Hi has anyone setup a small home butchery game dealer business

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Hi Im really not doing it for the money, its more for the enjoyment and providing to the local businesses and community. But I do get what you mean.

By all means carry you on, but why work and I do mean work for nothing?

This big idealistic dream for supplying venison to the masses is nothing but a day dream unfortunately and simply not worth the hassle or energy it takes to do it.

The only people earning fair coin are the ones using it as a tax write off against their other business like some members do here on the SD

 

[User00056]

Hi Im really not doing it for the money, its more for the enjoyment and providing to the local businesses and community

I had the same thought. It was great for the first year or so, then the demands of a full-time job, running a smallholding, and the venison business started to catch up. I was also butchering pork and lambs for others at the same time, so free time virtually disappeared. I then started to feel the pressure to get a carcass or two weeks before a market, and that robbed the pleasure out of stalking for me. When I made the decision to pack in all I felt was relief! I'm glad I did it, and wouldn't have missed out on it for worlds, but I really have to stress just how much sheer graft it takes. Wish you all the luck in the world with it though, honestly

 

[royalewithcheese]

Thanks to you and others for sharing set ups. Really helpful to get some perspective.

If I did get inspected I’m sure I’d have to move my cider barrels on the day from proximity to skinning area

Or keep them out and tempt the inspector with a sample

 

[Tom102938]

Similar although I can take a pair of fallow or 4 roe in my small chiller (ex DEFRA glass double-door) that has replaced the Pepsi fridge I first used. The chiller is in my garage and I skin adjacent to it and then butcher in the kitchen. My EHO is comfortable with this provided I stay at a relatively small scale around 50 carcasses a year. Just been reinspected and reissued 5* rating. Flykiller moved opposite now as bits of exploding flies/months too close is not a good idea.

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Just a quick question on this pepsi fridge.

Are they the standard shelving runner bars for the shelf that you attached the side bars onto? If not did you upgrade the shelving fitting or the bracket thats on?

Thanks

 

[EssexBigMac]

Just a quick question on this pepsi fridge.

Are they the standard shelving runner bars for the shelf that you attached the side bars onto? If not did you upgrade the shelving fitting or the bracket thats on?

Thanks

I’ve done the same in my first fridge. Same fridge clips but just get some square solid bar from eBay or your local steel man.

 

[Tom102938]

I’ve done the same in my first fridge. Same fridge clips but just get some square solid bar from eBay or your local steel man.

I feel like the clips on this fridge i picked up today won't be any good lol.

I may order some as similar as I can find to those

 

[wytonpjs]

Just a quick question on this pepsi fridge.

Are they the standard shelving runner bars for the shelf that you attached the side bars onto? If not did you upgrade the shelving fitting or the bracket thats on?

Thanks

Still the same vertical strips and shelf support brackets. On my old Pepsi fridge the vertical sections were aluminium- on the Defra fridge they are stainless steel. Both were able to take the load. The Defra shelf slips are also stainless steel.

 

[AlexD]

By all means carry you on, but why work and I do mean work for nothing?

This big idealistic dream for supplying venison to the masses is nothing but a day dream unfortunately and simply not worth the hassle or energy it takes to do it.

Much as I may fancy having a venison business, the good advice of others who have done that and echo the words from folk kind enough to share their scars/experience on here, has prevented me doing that. For me, or most stalkers, opening a home venison business would be a really dumb move.

The situation seems similar to that of a would be restaurant owner.

The average new restaurant owner is someone who likes cooking, but as probabilities go, is not a apprenticed career chef. They buy or rent a place, fit it out with what they think is needed, often with new gear, slave away for two years, then are worn out, so take a holiday and go bust. They have just spent their life savings paying for fancy dinners for complete strangers, some of whom they may like as friends, others they may see as the dregs of society.

When professional butchers report on here that they can't make a basic wage out of a home venison business, and shooters who are turning over a lot of animals take 3 years to break even on the original investment by not drawing any wage at all, then what that means is most amateurs will lose money, time and sleep over something that is the same as the newbie restaurant owner.

If the OP really wants to increase use of venison, just sell the animals to the game dealer.

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Much as I may fancy having a venison business, the good advice of others who have done that and echo the words from folk kind enough to share their scars/experience on here, has prevented me doing that. For me, or most stalkers, opening a home venison business would be a really dumb move.

The situation seems similar to that of a would be restaurant owner.

The average new restaurant owner is someone who likes cooking, but as probabilities go, is not a apprenticed career chef. They buy or rent a place, fit it out with what they think is needed, often with new gear, slave away for two years, then are worn out, so take a holiday and go bust. They have just spent their life savings paying for fancy dinners for complete strangers, some of whom they may like as friends, others they may see as the dregs of society.

When professional butchers report on here that they can't make a basic wage out of a home venison business, and shooters who are turning over a lot of animals take 3 years to break even on the original investment by not drawing any wage at all, then what that means is most amateurs will lose money, time and sleep over something that is the same as the newbie restaurant owner.

If the OP really wants to increase use of venison, just sell the animals to the game dealer.

Yep you’ve hit the nail on the head!

 

[wytonpjs]

Much as I may fancy having a venison business, the good advice of others who have done that and echo the words from folk kind enough to share their scars/experience on here, has prevented me doing that. For me, or most stalkers, opening a home venison business would be a really dumb move.

The situation seems similar to that of a would be restaurant owner.

The average new restaurant owner is someone who likes cooking, but as probabilities go, is not a apprenticed career chef. They buy or rent a place, fit it out with what they think is needed, often with new gear, slave away for two years, then are worn out, so take a holiday and go bust. They have just spent their life savings paying for fancy dinners for complete strangers, some of whom they may like as friends, others they may see as the dregs of society.

When professional butchers report on here that they can't make a basic wage out of a home venison business, and shooters who are turning over a lot of animals take 3 years to break even on the original investment by not drawing any wage at all, then what that means is most amateurs will lose money, time and sleep over something that is the same as the newbie restaurant owner.

If the OP really wants to increase use of venison, just sell the animals to the game dealer.

But, if you haven’t got a game dealer nearby, what do you do. As per others on here, I process to move on my carcasses - some I’m lucky to move on whole. But the bottom line is if I want to go out stalking, I have to do something with the animals taken. Numbers are not large enough to hold and drive regularly in a refrigerated truck to my nearest (Deerbox or Oaklands), so I process. Agree wholeheartedly that it doesn’t cover my costs but it does defray the costs of my stalking hobby. Registering for VAT takes 20% off my inputs costs (I’m a Ltd company too as well as obligatory Food Business) but as Tesco says, “every little helps”.

I’m very much with @Quixote here that you have to be very careful that your “business” doesn’t drive you (came very close when fallow bucks recently refused to play the game) but so far, taken in the round, I quite like doing the occasional market stall and introducing new customers to venison but frankly, the market shop I supply has become my primary outlet and I have done 5 deliveries there this month so far. As they run a business, they take 30% but a reliable 70% with guaranteed outlet is a whole lot better than relying upon walk-up customers.

 

[sauer]

ILloyds echo what said already

2 to 3yrs in nearly and was doing it for myself before anyway.....
Issues with a doddering Interfering old c**t of a neigh our led to getting authorised and legal and basically as an ar5e covering exercise if anyone else phoned EHO claiming illegal Fred inappropriate shed
I'm covered
Its gives me an avenue to move on additional over what i or family aren't using
I can push and promote our side of the hi ti g argument thru medium of food

But
I'm fortunate main job tales care of everything
I'm not relying on it
Be prepared for time doing cleaning and washing and records as much as knife work
And remember.... your dealing with food amd an often dumb ass public...you CANNOT risk anything its GOT TO BE RIGHT .... if any doubt over a carcass or temps etc bin it

Paul

 

[Goose504]

So my experience is different to Quixote but a) I'm in England (rules are slightly different) and b) I'll be completely honest - I don't do this just to make money!

For me, this is all about moving carcasses to allow me to shoot deer. All I shoot are reds and they are big lowland buggers. We have no gamedealer locally and most of my permission has been gained on the basis of my ability to move carcasses. "one for the pot" doesn't cut it with big groups of 30+ red hanging out on farmland.

Hence, my ability to move carcasses is more important than maximising value for them. Thankfully, I have a decent paid main income so deer money is a nice perk rather than a necessity for me - a privileged position which I am more than well aware of. But it does highlight that different folk have different drivers for doing this and it will impact how you go about running your business.

My routes to market:

• I sell whole carcasses at game dealer rates to butchers, farm shops and restaurants. I charge a few quid if they want them skinned but get a min £2/kg all season. I work on a waiting list so my customers message "I'm ready for another one when you get one" and I normally run at a slight backlog - currently waiting list for 6 for August!
• I sell venison boxes to general public - I use a local trade butcher who cuts and packs for me. It would be cheaper to butcher myself (and I sometimes do) but I'm slow and would rather stick to the bits I'm good at and pay him a few quid for the bit he does well. I've found £100 is the sweet spot that folk are happy to pay and adjust weight in box accordingly. There is a mix of cuts in there from dice to fillet so I'm not left with anything and I don't sell individual cuts. Again, I have a waiting list for this option from a few regulars but if I have surplus I advertise it on FB and usually gone in under an hour.

This is the easy bit - honestly! PM if you want a chat but it really is simple. I'll dig out another old thread in a min which should help..

75

This is exactly what I'm looking for to achieve would you mind PM details of your setup & the Requirements from the LA

id be completely starting from scratch

many thanks

 

[mallettn]

I am about to go through the process of food registration and think I cover most of the bases, but I am concerned about the disposal of remains (bones, skin etc..) as I don't want to arrange commercial disposal. My volumes will be very modest (around 20 carcassess p.a.) will the inspector accept this quantity going through my household recyclcing bins?

 

[VSS]

I am about to go through the process of food registration and think I cover most of the bases, but I am concerned about the disposal of remains (bones, skin etc..) as I don't want to arrange commercial disposal. My volumes will be very modest (around 20 carcassess p.a.) will the inspector accept this quantity going through my household recyclcing bins?

You can put up to 20kg per week of butchery waste from a registered food business in your domestic waste collection.
You have to record the date and quantity.
(NB, it's not an average of 20kg per week, it's a maximum of 20kg in any one week).
I freeze the waste in 20kg bags, first offer it to friends for dog food, and anything they don't want goes in the domestic bin, a bag at a time.
Anything removed from the animal outside the larder (eg, gralloch) can be disposed of on the land.

 

[wytonpjs]

You can put up to 20kg per week of butchery waste from a registered food business in your domestic waste collection.
You have to record the date and quantity.
(NB, it's not an average of 20kg per week, it's a maximum of 20kg in any one week).
I freeze the waste in 20kg bags, first offer it to friends for dog food, and anything they don't want goes in the domestic bin, a bag at a time.
Anything removed from the animal outside the larder (eg, gralloch) can be disposed of on the land.

^^^ Exactly this - the legal provision for this is Reg (EC) No 1069/2009 Art 14 which permits Disposal of CAT 3 Material in authorised landfill and DEFRA's Animal By-Product Categories, Site Approvals, Hygiene and Disposal guidance originally published 4 Sep 2014 which states:

Category 3​

You can only dispose of category 3 ABPs by:

• incineration or co-incineration
• sending them to landfill after they’ve been processed
• processing them, if they’re not decomposed or spoiled, and using them to make feed for farm animals (where allowed by the TSE/ABP regulations)
• processing them and using them to make petfood
• processing them and using them to make organic fertilisers and soil improvers
• using them in composting or anaerobic digestion
• ensiling (turning them into silage) if they come from aquatic animals
• applying them to land as a fertiliser, in some cases
• using them as fuel for combustion
• using them to make cosmetic products or medical devices

Disposing of small quantities of ABPs​

If you are a retail business producing a total weight of less than 20kg of raw or partially cooked meat, fish or shellfish waste per week, you can send this waste to landfill each week.

There is no need to register with APHA, however you do need to keep records of the type and approximate weight of ABP sent to landfill each week.

This is a weekly limit, not an average limit over a number of weeks.

 

[mallettn]

Brilliant! Thanks for your clear answers, I will have no issues with these limits. I already freeze quantities that don't fit in my small food recycling bin, but it sounds like I can dump skin, heads and forelegs in the general waste bin without any concerns. This will make things simpler.

 

[sauer]

I'd double check all you've been said to
By running past your EHO officer and getting their clearance.
CYA ...cover yer ar5e

 

[VSS]

I'd double check all you've been said to
By running past your EHO officer and getting their clearance.
CYA ...cover yer ar5e

In which case, it might be neccessary also to show the EHO a copy of the relevant legislation/guidance. Sometimes they need a bit of educating!