Putting Territory beef 'that tastes like beef' onto menus

Fiona McBean and her husband Peter Cogill decided to venture into cattle production after running out of beef and finding supermarket mince unsatisfactory. The couple purchased a property near Darwin and established their own boutique abattoir, Eva Valley Meats. In 2016, they faced skepticism over the taste of Top End cattle, but soon realized there was a strong demand for beef that truly tasted like beef.

Within three months, Eva Valley Meats gained so many repeat customers that they needed to hire a full-time butcher to keep up with the demand. The abattoir, processing around 15 to 20 animals per week, has celebrated its 10th anniversary and still maintains a focus on quality over size, aiming to continuously improve rather than expand.

Eva Valley Meats' dedication to utilizing every part of the carcass has even inspired one of the abattoir's apprentices, Rebecca Francis, to launch her own skincare business using tallow from the animals. The Northern Territory's beef industry has historically been focused on live export, but Eva Valley Meats and other local abattoirs have begun to change that perception by providing high-quality beef for local consumption.