Cattle herd owned by luxury beef company AACo died of apparent thirst in Queensland
Stateline
By Liam Walsh
Topic:Beef Cattle Farming
5m ago5 minutes agoMon 17 Mar 2025 at 7:43pm
A herd of AACo's wagyu heifers at Westholme station in Queensland.
Cattle on a AACo farm died of apparent thirst. (Supplied: AACo)
A herd of cattle have died of apparent thirst after being unable to find water at a station of luxury beef giant AACo, whose marketing mantra is based on its livestock's welfare.
A source with knowledge of the deaths said about 140 head — almost 100 cows and 40 calves — had perished in the summer heat.
A theory for the cause was that a tap from a water tank to a trough was accidentally off.
The deaths have horrified people in the agriculture industry, and it marks more turmoil about operations at AACo, whose big shareholders include superyacht-owning British billionaire — and confessed insider trader — Joe Lewis and Australian iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest.
The deaths occurred at a Queensland station around the Australia Day long weekend, the ABC can reveal.
Processing at AACo's meatworks is expected to begin soon
There have been two recent instances of AACo cattle herds dying before slaughter. (Matt Brann)
Another 90 AACo animals also died at separate property in Queensland that same month, one source said. This property was not owned by Brisbane-based AACo and the cattle were there for agistment, where the animal owner pays a landowner for their herd to graze on land.
In that case, a potential link was that the cattle had been sprayed for buffalo fly. While attempts to source water were made, a series of unfortunate incidents occurred during a heatwave with water. Cattle were potentially agitated after the spray and wandered, and might also have died of thirst, one person with knowledge of the deaths said.
An AACo spokesman said: "Incidents like this are tragic and out of the ordinary, but they are unacceptable and highly distressing to everyone."
"The two matters are unrelated and should not be compared. However, any failures identified in either case will be thoroughly addressed to ensure no repeat of the loss of animals' lives in this manner," he said.
High-end Wagyu
AACo is a seller of high-end Wagyu beef and its marketing includes influencer chefs posting images of its meat on Instagram. The company's wares include $65 a kilo Wagyu porterhouse sold in Australian stores or a £95 ($193 dollar) 300 gram rib eye served at an exquisite British restaurant.
The company's marketing story reflects its farming origins — it boasts strong genetic breeding and its goals state: "Healthy, happy and well cared for cattle are integral to the sustainability of our operations and we are committed to a continued pursuit of best-in-class animal health and welfare practices."
Cattle are typically raised on AACo properties, which cover more than 1 per cent of Australia's land mass and have almost 10,000 water troughs. The 201-year-old company has faced challenging conditions and its high-end strategy has been controversial internally, with AACo saying underlying profits for the six months to September last year fell to $20.2 million.
The deaths are a fraction of AACo's 450,000 herd but still shocked industry figures.
The Department of Primary Industries said AACo had advised the government of cattle deaths.
"AACo has subsequently adjusted its procedures and the department is not pursuing further investigation at this time," a department spokesman said.
Kieren McCosker of the University of Queensland's Centre for Animal Science said, in general, cattle deaths from dehydration were "quite rare but not unheard of".
"Producers take extensive measures to prevent such occurrences," he said.
steaks being cooked on charcoal barbeque.
AACo sells luxury beef products across the globe. (Supplied: AACo)
They would commonly monitor water every couple of days, graziers could employ "bore runners" to manage conditions, and monitoring and alert technology for water supply were increasingly available, Dr McCosker said.
"Under summer-like conditions, cattle would not want to be off water for longer than 24 to 48 hours. The risk of poor welfare outcomes, including death, increases substantially if longer," he said.
Dr McCosker said dehydration times for cattle could be impacted by factors including weather conditions and if cows were lactating.
Whistleblower case
The deaths of AACo livestock also come after a whistleblower separately raised concerns in 2023 at the company about safety, saying staff on another property had an "alpha" culture and were involved in bullying and intimidation.
A gay contractor working for the company was allegedly subjected to homophobic slurs while working at an AACo property and was left to work on roofs for hours alone without communications, according to internal safety reports.
The manager — whom the company officially declared a whistleblower — was made redundant a month later. He sued in the Federal Court and the matter was settled in mediation last year.
AACo's subsequent financial accounts detailed a 13 per cent increase in safety incidents. The company said this fell "short of our targets", and a safety review has kicked off.
Kimberley bull
AACo run land makes up more than 1 per cent of Australia (ABC Rural: Matt Brann)
One former employee argued AACo had been losing skilled staff and issues such as the cattle deaths could potentially be avoided with better oversight.
The company declined to answer some questions. It rejected any connections existed between safety concerns or staffing and the cattle deaths.
"We are committed to providing a safe working environment," AACo's spokesman said.
The British billionaire
AACo also faced a major governance crisis last year after billionaire Joe Lewis, whose private entity Tavistock owns 53.1 per cent of AACo shares, pleaded guilty in the US to insider trading.
Joe Lewis in a grey suit and aviators walks next to a lawyer as he is followed by camera operators
Joe Lewis leaving a Manhattan federal court. (AP: Mary Altaffer)
Among the pleas were that he had tipped off his personal private jet pilots, who had invested in AACo, about a massive loss of uninsured cattle during 2019 flooding. According to court documents, prosecutors alleged one of his representatives on the company's board, who was unnamed, had leaked the flood information to Mr Lewis.
The beef business subsequently told the share market that all of Mr Lewis's then board nominees had denied passing on the information.
Posted5m ago5 minutes agoMon 17 Mar 2025 at 7:43pm
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