44 | Southern Pet Food 51 Great North Road, Winton Ph 03 236 8701 • 021 225 6235 • www.gillrepairs.co.nz Cars-4WD-Farm Vehicles & Machinery-Trucks-Tractors FULL WORKSHOP • Diagnostic Scan Tools • W.O.F • Major/Minor repairs • Tyre Repair/Replacement • Heavy Brake Rollers • Ryco Hydraulic Hose Fittings • Engine Tune WVTWinton Vehicle Testing BOOKINGS: 03 236 8701 wintonvehicletesting@xtra.co.nz 35 Winton-Lorneville Highway, Winton 9270 03 236 8702 COF'S & WOF'S ON ALL VEHICLES & TRAILERS, INCLUDING AGRICULTURAL & MOTORBIKES REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Giving pets the premium best Southern Pet Food’s Paw Cuisine offers 100 percent natural raw frozen meals and air-dried treats for dogs and cats. T T Emma Bailey After a devastating fire destroyed their Winton factory in 2024 Southern Pet Food is full steam ahead with a new factory and will be ready to export again in the near future. Southern Pet Food (formally known as Fordes Pet Food) is a premium raw pet food manufacturer and livestock collection specialist in Southland. Following the fire the business has fully rebuilt a state-of-the-art processing abattoir, managing director Cam Moir said. “With the opportunity to redesign the factory as we started from the ground up, we have added focus into manufacturing our own brand as well as increasing the capacity to do more animals each day through efficiencies of the new plant layout.” Their brand Paw Cuisine is a key focus, he said, which offers 100 percent natural raw frozen meals and air-dried treats for dogs and cats. “The air dryer in combination with blast freezing prior to air drying, gets rid of all the bacteria. We don’t use an oven as that can make them a choking hazard from baking the goods; we use a dehydrator and the process can take two to four days.” Southern Pet Food travels all around Southland and South Otago picking up unwanted or injured stock. “Our key goal is making sure every part of the animal is used, following a nose to tail philosophy. We don’t add fillers, no preservatives or additives, so you can feed your animal the way nature intended, which is one of our core values ‘from pasture to paw’.” While modern pet food kibbles were convenient, he said, research was showing the effects on the animals gut health. “We are seeing more and more allergies in pets. There is a growing trend to get back to raw food.” The industry is held to very strict standards, he says. “ We have to have the right people trained to slaughter the animals and also post mortem qualifications to inspect the meat and ensure safety. We are audited yearly by MPI and work closely with them to ensure rigorous standards are upheld and exceeded and soon that will be going back to three monthly when we start exporting again.” Rebuilding after the fire has been a tough process. “There was a lot of heartache for my now wife and I, we were away with one of our other businesses and the factory burnt to the ground. We got it up and running in three days which was a pretty impressive feat. We did this to ensure the community still had access to our services, and the customers we had commitments to weren’t left vulnerable. “We would like to thank the community for sticking by us during the rebuild time and we look forward to further progressing our services in the future. Paw Cuisine is sold online and via their factory in Winton. Their biggest sellers are Moo Hop (beef and rabbit mince), Farmers Trim (free flowing frozen beef and organ blocks), and Pure Possum (possum mince). “We don’t add fillers, no preservatives or additives, so you can feed your animal the way nature intended, which is one of our core values ‘from pasture to paw’.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=