Carcass co-op Cotswold & Gloucestershire

[Loler UK]

I have a couple of meetings in the next week or so with some pub & restaurant owners.

I know there is some difference between some EHO's but in my area we have several pubs, restaurant owners & hotels able to take carcasses in the skin, skin and butcher them in house to sell to their patrons, minimal food miles, no middle men.

A few we supply and a few more are looking into a system by which they would take stalkers venison, chest shot, head, shot, any species with an online system showing the space in their chiller, you'd log on before you go stalking, see how many slots each have and be able to drop the carcass at their chiller 24/7 providing other stalkers haven't filled the slots by the time you get there.

Current price would be £2.40-3/kg meat damage dependant, trained hunter status only, the owners would not be able to specify head shot only or fallow only, no MJD etc. They would have to take what was available. Good standards of hygiene & lardering required and stalkers found falling short of the required standards would be removed from the scheme.

There's allot more detail behind the scenes but what do people think?

 

[Twodogs]

Sounds like a good idea.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Excellent idea, let us know how it goes. Would be good to see initiatives like this in other places too. Only hesitancy might be around the acceptance, or otherwise, of any surplus carcasses by game dealers if & when the co-op chillers were all full which might happen quicker than you think. On a personal level this month I reckon I could have satisfied the demand of ‘several’ pubs, restaurants & hotels with what I’ve shot alone & if adding in the carcasses from the other 3 stalkers in the group reckon there’d have been a surplus very quickly. This isn't me blowing smoke up my own Rs or trying to stop your initiative, which I still think is an excellent idea, but just highlighting that you might want to consider how to deal with surplus carcasses & be aware of the risk of getting on the wrong side of your local AGHE.

 

[David Barker]

Great Idea can i ask why you would say they can choose there deer. For me it is about choice and w3e all know different species tastes different. If i was a restaurant owner and my customers enjoyed one type over the other i would ask for that type. Just a thought.

 

[jack]

The devil is in the detail. But a good idea.
I have stopped shooting deer until I have eaten more. Plenty about.

 

[kieran222]

Sounds good. I have a sneaky feeling that once the end users (restaurants, pubs, etc) use this system they will find that they have a preference for deer from a particular stalker, for various reasons, carcase quality, meat damage, etc. Is there any way that they would then be able to deal direct with the stalker and bypass the system that you are proposing. You could end up just providing stalkers with buyers who buy outside of the system.
Not knocking what you are proposing as it seems like a great way for stalkers to get an outlet for the deer at a better price than they might get elsewhere.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Good idea indeed. Need something like this in Kent but as ever there needs to be demand for the end product.

Currently no Game Dealers, that I'm aware of, taking deer even if shot with a silver bullet.

K

 

[Cyres]

Excellent idea as no game dealers in South Glos. If successful an incentive to shoot more roe does.
D

 

[Perksy]

Great idea. I’m in Cheltenham and would be keen to help

 

[Pete6.5]

Try and price the venison at the going rate it doesn't help anyone to undercut the rest of the market.

 

[Overlay]

Yep
As per KB having something like that in kent would be a phenomenal help in getting deer to the right place and at a better price for good carcases, online forecast week in advance would be beneficial in the drive to manage numbers

Bring it on I say, at last, the best news for deer management for years, lets hope it comes to fruition, it will be a real bonus to stalkers who strive to deliver quality carcases
And get a decent price and be self governing on quality supplied Just what customers and stalkers alike have been waiting for

 

[wytonpjs]

Interested - looking for a fallow outlet near Gloucester

 

[Loler UK]

Try and price the venison at the going rate it doesn't help anyone to undercut the rest of the market.

You think £3/kg is underpriced? Who's buying at anywhere near that?

 

[Hayduke]

Expand it to more areas.

Cuts down travel, cuts out the middle man, opens up more venison markets, better price.

 

[Pete6.5]

You think £3/kg is underpriced? Who's buying at anywhere near that?

Everyone buying from a game dealer

 

[Loler UK]

Everyone buying from a game dealer

What, in the skin? Whole carcass, for muntjac? I know allot of game dealers and none of them are getting that when they sell on in the skin. If you have those sort of contacts you should set up a larder.

I guess disruption is inevitable if it takes off. There's plenty of chefs that are capable and even enjoy breaking down whole animals and plenty of punters that buy in to the super seasonal minimal food miles local wild venison.

Plenty of deer, especially mjd are left to rot, plenty of game dealers not even willing to take them for free. The pubs and resteraunts we already supply have invested in chillers/ dividers, added to their haccp, engaged their EHO, they've paid plenty to be able to benefit from the streamlined supply chain and if we charged any more it wouldn't be viable amd people would go back to throwing them in hedgerows.

The stalker gets more, the eatery saves money, what's not to like? What value would a game dealer add exactly?

 

[Cyres]

It's v v rare to see any venison on any pub menu. Even in prime game country it's not happening. All seem to offer variations on the bog standard menus hunters chicken and alike. Most of it is pretty poor.
D

 

[Klenchblaize]

If you do see venison on a pub menu it will be either sausage or berger. This tells me a lot about the challenges of getting the Public to eat the stuff. Namely that it's a real challenge to present a conventionall cut of meat that is not overly dry and tuff.


Also good to see there are more posts appearing on this forum that are not shying from confirming there's an increasing instance of carcasses being left to rot where they drop. A truly unpalatable situation but a direct consequence of a fallow population explosion and poor to non-existent demand for the stuff in certain areas.

No wonder the DEFRA deer management consultation has been consigned to the food waste bin as so many of those who contributed to it made clear the need for investment in infrastructure etc.

K

 

[Donkey Basher]

Last year the dealer was giving us a flat £5 per carcass for Muntjac. Start of his doe season they wouldn’t take Muntjac & even refused small fallow - suits me as they’re the best eaters! Had a pan roast Muntjac loin for Sunday dinner last weekend, nothing tuff or dry about that

 

[GIMLET61]

I would be interested being in North Cotswolds and nearest GD being over an hour away.