Not good

[Big Muddy rancher]

I hear you, The abattoir that I used shut down this summer. It was a different deal with one fellow running his business off a farm shop belonging to other people. I don't know what happened but instead of setting up again they bought a restaurant and he does some cutting on the side but only meat he buys off the truck from a bigger kill plant. :?

No place to hang a beef with out investing in a cooler and we don't kill enough to warrant that.

 

[burnt]

When I was a youngster, we did our butchering in the fall of the year and the beef and hog carcasses hung in the woodshed/ summer kitchen until it was time to cut it up.

When it hung for 2 -3 weeks, the neighbourhood butcher would come and do the cutting up with the help of the owners. My 2 aunts and uncles would come help and everyone got a share of the meat.

As a little kid of about 5 or 6 years old, my favorite part was watching the butcher run the sausage stuffer. Just fascinating to watch that sausage come squeezing out.

We may need to go back to doing our own once again.

 

[andybob]

No place to hang a beef with out investing in a cooler and we don't kill enough to warrant that.

We used a small refridgerated trailer to begin with (the type you pull behind a 4x4) It was cheap to run off mains power, and again, we matured pig and sheep carcases for neighbours to help spread the cost. Direct marketing isn't easy to start up, but I believe for many family farms and ranches, it may well be the only way to turn a profit in the future!

 

[burnt]

No place to hang a beef with out investing in a cooler and we don't kill enough to warrant that.

We used a small refridgerated trailer to begin with (the tyre you pull behind a 4x4) It was chap to run off mains power, and again, we matured pig and sheep carcases for neighbours to help spread the cost. Direct marketing isn't easy to start up, but I believe for many family farms and ranches, it may well be the only way to turn a profit in the future!

Not easy is right. That is why agriculture has evolved into what it is today. We have given the hard work of processing and marketing away to others. And all the profit that goes with it.

The upside is that there is a growing segment of society that is rapidly sickening (sometimes literally) of the resulting modern product and wants to buy their food closer to the source once again. The market is there for those who want to recapture it.

 

[greybeard]

the problem with going without the certification is one of your competitors will report you. It wil be sent out as a news release indicating you were selling contaminated meat harvested from dead animals.
One case that went national here was a situation where an inspected plant was doing farm killed beef after hours. They made it apear they were doing dead stock.