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Stanbroke recently donated and delivered two full commercial-sized trailers of valuable hay from its company-owned Feedlot to Australian charity organisation Rural Aid.

This donation supports drought-affected farmers and their families in the Gayndah area (North Burnett Region, Queensland), with the region subjected to below-average rainfall throughout 2021.

This donation provided local farmers with enough fodder to care for their livestock over the next season. This reduces the financial burden caused by the drought and allows them to spend money on other essential necessities. 

Rural Aid Australia provides critical support to regional communities and farmers including water, hay, financial and counselling assistance since 2015. Stanbroke is proud to work alongside Rural Aid to strive towards stronger futures for all Australian farmers.

Stanbroke has taken out the Darling Downs Beef Battle, an annual event hosted by the Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise to showcase the best grain-fed beef from the Darling Downs region.

Now in its third year, the Darling Downs Beef Battle invited more than 250 individual diners at the annual dinner to blind taste-test steaks from eight competing brands.

The winning steak was the Diamantina MB4~5 Wagyu Striploin, fed at Stanbroke Feedlot in Chinchilla and processed at Stanbroke plant in Grantham. The beef was hand selected by John Zischke (Production Operations Manager) and is available at Peter Augustus butcher stores in Brisbane.

Read more on Beef Central here.

Pictured: Bruce McConnel (General Manager – Food Leaders Australia) and Mark Harris (Stanbroke Sales Manager) holding the trophy.

“Not everyone wants to work in the city,” says Ross Sticklen. And it’s just as well because his job is to recruit staff for cattle stations in some of the most remote areas to be found throughout the outback in northern Queensland.

Sticklen is the Human Resources Manager with Australian beef producer Stanbroke, which operates eight cattle stations in northern Queensland covering some 1.6 million hectares. The company also manages 46 properties in southern Queensland.

“There is no one type of person who is attracted to working on cattle stations,” says Sticklen, who has worked at Stanbroke since 2005. “Those drawn to agriculture can come from
diverse backgrounds. We attract ag college graduates, tradesmen and those off family properties wanting to develop a career in agriculture, to name a few.

“It’s more than horse work these days; a wide range of skills are required to work on a cattle station. We rely a lot on two-wheel bikes and side-by-sides which we found much safer for our staff to operate.

“Everyone has some skill base and we like to develop and enhance their existing skills to a level that makes them feel confident to deal with or undertake any job assigned to them on one of our stations.

“We rate a good attitude as being essential. If you have that and get involved in what the company does you will have a great career in the industry.

“That said, when filling positions, we are upfront with people because we know it won’t suit everyone. The postings are remote and you will be hours from the nearest town.”

And it is the remote nature that is one of the toughest challenges facing some cattle properties competing for staff among what are usually small local populations and in northern Queensland. This has been compounded in the past by the mining sector, which is also competing for staff from the same small pool of locals.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that in Cloncurry – the nearest regional centre to four of Stanbroke’s cattle farms in northern Queensland – a full 10.8 per cent of the population is in agriculture with metal ore mining the only industry to engage more of the population than farming at 21.3 per cent.

“It is harder to attract people when the mining industry is booming,” Sticklen says. “Mining is one of the biggest employers in remote Queensland and no industry can compete with the
salaries they offer during boom times.

“But boom times don’t last as we have seen time and again, and that’s where some people prefer the stability of ongoing, well-paid work at a company like Stanbroke.

“Stanbroke has the ability to offer experience in a wide range of skills and being a family-owned integrated supply chain I believe is helping attract people back from mining.”

Sticklen is quick to point out that money is not the only driver for many people, with some preferring the quieter pace of life on the land.

“For some it’s about being on the land, away from the city and crowds of people and noise,” he says. “It suits some people and not others because it is much more than just a job. It is a way of life and developing skills.”

Sticklen, who comes from a grazier background and has 42 years’ experience in the cattle industry, says the variety of jobs available with Stanbroke often include jillaroos and jackaroos, machinery operators, grader drivers and positions at the feedlot and meat processing.

Stanbroke also identifies staff showing a desire to progress into more senior roles within the company, giving them additional responsibility, training and exposure to keep staff retention at high levels.

While cattle stations are quite remote, Sticklen says the facilities at some these days are much more than most would expect, including wi-fi, recreational clubs,
comfortable accommodation and meals provided.

And surprisingly, cattle stations – while located in some of the most isolated areas of Australia – are doing their best to reach gender parity with women accounting for about 42 per cent of the staff Stanbroke employs on its cattle stations.

“We are hoping to get that to 50-50,” Sticklen says. “It has been a male dominated industry in the past but we get a lot of women apply for positions and find they make great employees
because they have great attention to detail, they are good with the equipment and the livestock and they are resilient.

“While we hope to achieve gender parity, our focus will remain on the quality of staff we have because we understand that helps us to produce quality beef, which is what we are all about.”

This article first appeared on HRD Australia. 

Black Hide by Gambaro at Treasury Casino in Brisbane’s CBD continues to impress diners and food critics alike, with rave reviews since opening in July 2018.

The elegant new steakhouse is the third iconic Brisbane restaurant by The Gambaro Group – the second to focus on beef as the hero cuisine.

The Gambaro Group exclusively sources Stanbroke beef to consistently dish up exceptional, world-class steaks, including one of the most extensive selections of Australian Wagyu and Angus steak cuts.

In the recent review featured in the Courier Mail, senior restaurant critic Des Houghton gave the food at Black Hide at Treasury Casino a perfect 10/10 score.

He also rated the “fancy” established with “three handsomely decorated rooms with views to the Brisbane River and South Bank” as a 10/10 for service, 9 for ambiance and 9 for value.

He also credited Stanbroke for providing top-quality produce.

“And now Stanbroke is powering the Gambaro boys in their most ambitious project yet – a second Black Hide steakhouse at Treasury Hotel & Casino in Brisbane’s CBD,” he wrote.

Calling it a “hit parade of beef”, he highlighted “newcomers” on the menu “including Stanbroke’s export quality wagyu with a marble score of 9+” as well as the 200g eye fillet and 200g sirloin.

With a hard-to-beat overall 9.5/10 score, it’s clear this is Brisbane’s most exciting new dining experience yet, where exceptional steaks meet elegant ambiance.

Black Hide opening hours: Lunch Tuesday-Friday noon-3pm. Dinner Tues-Thursday 5.30-10pm; Fri-Sat 5.30-11pm; Sun 5.30-10pm.

Stanbroke has been named the best steak in Southeast Queensland by Courier Mail senior restaurant critic and “steak aficionado” Des Houghton.

In particular, it was Stanbroke’s 1200g Angus Tomahawk from the Darling Downs that took out the number one spot, which he enjoyed at the new Black Hide by Gambaro at Treasury Casino.

Houghton praised the cut as “Deeply satisfying” and said it “Knocks wagyu off its perch”.

“This is the steak a condemned man would happily eat as his last meal before he went to the gallows,” he said.

“It’s superb. It’s juicy, it’s flavoursome, it’s rich. It is the taste of Queensland.”

He also declared it a “better flavour than the Wagyu”, calling it a “triumph of Queensland cattle over genetically modified Japanese breeds”.

The Stanbroke 1200g Angus Tomahawk MB3+ is from pure Black Angus cattle from the Darling Downs that has been grain fed for 150 days.

Pictured: Stanbroke’s Signature Black Angus OP Rib slow roasted for 12 hours

Stanbroke took part in the Classic Fine Foods Origins Party in Singapore on June 11, with Stanbroke beef featured for a Chef’s table.

The event showcases some of the finest produce in the world.

For the main course, guests enjoyed a Sanchoku Wagyu Tenderloin with stout onion puree and crispy beer malt, and Signature Black Angus OP Rib that was slow roasted for 12 hours.

The guest list included top global chefs and food and beverage suppliers, who all proved very interested to sample the Stanbroke beef products.

Hosted at craft-brewery LeVeL33, it offered a most beautiful setting to enjoy the world-class flavours: overlooking Singapore’s skyline and the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

At the recent Brisbane BBQ Festival, the Double Barrel BBQ team took out Grand Champion utilising Stanbroke Beef.

Stanbroke have recently come on board as a sponsor for the team, which has been competing in BBQ competitions in Australia and America for a number of years.

Other recent wins by the Double Barrel BBQ team with Stanbroke cuts include Bundaberg BBQ Battle (Grand Champions), The Bayside BBQ & Beer Roadshow (5th place), and most recently, Beef in the Vines in Port Macquarie (Reserve Grand Champions).

The Double Barrel BBQ team say they enjoy cooking with Stanbroke beef because of the great “overall quality”.

“We use the wagyu – the Diamantina Wagyu marble score 9 briskets,” said team member Adrian Blomfield.

“It’s consistently marbled which is good for low and slow bbq, it’s great size and thickness and the consistency of the product is always good.”

Soon, the Double Barrel BBQ team are off to compete in America.

“By winning the Brisbane BBQ competition, we got entry into the American Royal Invitational. Everyone who competes there has to have won a grand championship of a certain size to get in. There are teams from all over the world.”

He says they won the International Division when they competed at the American Royal in 2016.

Best of luck to the Double Barrel BBQ team!