Our commitment to the environment

The Tarago Catchment

BBQF sources all of their beef from the Tarago Catchment. The Tarago Reservoir near the small township of Willowgrove (Gippsland) was constructed in 1965 to supply drinking water to several nearby townships and the Mornington Peninsula and Westernport regions. The Tarago Catchment, supplying the reservoir, is a relatively small catchment, with an area of approximately 120,000ha. Approximately two-thirds of the catchment area is forested, and there are only around 65 land holders in the remaining third of the catchment that is used for agriculture (both commercial farming and rural lifestyle activities). Currently 15 farms supply beef to BBQF.

Our Environmental Credentials

Maintaining our environmental credentials is important to Best Beef.  The practices of our suppliers and also our abattoir and packaging plant are important for maintaining water quality in our catchment.  Land surrounding the reservoir is used for a number of purposes, such as residential, agriculture and forestry, and this can all have an impact on water quality.  In playing our role in maintaining water quality in the catchment, we support our suppliers in modern land management practices such as reducing stock access to streams, removal of willows, revegetation of streams, effluent management, timing of fertiliser application to reduce runoff and reducing soil erosion.  Good catchment management is important to Best Beef.