Butchery costs

[75]

I've always done my own but the recent Glasgow Butchers thread got me wondering how many folk use a butcher for their carcasses and what the costs are for different species.

Please don't turn this into a judgemental thread about those who do use a professional. We all know it's not that hard and Scott Rae videos and a boning knife are all you need but folk can and will chose to use a butcher for various reasons.

I'll start us off - I recently asked out of interest at a local place in Derbyshire that I know does a few - reds / fallow were £75-100 per carcass depending on what you wanted done with them.

 

[Woodsmoke]

I charge £65 to process a roe. That includes storage, butchery to a customers requirements, packaging, labelling, and disposal of waste. Sausage and burger attracts a premium (generally around an extra £15/20 per carcass) due to the extra work involved. Reds I price at a flat rate of £3/kg with sausage/burger at £3.75/kg.

As for judging anyone who chooses not to do their own butchery? Not everyone has the skill, space, time, or even inclination to do it themselves, so for my own part I fully-understand why some choose to have someone do it for them. I don't know of any professional butchers in this area who would take the job on, but I have my own modest butchery unit I put together for my own use, that grew arms and legs and eventually went through the EHO approval process, so I'm fortunate enough to be able to offer this service to folk in the local area.

 

[T.eddie]

ive only had a muntjac done professionally which was charged a £2kg. A friend had a fallow buck done for £20.00 and that was a mix of roasts/steaks and sausages

 

[Woodsmoke]

A friend had a fallow buck done for £20.00 and that was a mix of roasts/steaks and sausages

Nobody but your friend got a good deal on that job!

 

[T.eddie]

Nobody but your friend got a good deal on that job!

have to admit I was surprise he had it done for that

 

[Woodsmoke]

have to admit I was surprise he had it done for that

Not half! I'm glad you're far enough away that I don't have to try and compete with that price

 

[willie_gunn]

iA friend had a fallow buck done for £20.00 and that was a mix of roasts/steaks and sausages

Lucky guy! The cost of the ingredients going into the burgers and sausages would cost more than £20 for a decent size fallow carcass!!

 

[T.eddie]

Lucky guy! The cost of the ingredients going into the burgers and sausages would cost more than £20 for a decent size fallow carcass!!

Yeah not sure how he managed to get it done for that to be honest

 

[J@son]

£15 - £20 to turn a roe or muntjac into steaks, dice, mince and loins all vac-packed into sensible quanities. Maybe a bit extra to bone and roll the haunch as a roasting joint. My butcher does an absolutely brilliant job. The meat is beautifully presented. A real mark of respect to the animal and well worth every penny. I wouldn't be able to get close.

 

[EssexBigMac]

@T.eddie was he in Essex? PM details if close by please.

 

[T.eddie]

@T.eddie was he in Essex? PM details if close by please.

he was think it was in or near westcliff area

 

[nun_hunter]

I've used my local butcher once and for a fallow privkey it was £35 to butcher into cuts and then £1/kg for sausages and burgers and all meat comes vac packed or on polystyrene trays. It came to about £70 all in and I got 12kg of burgers, 15kg of sausages and loads of various steaks. For the time it would have taken me and the cost of ingredients and packaging I think it was worth it and something I'd maybe do once a year ready for BBQ season.

 

[Woodsmoke]

£15 - £20 to turn a roe or muntjac into steaks, dice, mince and loins all vac-packed into sensible quanities. Maybe a bit extra to bone and roll the haunch as a roasting joint. My butcher does an absolutely brilliant job. The meat is beautifully presented. A real mark of respect to the animal and well worth every penny. I wouldn't be able to get close.

I'm not familiar with muntjac carcasses as we have none up here. From what I've read though, I think you're looking at, what, say 5kg on an average beast? So, taking into account packaging materials, overheads, and time at that £15 you're looking at £3/kg. Exactly what I charge for red, and not far off my flat rate for roe deer

 

[Hell Toupee]

I'm not familiar with muntjac carcasses as we have none up here. From what I've read though, I think you're looking at, what, say 5kg on an average beast? So, taking into account packaging materials, overheads, and time at that £15 you're looking at £3/kg. Exactly what I charge for red, and not far off my flat rate for roe deer

Don't you say at the start that you charge £65 flat rate for a roe? And Jason says £15-20 for roe or muntjac? So you're 3-4x more expensive...

Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're overpriced, he just seems to be getting a good deal for the roe!

 

[Woodsmoke]

Don't you say at the start that you charge £65 flat rate for a roe? And Jason says £15-20 for roe or muntjac? So you're 3-4x more expensive...

Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're overpriced, he just seems to be getting a good deal for the roe!

Pro rata it works out very similarly, cost-wise. Say an average (generous) roe carcass is 20kg, then my £65 is a tad over £3/kg. And a muntjac could be, say, 5kg carcass weight? So taking Jason's £15 cost it works out similar. Some wiggle-room, of course, but overall we're in the same ballpark

 

[Hell Toupee]

Pro rata it works out very similarly, cost-wise. Say an average (generous) roe carcass is 20kg, then my £65 is a tad over £3/kg. And a muntjac could be, say, 5kg carcass weight? So taking Jason's £15 cost it works out similar. Some wiggle-room, of course, but overall we're in the same ballpark

Yeah, but is seems that he is getting a whole roe done for £20 judging by this?

£15 - £20 to turn a roe or muntjac into steaks, dice, mince and loins all vac-packed into sensible quanities.

 

[Woodsmoke]

Yeah, but is seems that he is getting a whole roe done for £20 judging by this?

Ah, apologies. I missed that. Then that's a bloody fantastic price, yes. And not one I could even get close to. It just wouldn't be worth me opening my butchery door at that price

 

[muddy42]

Interesting discussion. To put it another way, it takes me about two hours to process a roe deer (skin, joint, dice and mince shoulders + neck, "skin" loins, bone the haunches, vacpac and label, dispose of bones/waste and clean up afterwards). Finished edible meat fits neatly into a tesco bag!

 

[Woodsmoke]

Finished edible meat fits neatly into a tesco bag!

Yep. I generally count on a 50% yield from a roe, including taking the breast off the ribs to roll and net, and trimming out the intercostal meat for sausage

 

[willie_gunn]

Interesting discussion. To put it another way, it takes me about two hours to process a roe deer (skin, joint, dice and mince shoulders + neck, "skin" loins, bone the haunches, vacpac and label, dispose of bones/waste and clean up afterwards). Finished edible meat fits neatly into a tesco bag!

I reckon on an hour and a quarter per carcass from in the skin to in the freezer, including weighing/vac-packing/labelling, but that’s without running the trimmings through the mincer. So probably around the same all told.

Making burgers and sausages requires another 60-90 minutes, and is not really worth doing for just one carcass at a time.