since we expect to slaughter around 17 000 animals per month.
• We strive to maintain market relevant prices, although the quality of animals in terms of fat, weight and confirmation will have an effect on the price producers receive.
• We also expect higher throughput volumes through our feedlot and lease farms to assist producers in need, although space is limited.