Camperdown's boutique abattoir is on the market.
Castle Estate is one of only three Victorian abattoirs licenced to do organic processing, the others being Hardwicks, Kyneton, and Radfords, Warragul.
The family-run abattoir has been running for 10 years.
Managing director Steven Castle said a number of parties had shown an interest in the business - which consists of both the abattoir and a dairy on 280 hectares of land, near Lake Purrumbete.
"We have spent a lot of time, over the last decade, establishing capabilities, building a fairly good, underlying business and we are having a look around to see what sort of appetite there is, for this kind of business," he said.
"We have created a lot of flexibility in what can be done, and that's been a deliberate strategy, so we could get to this level where we can offer a fairly good package.
"It offers really good vertical and supply chain integration."
Mr Castle said the industry had significant barriers to entry, but there was potential for someone to take the business on and continue to grow throughput and into new markets.
"We've continued to expand our capabilities and now have our export setup," Mr Castle said.
"We've put a lot of hard work in and now is a good time for somebody else to have a go at it."
Across the past decade, the facility has diversified from beef, lamb, goat and pork to processing buffalo, alpaca, llamas, kangaroo, venison and rabbit.
In 2020 it became the first in Victoria to process field-harvested wild deer and kangaroo for human intake in a move designed to re-purpose the meat previously destined for pet food products.
In 2022, it became the state's third organically registered abattoir for beef and lamb processing and the first to offer organically-processed pork.
More recently the business gained its tier two export status for both human and pet food.
Mr Castle said there had been increased interest in Castle's processing of organic cattle and sheep, after Hardwicks pulled out of small "service" kills.
"We have had interest from that point of view, obviously a lot of the large abattoirs are narrowing their focus, as well, and once again that's why we see our plant as a really good option," he said.
"Slowly but surely the big guys are doing less and less, from a service point of view."
He said he was supportive of the micro-abbatoir movement, being pioneered in Victoria by Tammi Jonas, Eganstown.
"We also well and truly understand the realities of the economics, when you come to scale," he said.
"From our point of view, there are so many barriers to entry in this market, everything is possible but it takes a long time.
"It's taken us 10 years to get to the point where we have all the accreditations we have now."
Mr Castle said he expected people who were already in the supply chain who might be interested in purchasing the works.
"There might be other people who already operate in some of the markets we operate in, whether it be wild game or pet food, or anything like that," he said.
"There might be guys who are big service customers who might want to control their own destiny, a bit more."
Oxley Capital Partners said it would consider offers for the purchase of both operations or the abattoir on its own through expressions of interest.
