Wild Venison Market

[Hayduke]

Consider using “Giving up the Game” sellers and buyers getting good deals, and not having to travel far.

 

[JH83]

What price would be the threshold. Mine aren’t paying top whack but they have always been consistent, prompt payers (within the same week) and for that I am happy. I’m getting £1.50/kg for chest shot reds. It’s not great but it’s certainly enough to cover costs and provide beer tokens.

£1 a kg up north this week!

Still getting £2.20 in NW Englandshire though, and they can’t buy enough to supply the demand! Go figure

 

[Dunwaters]

If it's really top end catering they'll trade on the seasonality and variety aspect. It's the mainstream catering market that we struggle to provide for.

The insistence on marketing of venison as a top end product is what’s strangling sales , we need to get it into everyone’s shopping basket as a healthy low fat, low carbon alternative to other meats.
Mince, as inexpensive as chicken and on every supermarket shelf would grow your market in jig time. It also solves a lot of quality issues.
Once the market is established you can sell the expensive top end cuts, but we need to establish venison as a regular part of the shopping basket and concentrating on premium cut sales hasn’t and won’t deliver that.

 

[Precision123]

Perhaps it comes down to two very distinctive scenarios:

1. The professional stalker who is governed by cull targets and would rather be out with the lamp than demonstrating his surgeon-like lardering skills.

2. The amateur stalker who simply doesn’t have the time to practice their lardering technique as they don’t shoot enough and what facilities they do have are less than conducive to the desired outcome when a beast or two do find their way to the shed or garage hanging bar.

K

Quite agree.
There is a huge market for us 'one for the pot' stalkers who would love to be more involved in the whole process.
Maybe the fault starts with the land owner who wants a large amount of cash for the perm (which is incredibly hard to come by) and the sheer lack of exposure to the whole process for most of us.
It would help if it wasn't driven by money and greed.

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

This debate has been rolling on for donkeys years, the reason that venison is imported is simple economics, are UK supermarket can ring their meat supplier and say I want 300,000, 500 g venison steaks, that will be done easily, and at the exchange rate of, however, many new Zealand dollars to the pound!

The UK market cannot handle that there is not the infrastructure, the investment or the international exchange rate to make it financially viable.

In today’s Financial environment you need a dealer who will keep you clear if you’re shooting numbers and one that will collect because I’ve worked it out personally that collection to me is worth £1/kg

so when my larder is emptied at X amount per kilo, I’ve not had to start my engine drive the 70 mile round-trip at almost £2 per litre for diesel , I’ve not had to waste 45 minutes each way driving, I don’t have the wear and tear on my van or my trailer so really the rate I am getting is, probably taking all that into consideration is mega!

 

[Precision123]

'Life' means that I can't get out as much as I'd like.
'Cost' means that it is easier for me to buy a carcass, than pay for the shooting and see more of the process.
'Trophy' keeps me out of certain areas.
'Fortunate' that I have a pal who will sell me a carcass.
'Skilled' in that I can polish a blade so well that you can shave with it.
'Experienced' because I shot for the Army, and am rather good at it.
'Trained' and hold a DSC1, food handling certificate and butchery courses too.
'Willing' to be involved. And I make my own ammo and sausages too.

Maybe there is a solution in catering for, and too, the hundreds for folk like me. But to do that, we'd have to drop the archaic beliefs of the tweed set, tipping the 'keeper, trophy costs, venison can only be cooked like this, and the "you wouldn't understand the ways of the country" mindset.
Btw, ex award winning beef farmer who now works in IT.

 

[VSS]

The insistence on marketing of venison as a top end product is what’s strangling sales , we need to get it into everyone’s shopping basket as a healthy low fat, low carbon alternative to other meats.
Mince, as inexpensive as chicken and on every supermarket shelf would grow your market in jig time. It also solves a lot of quality issues.
Once the market is established you can sell the expensive top end cuts, but we need to establish venison as a regular part of the shopping basket and concentrating on premium cut sales hasn’t and won’t deliver that.

I don't think that there's an insistence on marketing it as a top end product, but wild venison is never going to have the consistency required to be a mainstream, everyday product for the majority of consumers. Only farmed venison could achieve that. Wild venison has to trade on the things that make it unique, such as seasonality and variety, and by default those things put it more towards the niche end of the market. However, if farmed venison could increase its share of the mainstream meat market then wild venison sales would rise on the back of that due to increased awareness and popularity of venison in general.

 

[willie_gunn]

'Life' means that I can't get out as much as I'd like.
'Cost' means that it is easier for me to buy a carcass, than pay for the shooting and see more of the process.
'Trophy' keeps me out of certain areas.
'Fortunate' that I have a pal who will sell me a carcass.
'Skilled' in that I can polish a blade so well that you can shave with it.
'Experienced' because I shot for the Army, and am rather good at it.
'Trained' and hold a DSC1, food handling certificate and butchery courses too.
'Willing' to be involved. And I make my own ammo and sausages too.

Maybe there is a solution in catering for, and too, the hundreds for folk like me. But to do that, we'd have to drop the archaic beliefs of the tweed set, tipping the 'keeper, trophy costs, venison can only be cooked like this, and the "you wouldn't understand the ways of the country" mindset.
Btw, ex award winning beef farmer who now works in IT.

All well and good, but your chosen industry of IT is, in many ways, no different.

I don’t know what branch of the industry you are in, but whether hardware, software or services the big companies tie up the bulk of the work, it is hard for newcomers to break in, and experience is valued more highly than enthusiasm.

As with the venison market, however, there are sometimes significant barriers to entry, although it is still possible for disruptors to appear. Also the market is big enough to support numerous specialists across the spectrum - it is not just one, homogenous, mass, even though it might appear that way to those outside the market. Those who strive tend to succeed because they have differentiated themselves from the crowd. Establish a name and a reputation, and you’ll get awarded contracts that avoid you having to go through the mindless tedium of classic procurement processes.

Also, of course, the industry has had to re-invent itself on multiple occasions as the market has shifted.

Welcome to capitalism and the free-market economy!

 

[Hayduke]

Perhaps it comes down to two very distinctive scenarios:

1. The professional stalker who is governed by cull targets and would rather be out with the lamp than demonstrating his surgeon-like lardering skills.

2. The amateur stalker who simply doesn’t have the time to practice their lardering technique as they don’t shoot enough and what facilities they do have are less than conducive to the desired outcome when a beast or two do find their way to the shed or garage hanging bar.

K

There is a large and growing group you are missing: the unpaid deer culler, manager / stalker. Operate alone or a small handful of trusted and competent pals. Culling up to 100 beasts a year. Operate across one or a few estates. Provide a service to landowners, and able to shift a reasonable volume of carcass. Between them they have access to chillers, freezers and facilities, and a network of contacts, outlets and options without being caught in an AGHE cartel trap as their only option.

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

There is a large and growing group you are missing: the unpaid deer culler, manager / stalker. Operate alone or a small handful of trusted and competent pals. Culling up to 100 beasts a year. Operate across one or a few estates. Provide a service to landowners, and able to shift a reasonable volume of carcass. Between them they have access to chillers, freezers and facilities, and a network of contacts, outlets and options without being caught in an AGHE cartel trap as their only option.

Too much like hard work!

100 small deer a year, no issues easy peasy and easy money, try 100 fallow or reds whole different ball game!

 

[VSS]

Too much like hard work!

100 small deer a year, no issues easy peasy and easy money, try 100 fallow or reds whole different ball game!

I think you'll find that there's a fair number of people on here that are doing that. It's a good thing, even if it is marketed as a premium product, because it takes a considerable number of deer out of the AGHE system, and it raises the popularity of venison at no cost to anyone else (the alternative to which would be a marketing levy on carcasses sold via an AGHE to cover promotion and advertising of venison, as there is with beef and lamb sold through an auction or abattoir).

 

[paulbshooting]

Into my third year of butchering and selling direct to local end customers via my little food business. Even at proper prices this loses money every year but absorbs all / most of my hunting costs. I don't have the patience or time to use game dealers, but can via an estate I stalk for any surplus, mainly on the does. This is a side hussle to my main job and in short keeps me stalking which is my passion. Third year also on copper and only chest shoot. Customers love the local sustainable food aspect and other benefits, plus feel they are supporting the local farms and estates through me. Gave us GUTG on FB as that's a race to the bottom on price and lots of time wasters / armchair experts! As for the main market its all about scale and supply chain economics. Can't see it improving

 

[Hayduke]

Too much like hard work!

100 small deer a year, no issues easy peasy and easy money, try 100 fallow or reds whole different ball game!

Nae bother. Nihil sine labore.

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Last weekend me and the troops shot stags, no sweat required as i have all the kit, was collected Thursday next week in my account will be a very tidy sum thanks very much!

Best bit is - No skinning, cutting, packaging, marketing!

Didn’t even have to drive it any where

Whack, stack, chill- repeat!

 

[VSS]

Last weekend me and the troops shot stags, no sweat required as i have all the kit, was collected Thursday next week in my account will be a very tidy sum thanks very much!

Best bit is - No skinning, cutting, packaging, marketing!

Didn’t even have to drive it any where

Whack, stack, chill- repeat!

If it works for you, that's great.
But I'm sure even you wouldn't be averse to getting paid a bit more for the carcasses that you're supplying to an AGHE?
All the little players in the game (who you make disparaging remarks about) are doing a great job promoting venison, which ultimately raises the profile of the product and potentially puts more money in your pocket too.

Alternatively, we would need to get AHDB, HCC and QMS to run a national venison marketing campaign, as they do with other red meats. They would take a compulsory levy (from the primary producer - ie, you) on all wild deer carcases submitted to an AGHE and on all farmed deer slaughtered through an abattoir, and use that to fund the campaign.
(They may already take a levy on farmed deer going through an abattoir, I do not know. It would be interesting to hear from one of the deer farmers on here).

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

If it works for you, that's great.
But I'm sure even you wouldn't be averse to getting paid a bit more for the carcasses that you're supplying to an AGHE?
All the little players in the game (who you make disparaging remarks about) are doing a great job promoting venison, which ultimately raises the profile of the product and potentially puts more money in your pocket too.

Alternatively, we would need to get AHDB, HCC and QMS to run a national venison marketing campaign, as they do with other red meats. They would take a compulsory levy (from the primary producer - ie, you) on all wild deer carcases submitted to an AGHE and on all farmed deer slaughtered through an abattoir, and use that to fund the campaign.
(They may already take a levy on farmed deer going through an abattoir, I do not know. It would be interesting to hear from one of the deer farmers on here).

I am not degrading anyone, its just the way i am, I'm blunt, to the point and saying it how i see it!

If the small guy want to do that, good for them, but personally i have better things to do with my life than skinning, cutting and packaging then standing at a farmers market selling my products.

Been there, done it slung the T shirt.

But I am afraid venison will ever ever be a staple of the UK diet, you can promote it, give it away, feed it to your dog, do whatever you like with it, but it will not ever be a staple, if but by some miracle it ever does become a staple, 90% of it will be imported as I previously highlighted because it will be cheaper and more reliable to get from the likes of New Zealand.

This grand idea of using solely UK venison is purely a dream, and that’s all It ever will be!

The one and main fact remains, deer need killing!

Get rid of it quickly and efficiently and cost effectively as possible, as possible, wash down and repeat!

 

[VSS]

The one and main fact remains, deer need killing!

That's a crap statement.
Deer don't need killing, any more than we need killing because there's too many of us.
We want to kill them because they conflict with our activities, and they're nice to eat.
Want and need are not the same thing.

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

That's a crap statement.
Deer don't need killing, any more than we need killing because there's too many of us.
We want to kill them because they conflict with our activities, and they're nice to eat.
Want and need are not the same thing.

Your obviously in a part of the country where you have bugger all deer!

Mean while here in the real world where their a bloody pain in the arse causing hell and all crop and woodland damage we will carry on regardless!

I am seeing a lot of this where, those who are in very thin on the ground deer areas are objecting to the harsh reality of what level of management deer actually require, especially the herd species

 

[Dunwaters]

I don't think that there's an insistence on marketing it as a top end product, but wild venison is never going to have the consistency required to be a mainstream, everyday product for the majority of consumers. Only farmed venison could achieve that. Wild venison has to trade on the things that make it unique, such as seasonality and variety, and by default those things put it more towards the niche end of the market. However, if farmed venison could increase its share of the mainstream meat market then wild venison sales would rise on the back of that due to increased awareness and popularity of venison in general.

We’ve been trading on the niche end of the market and the special status of deer and venison for as long as I can remember and it’s demonstrably not working. National deer herd numbers are up, prices are down and supply regularly outstrips demand primarily because of venisons niche market position.
Mince, cheap mince and lots of it on every meat counter, smoked shoulders, salami and sausages in the charcuterie.
We need it marketed as the carbon neutral answer to responsible meat eating.
Develop the market and it will settle at its own price level.

 

[Dunwaters]

That's a crap statement.
Deer don't need killing, any more than we need killing because there's too many of us.

Deer do need killing, precisely because there are too many of us and they come into conflict with our interests.
We get to make the rules because we invented democracy and there’s more of us.