Selling meat at farm gate

[RGTLincs]

I've seen a few farms selling meat either at the farm gate in meat boxes or as pop up shops, does anyone know if you need any sort of license or make anyone authority aware that you're doing this?

I was thinking about having an animal slaughtered and hung, then cut up and vacuum packed by a local butcher for us to sell.

 

[delilah]

It depends what your objectives are. Don't assume you will automatically make more money. It will cost around £450 for the kill/hang/cut/vac pack. If you need to put a value on your time, compared to just shoving it in the livestock market, then you need to be selling the meat for, say, £600 more than the beast would make live, ie £150 for your time taking the orders, chasing the inevitable non attender on collection day. If the beast would have made £1200 in the market then you need £1800 from the box sales. So 10 boxes at £180. Can you find 10 people happy to stump up £180 in one hit ? It is good value, but folks don't have the 'bulk buy for the chest freezer' mentality they once had. You can take more than £1800 by selling individual cuts rather than a box, but you are then into the world of envi health etc.

 

[RGTLincs]

It depends what your objectives are. Don't assume you will automatically make more money. It will cost around £450 for the kill/hang/cut/vac pack. If you need to put a value on your time, compared to just shoving it in the livestock market, then you need to be selling the meat for, say, £600 more than the beast would make live, ie £150 for your time taking the orders, chasing the inevitable non attender on collection day. If the beast would have made £1200 in the market then you need £1800 from the box sales. So 10 boxes at £180. Can you find 10 people happy to stump up £180 in one hit ? It is good value, but folks don't have the 'bulk buy for the chest freezer' mentality they once had. You can take more than £1800 by selling individual cuts rather than a box, but you are then into the world of envi health etc.

Thanks, appreciate the reply and totally understand where you are coming from. I'm pretty tight on our margins as it is, I've worked out costs to kill, hang cut and vac, and I see an opportunity to give it at least one animal a try to see if we can make it worth while. I know a few other farms the other side of the county doing really well from this also. Another reason I'd like to give it a try is because I AI'd some wagyu into our Lincoln Reds, so would like to generate some interest in our beef, and work out logistics of beef boxes ready for when the Wagyus are ready to kill.

@delilah do you have experience of selling beef at the farm gate then? Do you have to notify your EHO or anything else along them lines?

 

[Highland Mule]

Register with EHO, no charge. It’s low risk too if you’re just transporting from butcher to customer.

Won’t be difficult to make it pay either - so pick a good beast and do it right, charging a proper price for yourself and definitely not racing to the bottom. Charge more than supermarket and go for a quality angle/ brand. After costs, you should have £1000+ for your time and efforts, so budgeting £1/kg for butchery and £200 for kill and hang you should aim for £3-4k gross.

Better to sell more at a decent price than all at bargain basement, and always easier to drop prices/ do a deal than raise them.

 

[som farmer]

It depends what your objectives are. Don't assume you will automatically make more money. It will cost around £450 for the kill/hang/cut/vac pack. If you need to put a value on your time, compared to just shoving it in the livestock market, then you need to be selling the meat for, say, £600 more than the beast would make live, ie £150 for your time taking the orders, chasing the inevitable non attender on collection day. If the beast would have made £1200 in the market then you need £1800 from the box sales. So 10 boxes at £180. Can you find 10 people happy to stump up £180 in one hit ? It is good value, but folks don't have the 'bulk buy for the chest freezer' mentality they once had. You can take more than £1800 by selling individual cuts rather than a box, but you are then into the world of envi health etc.

we used to do a lot.

the problems arose when the economic down turn happened, coincided with a stronger price for prime stock. Our customer base, was really our g eneration, and along with the recession, came kids leaving for uni etc, pretty well killed our market.

add smaller houses, no big chest freezers, and lack of cash, to make a large outlay, hard, however cheap it was.

would we start again ? I honestly don't know, we still do a bit. But its hard work, sorting out the pre-orders, delivery etc, can be frustrating to say the least. Sausages were/are easy to sell !

we were registered with trading standards, and had a 5 star rating, for our kitchen, that surprised me.

for us, we went back into dairying, we reduced, then stopped our livery yard, kids left home, the recession, all came at the same time.

 

[Still Farming]

Safer food, better business (SFBB)

Food safety management procedures for small businesses.

www.food.gov.uk

Your local Authority envoirnmental department will certainly fill you in with all the costs and regulations LEGAL business have to adhere too.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

One animal won't break you, even if it takes 2 years t sell it all.

Give it a go and as Delilah says, make sure you value your time properly. If you are only doing it for wages, there's no profit. You need both to make it sustainable.

 

[steveR]

we used to do a lot.

the problems arose when the economic down turn happened, coincided with a stronger price for prime stock. Our customer base, was really our g eneration, and along with the recession, came kids leaving for uni etc, pretty well killed our market.

add smaller houses, no big chest freezers, and lack of cash, to make a large outlay, hard, however cheap it was.

would we start again ? I honestly don't know, we still do a bit. But its hard work, sorting out the pre-orders, delivery etc, can be frustrating to say the least. Sausages were/are easy to sell !

we were registered with trading standards, and had a 5 star rating, for our kitchen, that surprised me.

for us, we went back into dairying, we reduced, then stopped our livery yard, kids left home, the recession, all came at the same time.

I can identify with ALL the above, other the last 2 paras.

All my beef was hung, cut and then vaccy packed at the butchers, so I never handled meat. Packed for customers to bag for their requirements at home by splitting a Dexter into 4 qtrs for the customers. So a "pillow" of mince, pillow of stew, pillow of braising and shin, joints etc etc. Came to around 60-70lbs of pure meat that fitted in a banana box.

Would not do it again now, although I made a lot of money from them. It was a hell of a lot of work, and once every 2 months, it was a road trip to take 6-8 qtrs somewhere. London, Leeds/Sheffield or similiar.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Safer food, better business (SFBB)

Food safety management procedures for small businesses.

www.food.gov.uk

Your local Authority envoirnmental department will certainly fill you in with all the costs and regulations LEGAL business have to adhere too.

yes and it does not include having to have it FA /Red tractor in top.

 

[Still Farming]

Killing, cut up, transport, storage , food hygiene certs also etc etc etc all need addressing and inspection.
Only need 1 person to die or become Ill and good by farm?

 

[som farmer]

I can identify with ALL the above, other the last 2 paras.

All my beef was hung, cut and then vaccy packed at the butchers, so I never handled meat. Packed for customers to bag for their requirements at home by splitting a Dexter into 4 qtrs for the customers. So a "pillow" of mince, pillow of stew, pillow of braising and shin, joints etc etc. Came to around 60-70lbs of pure meat that fitted in a banana box.

Would not do it again now, although I made a lot of money from them. It was a hell of a lot of work, and once every 2 months, it was a road trip to take 6-8 qtrs somewhere. London, Leeds/Sheffield or similiar.

the cost of processing a Dexter, isn't much different to a AA animal.
we used to divide our carcass into 8 boxes, all with a bit of everything, worked well.
And overcame the major problem of giving customers a 'choice' of what to have. Customers are one of the big 'problems', they simply don't know/understand all the cuts.

all we do now, is if we kill an animal for ourselves, ring a few friends, who will have what we don't need.

pigs are a complication, you seldom have just 1 to process, but sausages find a ready home.

 

[steveR]

the cost of processing a Dexter, isn't much different to a AA animal.
we used to divide our carcass into 8 boxes, all with a bit of everything, worked well.
And overcame the major problem of giving customers a 'choice' of what to have. Customers are one of the big 'problems', they simply don't know/understand all the cuts.

all we do now, is if we kill an animal for ourselves, ring a few friends, who will have what we don't need.

pigs are a complication, you seldom have just 1 to process, but sausages find a ready home.

This 110%

 

[som farmer]

This 110%

part of the disconnect between people, and how their food is produced.
A lamentable thing to happen, how you reverse it

there again, the world is getting more dangerous by the day, there may well come a time, when food prices, through supply problems, rise, and people just might have to learn to appreciate where their food actually comes from.

could be sooner, rather than later.

 

[sustainable24]

the cost of processing a Dexter, isn't much different to a AA animal.
we used to divide our carcass into 8 boxes, all with a bit of everything, worked well.
And overcame the major problem of giving customers a 'choice' of what to have. Customers are one of the big 'problems', they simply don't know/understand all the cuts.

all we do now, is if we kill an animal for ourselves, ring a few friends, who will have what we don't need.

pigs are a complication, you seldom have just 1 to process, but sausages find a ready home.

I've been selling outdoor raised pigs in quarters for a couple years now, people say the meat is incredible but the biggest problem I think is that most people do not have chest freezers anymore, 25 years ago everyone had one and storage was never an issue now everyone has to think and plan their storage so people are less interested in buying bulk. A few people are very keen to buy local, higher welfare and more delicious pork but many are still in the 'just pick up a cheap pork chop from supermarket x as is needed and who cares where it comes from' mode. Its a british mentality I think thats hard to break so I don't know how much longer I will sell farm gate pork, especially when you couple in the grief I get from certain customers. For example the guy that got sh*tty because he wasn't put on the next batch of pork list as he didn't pay for the first lot ! I could have chased him up I suppose but its all work and hassle, its not a hobby.

 

[som farmer]

farming is an incredibly lucky industry, most of the time, we do not have to deal with the consumer, face to face.

 

[sustainable24]

farming is an incredibly lucky industry, most of the time, we do not have to deal with the consumer, face to face.

True sometimes I think about the lack of thanks we get though and lack of appreciation we get (one part of the reason why I started doing farmgate pork) as all the work we do is just done automatically without question but I guess thats the same with many jobs and walks of life. Consumers expect too much a lot these days

 

[delilah]

I've been selling outdoor raised pigs in quarters for a couple years now, people say the meat is incredible but the biggest problem I think is that most people do not have chest freezers anymore, 25 years ago everyone had one and storage was never an issue now everyone has to think and plan their storage so people are less interested in buying bulk. A few people are very keen to buy local, higher welfare and more delicious pork but many are still in the 'just pick up a cheap pork chop from supermarket x as is needed and who cares where it comes from' mode. Its a british mentality I think thats hard to break so I don't know how much longer I will sell farm gate pork, especially when you couple in the grief I get from certain customers. For example the guy that got sh*tty because he wasn't put on the next batch of pork list as he didn't pay for the first lot ! I could have chased him up I suppose but its all work and hassle, its not a hobby.

If you're already breaking a pig down into 4 customers, break it down into 6 instead. Sixth of a pig, joints chops and sausages, fits into a freezer drawer no problem, there's plenty of folks got an upright with drawers even if they no longer have the chest freezer.

 

[sustainable24]

If you're already breaking a pig down into 4 customers, break it down into 6 instead. Sixth of a pig, joints chops and sausages, fits into a freezer drawer no problem, there's plenty of folks got an upright with drawers even if they no longer have the chest freezer.

Its an option (but I don't think it would make much difference and only adds further complexity and work to what I am doing) the other option would be for people to start owning chest freezers again and stop with the 'just in time' type approach to food

 

[Rich_ard]

Its an option (but I don't think it would make much difference and only adds further complexity and work to what I am doing) the other option would be for people to start owning chest freezers again and stop with the 'just in time' type approach to food

There's a thread to start, what chest freezer to buy?

 

[delilah]

Its an option (but I don't think it would make much difference and only adds further complexity and work to what I am doing) the other option would be for people to start owning chest freezers again and stop with the 'just in time' type approach to food

We split all our pigs between 6 customers, I'm not sure we would save much work if we switched to 4. With ever smaller households living in ever smaller houses, I'm not sure there's much mileage in trying to get folks to go back to bulk buying.The customer is always right, apparently.