Darren Lang is a butcher at the Oxville Farm boutique abattoir. Photo / Big Fish Creative
Darren Lang is a butcher at the Oxville Farm boutique abattoir. Photo / Big Fish Creative
A Northland boutique abattoir set up about seven months ago is expanding from farmer market sales to slaughtering sheep and goats for farmers and others who would like to butcher or sell carcasses.
If the animal owners prefer, the carcasses could be butchered and the meat vacuum-packed with a customer's label for freezer storage and sale.
Similar services for pigs and cattle - including animals with horns - are expected to be provided by Christmas.
Sarah Lomas is packing sausages flavoured to a customer's recipe.
The abattoir is on the 160ha Oxville Farms at 708 Marua Rd at Hikurangi, which Neil Anderson bought in 1999 when he was skipper on a superyacht. His father, Dave Anderson, formerly an engineer, dairy farmer and sawmiller in Fiji, moved to live near the farm and Neil joined him two years ago with partner Leah Stone, who formerly managed her family's fish processing business in Fiji.
Oxville Farms wraps meat for sale in traditional brown paper.
Oxville Farms was first intended as a butchery processing lambs grown there and killed at Affco Moerewa, but the meat works would not accept the low numbers they wanted slaughtered.
As a result, the trio built the abattoir and retired meat inspector Bruce Bartle was hired to work alongside two butchers and three packaging staff when the facility was launched in January, killing 30 lambs and 10 goats. Mr Bartle has since been replaced by another certified meat inspector, Ronelle Boonen.
Ms Stone said Oxville Farms had established itself at Northland farmers markets, and was "breaking even" with good sales of 60 per cent lamb and 40 per cent goat meat.
Leah Stone with vacuum-packed meat from an animal killed at Oxville Farm.
While many of their goat meat buyers were from India or the Middle East - with Muslim customers particularly interested in the halal slaughtering carried out at the abattoir every few weeks - many Kiwis were also keen on eating low-fat goat, fresh-killed locally rather than frozen.
Animals killed at the abattoir are believed to have better flavour than those put through the stress of a long wait in meat works yards.
Ms Stone said about 30 members of a Whangarei small farm group had called in on Monday to check what Oxville Farms had to offer and were delighted to find the abattoir would be accepting cattle with horns and small beef breeds.
"Our abattoir is ideal for homestay, bed and breakfast and other small accommodation houses which would like to offer their homegrown meat to guests," she said.
"Similarly, it provides lifestyle block and farm owners with the opportunity of earning a bit of money by getting their animals processed and having meat for sale in their freezer which could be advertised on their front gate, or on Facebook and Trade Me.
"Farmers with a a small refrigerated truck or trailer could also consider having animals slaughtered and taking the meat to Coatesville or Otara markets in Auckland for sale."
Oxville Farms is having a web page designed to promote the business.
"People in Northland are beginning to realise they don't have to buy from supermarkets - they have wider options to obtain quality meat," Ms Stone said.
