Buying Top quality meat ? why so hard ?

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
ever heard the phrase "integrated supply chain" It's in both butchers and livestock farmers to work together and supply market needs as best as they can surely? there is evidence on this thread that although some more switched on farmers and butchers are doing so there are many that are not

Supermarkets and (none carcass retail) has dumbed down meat to something really unexciting, is this maybe why people were increasingly beginning to move away from eating it ?

There has probably never been a better moment than right now to address and fix this for a better long term future? that is ALL I'm suggesting


Now I know you'll get all excited again, but please explain why you insist on being so patronising and condecending with your replies? Of course I've heard of an integrated supply chain (I don't live under a rock!)

Please explain what a cattle farmer can do to assist a butcher selling a few premium cuts of meat from a beast at big money (assuming he can sell the rest of the carcass)

As an aside, if every butcher were to jump on this latest bandwagon, the premium would quickly evaporate.

Thank you
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Now I know you'll get all excited again, but please explain why you insist on being so patronising and condecending with your replies? Of course I've heard of an integrated supply chain (I don't live under a rock!)

Please explain what a cattle farmer can do to assist a butcher selling a few premium cuts of meat from a beast at big money (assuming he can sell the rest of the carcass)

As an aside, if every butcher were to jump on this latest bandwagon, the premium would quickly evaporate.

Thank you

again - if you are not interested in or don’t like what I post / my tone etc please ignore me ! ....... its THAT easy
 
If only it was that easy. You need to invest in cold stores, freezers, training in food hygiene, boxes to pack with chiller packs, and want to do all the paperwork that goes with it. Some I know someone sells through Facebook, every two weeks he sells ,pork, sausages, bacon and gammon and a home produced chicken, selling it direct from the butcher that cut his pigs, and once a month beef in 10kg boxes. I am amazed at his energy to do this, on top of all the other things he does. You have to keep marketing, which is a job in its self if you are going to get the turnover to reduce wastage.
When I was selling food I couldn't find local beef at the time, so I used,
My late Mum, towards the end of her life, used to buy me and Mrs Bt, and my two sisters, a Donald Russell turkey hamper at Christmas. It was a lovely thing to receive but I was always slightly dismayed that the actual Turkey had its origins in France and had met its demise there, eighteen months previously!
Not to mention the fact that we have a thriving meat business, rearing and processing our own pigs and cattle. :)
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Please have the decency to answer my (perfectly reasonable) question. And calm yourself down!

Why would I keep putting bullets in your trolling gun ?

I could be no calmer, you don't get it to do you. I have no "Beef" with you (excuse the pun) you clearly do with me ............ so FFS press the ignore button on me and save yourself from ever having to listen to my pretentious self inflated, egotistical, narcissistic tripe (another pun!) ever again, your therapist / heart surgeon will thank me I'm sure!

In fact, I'm actually going to abuse my moderator powers here and look in the back end of TFF and see if I can make myself totally invisible to you


Edited to add - DONE I have found a way to put you on ignore now even as a moderator, pointless you replying to my posts as I can no longer see them :)


I will add, how do you think your petty posts between us look to the new (none farming) member that joined this thread to ask how they could buy the cuts they wanted? UK agriculture at its best ............... we should both be very proud !
 
Last edited:

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Why would I keep putting bullets in your trolling gun ?

I could be no calmer, you don't get it to do you. I have no "Beef" with you (excuse the pun) you clearly do with me ............ so FFS press the ignore button on me and save yourself from ever having to listen to my pretentious self inflated, egotistical, narcissistic tripe (another pun!) ever again, your therapist / heart surgeon will thank me I'm sure!

In fact, I'm actually going to abuse my moderator powers here and look in the back end of TFF and see if I can make myself totally invisible to you


Edited to add - DONE I have found a way to put you on ignore now, pointless you replying to my posts as I can no longer see them :)
Why don't you just ignore him and I don't mean put him on ignore just ignore him.
Its not difficult just read his post or not as the case may be and scroll on
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Why don't you just ignore him and I don't mean put him on ignore just ignore him.
Its not difficult just read his post or not as the case may be and scroll on


It was not possible for a moderator account (like mine) to ignore a member (for obvious reasons) however as above edit I have just found a workaround where it is in fact possible and have done so

You are correct I could simply scroll past him but that's not always easy when someone is name-calling etc Spud has been trolling me for a long time on TFF, if he did the same to another member and they complained he would get a ban or pre mod, in fact I think he has received such penalty in the past for trolling behaviour
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
It was not possible for a moderator account (like mine) to ignore a member (for obvious reasons) however as above edit I have just found a workaround where it is in fact possible and have done so

You are correct I could simply scroll past him but that's not always easy when someone is name-calling etc Spud has been trolling me for a long time on TFF, if he did the same to another member and they complained he would get a ban or pre mod, in fact I think he has received such penalty in the past for trolling behaviour

I'm sorry if I've offended you somehow Clive, but airing all of this on a public forum isn't the place. Many others have commented on your approach, but it seems it's me you have issue with. For someone of your status to deal with what is clearly a difference of opinion in this manner is disappointing, to say the least.
Please highlight where it is that I have resorted to name calling.
Having an opinion and contributing it is what forums are built on - an opposite opinion does not constitute trolling to most people.
I have no problem with you in any way - I am just from a different background, and happen to have different views on some things. It appears that is difficult for you to accept. Heyho, nowt I can do about that.
 

Celt83

Member
Livestock Farmer
well, said - and look how quickly this thread clearly googled and prompted a none farming new members a consumer who was finding getting what they wanted hard to ask questions? how many more such views will it have had by others probably not so keen to join TFF and post?
Now is the time for getting the public to see the farming community in their true colours and not to listen to the bull💩 that some media outlets are feeding them! Especially as we are just coming out of lockdown and you are going in one.

Can TFF do cookery seminars by incorporating both farmer and chef?? Re-educate the masses! Show the housewife that she can turn a cheap cut of brisket into a banquet for the family and ditch thase full of crap processed ready meals.
 

Blaithin

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Alberta
Public are learning more about food, maybe they should also start learning about farming and butchering when being told why specialty cuts are specialty and why it isn’t just a matter of requesting a cut and getting it.

If it can’t be understood how farmers market their animals directly, and why.... well then you’re going to sound like a privileged middle aged white dude demanding what he wants, now, not caring why it may be putting others out.

You want niche cuts, buy a half and get it cut that way.

Next up an OTM Tbone.
 
Livestock farmers rear livestock. Butchers sell meat. For a livestock farmer to tap into the opportunity you suggest, he'd need to learn a whole new set of skills, and invest in setting up a butchery.

It'd make very little difference to how he reared his stock.

You are confusing rearing cattle and selling meat. Two entirely different things.
technically no
i fatten and sell boxes of beef
if im not selling beef im selling walking meat
 

brigadoon

Member
Location
Galloway
Your lucky to have a local slaughter house. Ours shut last year and the next closest is 20+miles away. Point being the EU/government whoever have managed to close almost all the small independent abbatoirs that were attached to butchers shops once upon a time.
Thanks to covid in 2020 Clive has found the enjoyment of real food but is shocked to find that it's supply has been killed off over the last couple of decades as farmers have bred to supermarket spec and the supermarkets and red tape has closed the abbatoirs.
Our nearest abattoir is 80 miles each way
 
Update!

I made a trip to the Ginger Pig today, got hold of a very reasonably priced wild mallard and when I asked if I could buy any bones for stock the butcher went in the back and came out with a groaning bag that he gave me for free. I'll definitely be returning. Their prices aren't cheap but by no means unreasonable, particularly for the stewing cuts.

There are also some co-operatives where you buy a share in an animal, and share in costs in it rearing, it depends on how much time you have to commit.
https://communitysupportedagriculture.org.uk/

This is a brilliant idea, and pretty much what I was imagining ought to exist somewhere. I'm pleased it does, though there's nothing near to me and everything seems to be local schemes for collection rather than national delivery. There's a community veg box scheme near me though, that I never would have known about, so I may well give that a go. Thanks for the tip!

Supermarkets and (none carcass retail) has dumbed down meat to something really unexciting, is this maybe why people were increasingly beginning to move away from eating it ?

There has probably never been a better moment than right now to address and fix this for a better long term future? that is ALL I'm suggesting

Clive, for what it's worth, I've come to very much the opposite conclusion to you after reading through this thread. My approach to cooking and eating meat (and everything else for that matter) is not the norm. Eating is a necessity but cooking is not something everyone derives any pleasure from, and what you describe as dumbed down is often just the things that people can most quickly and easily convert into nutritious meals so they can get on with whatever else they have going on. People like you and I will always be a minority, and we'll go to great lengths to seek out what we're after. It's probably not worth it for a butcher to go the extra mile to accommodate us, as we'll beat a path to their door anyway.

I'm pleased to read that offal and other formerly unpopular cuts are selling quickly these days, and I think value-add options like pies and sausages are a brilliant idea - someone has to put in the work on processing but there's no reason why it has to be the end consumer if they'd rather spend money than time to get their hands on a pie (and a very fine-looking pie at that, Tim G). In a way it's the same thing as supermarkets selling both bread and flour. Plenty of people bake, but no one bakes because they NEED to.

My interest isn't a newfound lockdown-related thing - I've been very into my food for a very long time. The logistical difficulties for a livestock farmer to put themselves in a position to sell directly to me in London are huge, and there are several well-established competitors already out there. During a lockdown and recession strikes me as a very risky time to be forking out large sums on setting up a new business or seeking to integrate your supply chain with the people who are essentially your customers.

For my part, I'm now quite tempted by the prospect of buying a chest freezer and a whole lamb. I agree with Clive that I'd prefer fresh meat all the time, but something has to give somewhere and it might as well be me. I'd rather adjust to the way things are than yearn for the way I feel they ought to be.

Thanks all - it's been eye-opening.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
Update!

I made a trip to the Ginger Pig today, got hold of a very reasonably priced wild mallard and when I asked if I could buy any bones for stock the butcher went in the back and came out with a groaning bag that he gave me for free. I'll definitely be returning. Their prices aren't cheap but by no means unreasonable, particularly for the stewing cuts.



This is a brilliant idea, and pretty much what I was imagining ought to exist somewhere. I'm pleased it does, though there's nothing near to me and everything seems to be local schemes for collection rather than national delivery. There's a community veg box scheme near me though, that I never would have known about, so I may well give that a go. Thanks for the tip!



Clive, for what it's worth, I've come to very much the opposite conclusion to you after reading through this thread. My approach to cooking and eating meat (and everything else for that matter) is not the norm. Eating is a necessity but cooking is not something everyone derives any pleasure from, and what you describe as dumbed down is often just the things that people can most quickly and easily convert into nutritious meals so they can get on with whatever else they have going on. People like you and I will always be a minority, and we'll go to great lengths to seek out what we're after. It's probably not worth it for a butcher to go the extra mile to accommodate us, as we'll beat a path to their door anyway.

I'm pleased to read that offal and other formerly unpopular cuts are selling quickly these days, and I think value-add options like pies and sausages are a brilliant idea - someone has to put in the work on processing but there's no reason why it has to be the end consumer if they'd rather spend money than time to get their hands on a pie (and a very fine-looking pie at that, Tim G). In a way it's the same thing as supermarkets selling both bread and flour. Plenty of people bake, but no one bakes because they NEED to.

My interest isn't a newfound lockdown-related thing - I've been very into my food for a very long time. The logistical difficulties for a livestock farmer to put themselves in a position to sell directly to me in London are huge, and there are several well-established competitors already out there. During a lockdown and recession strikes me as a very risky time to be forking out large sums on setting up a new business or seeking to integrate your supply chain with the people who are essentially your customers.

For my part, I'm now quite tempted by the prospect of buying a chest freezer and a whole lamb. I agree with Clive that I'd prefer fresh meat all the time, but something has to give somewhere and it might as well be me. I'd rather adjust to the way things are than yearn for the way I feel they ought to be.

Thanks all - it's been eye-opening.
Thanks for the update

I'm not that far from you

PostCovid "lockdown " , you'd be welcome to come up to my place , see the herd and flock and maybe see next year's lambs and even pre-book one for your freezer
 

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