Lack of Small Abattoirs

[Ffermer Bach]

Some of the shockers I heard last night at a pig meeting are almost incredulous

go on......

 

[JP1]

go on......

Will PM you

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I am unsure if I have become Victor Meldrew, but it seems to me that the UK (and the West in general), has become a civilisation in decline, our government and civil service seem incapable of organising anything. Track and trace seems to have wasted an inordinate amount of money, which could have made such a difference to the national food production and the environment, where is our strategic thinking for food and agriculture? And the tie in with health? Getting people to eat healthily would reduce obesity and save the country a fortune, but what is important? Making sure we stop calling females women, rather we call them people with a Cervix!!!! You could not make it up!

 

[Bongodog]

SUGGESTED!

The small abattoir Sector is in terminal decline and they suggested a working group is formed!

'Recommend' would be weak, Demand would be more appropriate. With short reporting deadlines.

The last thing needed is a working group, working groups are formed when a responsible body doesn't want to make a decision, if you do it in house only using your own staff/members you have limited excuses for not making a binding decision. Form a working group however with external representatives, they can't make a decison as some of them are outsiders, all they can do is make suggestions which need ratification by the body that formed them. By the time the working group has formed, met 4 times over 18 months and reported back its all too late.

 

[delilah]

SUGGESTED!

The small abattoir Sector is in terminal decline and they suggested a working group is formed!

'Recommend' would be weak, Demand would be more appropriate. With short reporting deadlines.

Know nothing about the abattoir sector group other than what is on their website, so this is speculation.

Seems to me they are short of resources, small organisations run by folks rushed off their feet keeping the day to day job afloat.
Enter the NFU. Why aren't they part of this ? Were they invited and declined ? They have the resources to push this forward.
(there is of course a very valid reason why the NFU wouldn't want to be part of this, but lets leave that aside for now).

https://abattoirsectorgroup.org/councillors/

 

[delilah]

Took lambs in Wednesday morning, electrics had failed on a hoist so they couldn't kill, everyone sent away and asked to come back today, only 20 minutes for us, chap behind us in the queue had a 90 minute journey and i'm sure there are others who come that far. It's not right that folks and their stock have to travel so far to find an abattoir. The people protesting about journey times should be got onboard to turn things round. It is a constant worry for us that our abattoir will one day decide that it isn't worth getting the sparky out to fix the hoist, or whatever, and just lock the gate. If they go then we go. A situation replicated, I am sure, countless times around the UK. As above, where are the people with the resources on this ? What are they doing ?

 

[bluebell]

start buy cutting down on all these TV food programmes, why is there so many? it only fuels the hunger?

 

[Oldmacdonald]

start buy cutting down on all these TV food programmes, why is there so many? it only fuels the hunger?

Sorry what is the point you are making?

You wish to reduce demand for ...food..? Our industries main output?

 

[Ffermer Bach]

start buy cutting down on all these TV food programmes, why is there so many? it only fuels the hunger?

we have a very big problem in the UK, with the majority eating a poor diet and probably being unable to cook properly from scratch with just ingredients, surely all these food/cookery programmes can only help people to learn to cook and try to restore a food culture in the UK.

 

[Av Gorritt]

I don't think the cookery programme watchers do it to learn how to cook . I.M.O. they just regard it as entertainment , not to be taken seriously , and to be fair , some of the programmes they dish up aren't even that .

 

[delilah]

Just spoken with our abattoir, warning me that they are running on a day to day basis and we could easily find them not killing on Wednesday, his hired help is off with covid, his mum who works there and we know has a degenerative illness isn't getting any better, he sounds stressed out of his head and I wouldn't be surprised if he Jacks it in.
Where the hell is everyone on this ?
AHDB: Last seen giving evidence in Parliament that we need to get rid of the cattle and sheep and replace them with trees.
NFU: Last seen disappearing up Sir Dave Lewis' backside as he, apparently, is the ideal man to sort out the food chain.
We have been told, on here, by an abattoir owner, what needs to be done. For the love of God will someone who we pay to represent us extract their digit and just for once do their job.

 

[Dynamite_Matt]

Came across a small group looking to try and setup on the North coast of Scotland - North Coast Abattoir.

North Coast Abattoir? | Home

www.spanglefish.com

Might be worth a bit of support from anyone up those parts.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Here in the states their is a push from the Feds to convert the state only inspected plants into at least interstate plants. The Feds are offering grants to help cover the cost of getting some of the state inspected plants where they could sale product into another state if they wanted to do so. Where as now, state inspected plants are limited on how much they can sale and what they sale and where they sale. Historically, these state inspected plants would butcher animals that where destined to go back to the owner. No retail sales where permitted.

This initiative is a direct response to Covid where a year ago a lot of the larger plants where shut down and the ones that stayed open, where operating on a skeleton crew.

Kiwis for the most part in the larger plants have been using robotics to process for over a decade now. YouTube has a few videos showing how it works. Below is a link to one such example.

That is phenomenal

 

[delilah]

https://orfc.org.uk/orfc-2022/

4pm today:
Organised by the Sustainable Food Trust, this session will explore the need for more local abattoirs and butchery for farmers across the UK. It has been well documented how small abattoirs have declined over the past few years and we now have only 60 left across the UK. But without their services, farmers cannot sell meat direct to consumers. The future of local, high welfare, traceable meat from sustainable systems therefore hinges on the existence of a thriving small abattoir network. This session will explore options to achieve this. What are the barriers to setting up a new abattoir? Could mobile abattoirs be the solution? What about community-owned models or farmer-led hubs? What is needed to enable this?

 

[Still Farming]

 

[delilah]

Excellent as Patrick Holden always is, he has just shown an alarming misunderstanding of the role of the supermarkets in this. He calls on them to get their stock killed more locally. A request that is fundamentally at odds with their business model. He must understand that ?

 

[delilah]

This mobile abattoir thing is nuts. It is an admission that local/ direct sales will never be any more than niche, and will end up costing as much £/head as having a proper local abattoir.
(possible exception Highlands and Islands ?)

 

[delilah]

If there was 100% relief on inspection and waste there would be no financial reason why small abattoirs could not thrive.

If inspection costs were eliminated abattoir line speeds could be reduced, which would have a beneficial impact on hygiene and animal welfare. I must stress that I am not having a go at the inspection staff, this argument is made from a financial viewpoint, they play an important role within the sector which provides public confidence.

They are just going round and round in circles. The above poster said what needs to happen. Just get on and do it FFS.

 

[Woolless]

This mobile abattoir thing is nuts. It is an admission that local/ direct sales will never be any more than niche, and will end up costing as much £/head as having a proper local abattoir.
(possible exception Highlands and Islands ?)

Yes, the figures I saw quoted for a mobile abattoir didn't really stack up, I thought. £500/day costs, was it?? There would be two skilled mens' wages to pay first up.

 

[delilah]

Yes, the figures I saw quoted for a mobile abattoir didn't really stack up, I thought. £500/day costs, was it?? There would be two skilled mens' wages to pay first up.

It has been talked about and trialled for years. If it was a goer they would be all over the place. They aren't.