Cowgirl Izzana makes the moo-ves

SHE cuts an unlikely figure in the meat business. Tall and elegant, Izzana Salleh, 22, looks more like a model or better suited for a job in an office.

Instead, she seems to embrace the sun and dirt as she keeps watch over some 2,000 cows grazing in a 1,500 acre plot in hot and dry Gemas, Negeri Sembilan, dressed in a pair of jeans and T-shirt, cap and boots.

As the executive director of National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) in charge of marketing and operations, she also manages the abattoir, a meat packing facility and a laboratory that analyses cattle feed.

“My friends who know me say ‘this is so Izzana’,” she says, dispelling any notion that she’s not suited for the job.

“I love being around animals. I have a place in Janda Baik where I rear 30 goats, sheep, turkeys, peacocks, ducks, geese and fish,” she says, before adding that she walks her goats on weekends and watches TV with them.

She says her father, Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh Ismail, chairman of NFC, was a kampung boy from muakaf Che Yeh, Kelantan, who grew his own rice and reared cattle at the back of his house.

She maintains that this is her turf also because she loves food, in particular, meat. “Naturally I’m proud to run a business that maintains the quality of what people eat.

“Many people eat fish because they have to – it’s good for them. You don’t hear them saying they are passionate about fish. On the other hand, you have people who love meat but stay away from red meat because of health reasons. I want them to eat meat and know that the source of their meat is of high quality as it had been fed on a good diet.”

A graduate of bio-technology from the University of Pomona, Los Angeles, it was her plan to continue working at a cancer lab in the US, doing research on gene modification.

But her mother, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, the Minister of Family, Women and Community Development, decided that her three children should return home and stay for a bit.

“It was the right thing to do. I believe we should go out there and study but it’s also important to bring the knowledge back into the country.

“The younger generation is exposed to a lot overseas and are reluctant to come home because of the lower salary here. But they should realise that their decision can have an impact on an entire generation.

“My older brothers and I left home after SPM. When I came home in 2007, they were talking about getting into the beef industry.”

One brother read politics and journalism while the other, computer science. So whose idea was it to step into these unchartered waters?

“It was the Government’s actually,” she says quite earnestly. An element of the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the NFC was part of the solution to address the food crisis, especially the shortage of beef in the country. The public-private partnership became a high impact project to help the country gradually cut down its dependence on beef import.

Currently, we import RM1.1 bil worth of beef from Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, China and India. Upon completion of Phase 4 of the NFC project, which is now capable of accommodating 6,000 cows, the plot in Gemas will be able to hold some 24,000 cows.

Cattle are shipped in from Darwin, Australia, three times a year. The Brahman breed as well as Shorthorn and Draughtmasters adapt well to our climate. There’s also the wagyu variety.

“But our goal is to eventually become self-sufficient and to provide quality and a consistent supply of meat.

“We have started a breeding programme. It will take us between seven and nine years to get the third generation which can be called a full-fledged local animal with the qualities and genetic stock of the imported animals,” she explains.

She concedes that she’s still on a steep learning curve and picks up whatever she can from everyone. It’s important to spend time with the farmhands, watching them feed and work with the animals. She also has long discussions with the engineer on site, an ex-veterinarian brought in as an expert, and the abattoir manager.

“Prior to my job here, beef was just something I look forward to at the end of the day,” she says, laughing.

“I like the challenge. The local beef industry has not been successful before. But we’re here to make a difference.”

The workaholic spends half the week at the staff quarters on the site. She runs back and forth between building her client base in Kuala Lumpur and taking them on a tour of the farm in Gemas while her brothers see to the management and finance.

While large swathes of the former acacia forest are being cleared to make way for enclosures to accommodate more cattle, big plots of land are being planted with napier. The leaves and stalks of this sugar cane variety are mixed with palm kernel cakes as nutritious feed for livestock.

By planting napier and encouraging the ongoing research at the lab to mix its own livestock feed, she has reduced the cost of feed.

Izzana is also getting farmers to grow vegetables such sweetcorn, tomato, brinjal and chili, which use cow dung as fertiliser.

“Gemas is not known for its fertile land, so we’re carrying out experiments on test plots to find out what’s suitable. So far, the corn is smaller in size but very sweet and we use stover (stalk and leaves) as feed for the livestock. We try and recycle every form of waste.”

The organic vegetables are used in Meatworks, a spin-off restaurant in KL where steak is the speciality (See R9).

When she’s not busy with work, Izzana hangs out with her brothers, trying new restaurants. She also spends time with her grandmother, who lives down the road from her home where she lives with her parents.

“We go for functions together or we go shopping. She was a big influence in my life when I was growing up. I grew up with very strong women,” she says.

From her mother, Izzana learned to be steadfast and firm. “She tells me to stand up for what I believe in and says that once you step forward, never look back.”

Her mother has visited the feedlot in Gemas out of curiosity, Izzana says. “Her friends kept telling her about the place and one day she said ‘you’d better take me there so I can see for myself’. Otherwise we consciously separate family and business.”

What does a 20something business woman indulge in?

“A good set of ribs. Oh you mean like... other things?” she says and we end up laughing.

Besides her love for sports, Izzana likes watching stand-up comedians. She lists Eddie Izzard, Russell Peters and local funnyman Harith Iskandar as her favourites.

“I enjoy my work, I like being in this place, I love the essence of a farm – I don’t see why I need to go on holidays. You travel to be somewhere you like, to be with people you like. I get that here,” she explains.

She does travel for work, to attend conferences and learn the technology bits as well as participate in international trade shows. She’s looking forward to an expo in Dubai next month. That’s where she plans to take the business next.

“We have a good standing in the Middle East. Jakim has the highest standards where halal is concerned. That’s our advantage,” she says, adding that she hopes to be exporting by early next year.

What really makes her day is when satisfied customers – from hotel restaurants to supermarkets – call to tell her that her products have sold out.

“Our meat is on par with imported meat,” she says before breaking out into a big smile.