Rearing and selling your own meat

[Highland Mule]

I got a walk in chiller for 500 quid. Don't think you're allowed to freeze fresh stuff yourself, needs to be done quick.
I have to admit that I did it all without any form of paperwork (killed and packed professionally (apart from the last 12 pigs due to no butchers to do it))
Stopped people walking by and sold it to them out the back of the welding rig in cool boxes. Asked one guy what he did. Ex chief inspector of the CID in Glasgow..
Never lost any punters.

Want to sell me your chiller, now you’re not using it?

 

[davieh3350]

Want to sell me your chiller, now you’re not using it?

It's gone already. Should've kept it really.
Thought about building one with a cold water jacket style thing. Use cold water to take the temperature on the outside down to save a bit on power. Seen a cold water exchange system on the dairy I was on up in Iceland, got me thinking. Plenty of the stuff up at mine.

 

[Greenbeast]

What facilities would you need if it was already vacuum packed? Storage & freezer?

Ask your EHO, they can pretty helpful.
If you're handling packaged food it's pretty low risk. The EHO will inspect your chiller/freezer, you'll have to keep temperature records, etc...

We get our meat back from the butcher vac packed fresh and freeze it if i'm not selling immediately

 

[GreenerGrass]

We pick up lambs all cut and vac packed, and chilled from butcher. Drive them to farm and put ice packs in with the cuts, insulation around the box and then put in an outer cardboard box slap a label on and couriered out next day delivery. Sounds like we need an inspection of where we pack them, is that right? It's not a chilled room, is this going to be a problem?

 

[Chasingmytail]

To make money you need to sell in numbers the margins are too small and the market is well saturated. In order to stand out from the crowd you need excellent butchery (first problem), excellent hanging (many butchers/abbattoirs dont have space) labelling, good vac packing and amazing PR. Any meat transported should be in refrigerated van plus you need to store unsold meat. Its a greedy business overheads are high and finding customers to buy bulk is hard as. In this area I couldnt find enough people interested in spending lump sums in meat and they didnt have freezer space.

Really its a business on its own that requires a lot of manpower. Taking orders at all times of the day and then phoning around to guage demand. You need a few hundred customers to keep the flow. It also depends on your availability to be driving back and for to the abattoir, delivering etc. All of which must be costed in.

Been there and at the time (2004 - 2010) I was told it was a waste of time but we ignored the advice and carried on. It was a very hard business. Something I def wouldnt want to repeat again.

 

[Greenbeast]

We pick up lambs all cut and vac packed, and chilled from butcher. Drive them to farm and put ice packs in with the cuts, insulation around the box and then put in an outer cardboard box slap a label on and couriered out next day delivery. Sounds like we need an inspection of where we pack them, is that right? It's not a chilled room, is this going to be a problem?

no packing room doesn't need to be chilled, as you have some time leeway out of chill, can't remember the numbers offhand

 

[delilah]

A question:
Currently have hogget hung at the abattoir for an extra week (ie 12 days instead of the 5 that lambs hang for).
It costs £1/day for the hanging (which we are fine with) but just wondering, is it the hanging per se that is important, or can the carcass be laid on a shelf in a cold store to achieve the same effect ? I imagine air flow is important, is a slatted stainless steel shelf sufficient ? Or is actual hanging the only way ?

 

[davidroberts30]

A question:
Currently have hogget hung at the abattoir for an extra week (ie 12 days instead of the 5 that lambs hang for).
It costs £1/day for the hanging (which we are fine with) but just wondering, is it the hanging per se that is important, or can the carcass be laid on a shelf in a cold store to achieve the same effect ? I imagine air flow is important, is a slatted stainless steel shelf sufficient ? Or is actual hanging the only way ?

I dont think you want anything touching the carcase for the aging

 

[Wink]

A question:
Currently have hogget hung at the abattoir for an extra week (ie 12 days instead of the 5 that lambs hang for).
It costs £1/day for the hanging (which we are fine with) but just wondering, is it the hanging per se that is important, or can the carcass be laid on a shelf in a cold store to achieve the same effect ? I imagine air flow is important, is a slatted stainless steel shelf sufficient ? Or is actual hanging the only way ?

It's the suspension from the achilles and the air flow around the meat that is going to have the greatest effect to keep it in good condition/tenderise etc. Saying that, when space is tight I have laid them down, just be sure to turn them each day. They won't last as long this way due to temp and humidity but it's better than nothing.

Edit: see slatted shelves, that will be better than hard surface.

Providing conditions are right and the carcass has enough cover I would be looking at 7-12 days for hoggs anyway, lambs perhaps a bit less, mutton 14 and more if the above are right. Apparently studies show that (iirc) optimum hanging time for lambs for maximum tenderness is 10 days but anything over say 4 days should be good.

 

[Highland Mule]

It's the suspension from the achilles and the air flow around the meat that is going to have the greatest effect to keep it in good condition/tenderise etc. Saying that, when space is tight I have laid them down, just be sure to turn them each day. They won't last as long this way due to temp and humidity but it's better than nothing.

Edit: see slatted shelves, that will be better than hard surface.

Providing conditions are right and the carcass has enough cover I would be looking at 7-12 days for hoggs anyway, lambs perhaps a bit less, mutton 14 and more if the above are right. Apparently studies show that (iirc) optimum hanging time for lambs for maximum tenderness is 10 days but anything over say 4 days should be good.

Nicest lamb I ever had was hung for only twelve hours. I rarely go over a couple of days now, and my repeat business suggests that works well.

 

[Wink]

Nicest lamb I ever had was hung for only twelve hours. I rarely go over a couple of days now, and my repeat business suggests that works well.

Fair enough. If it works, absolutely, don't change it. So many factors can effect meat eating quality and a couple of days is fine. Hanging too long/wrong conditions etc can obviously have the wrong effect also. If the customers like it that's all that matters. I would cut up when it comes off the lorry if needs be (been dressed 24hrs by that point anyhow) but preference would be for at least a few days.