abbatoir costs - cost of putting a dexter in the freezer

John C · Post by **John C** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 4:56 pm

Hi, I'm a new member . I've got three unregistered dexters including a young bull that is destined for the freezer after its done the business with its two soon to calve heifer friends . I use to keep half a dozen English Longhorns which were obviously 3 or 4 times the size of the dexters.
I had a bit of a shock when I enquired about the cost of bumping him off . Before Christmas they wanted 100 quid and fifty more if they chopped him up. Is that a fair price ? They would charge me exactly the same price for a massive Charolais . Theres not much competition in the slaughter house stakes in my area and for example I'm faced with two four hour journeys to get pigs slaughtered . Needless to say ,most people have stopped keeping them in our area.The cost of slaughter kind of takes the shine off producing your own beef .Not that I have much choice, but is the slaughter man being reasonable? ???

Jo Kemp · Post by **Jo Kemp** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:58 pm

My abattoir charged me £85 including killing, inspection fees, levy etc. but the butcher charged much more for hanging, cutting up and vacuum packing the joints. Total costs came to just under £300 but owing to presentation etc. the steer, weighing 209.5kgs grossed £1,200. If for your own freezer and presentation doesn't matter I think £150 to include hanging for a decent amount of time (3 weeks minimum if enough fat cover is my usual) and cutting up is probably the best you will get, short of a friendly, retired butcher and home hanging.
Jo
Good luck

Issy · Post by **Issy** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:15 pm

We have a steer going in april. It is going to cost a total of £230 including, slaughter, hanging, butchering, packing (including some vacum packing) and labeling.

PeterO · Post by **PeterO** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:08 am

Check for a friendly local village butcher who might hang and cut it up for you. My Minsterley butcher would do it in his 'slack' periods' for £20 and a jar of home produced honey.

Peter (basking in the NZ sun)

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:13 am

£175 for killing, hanging, butchering, vacuum packing and labelling in S W Wales plus cost of transport to abbatoir if you don't have your own trailer and picking up afterwards.

GRAEME · Post by **GRAEME** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:02 pm

Have been quoted £190 slaughter into freezer bags in Lincs. But these cant do over 30 mths. Does anyone know an abbatoir that will do 30 mths near to Lincs/East Mids.

TonyH · Post by **TonyH** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:41 pm

We are quite lucky, I think, as we pay £70 for killing & hanging then 40p per kilo for butchering, bagging and labelling which means we don't get penalised by having to pay a set rate for our smaller breed.

Law · Post by **Law** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 2:57 pm

Just a cautionary note, when looking at costs of slaughtering. The last Dexter steer I had killed, came back without liver, heart, kidney or tail, which had been kept by the abbatoir to sell on. After a serious 'debate' they accepted that they were in the wrong and offered to supply me with alternatives from other animals, which I declined accepting instead a much reduced cost of slaughtering to compensate for my loss of income.
Dexters are small enough without losing valuable 'Added Value' components of the package!

monica waltho · Post by **monica waltho** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 11:29 pm

Reguarding heart,liver,kidneys etc. if you tell your butcher at slaughtering that you want these back there shouldnt be a problem-you would have to go and collect them fairly soon after slaughter though as they wouldnt be able to keep them for until you collected your meat in three wks time.Depending on how far you have to take your animal it may not be economic to collect but it may be worth asking for a deduction in costs.

Law · Post by **Law** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:19 pm

I hang the meat myself, and they had 'gone' within a few days, when I collected the meat, even though I had requested when I dropped off the animal that they were returned. I just wanted others to be aware. John Law

moomin · Post by **moomin** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:30 am

I pay:-

Per animal
Kill and dress £65.00.
MLC levy £4.57 [including vat]
MHS inspection £2.85

Please be aware that there is no vat on killing, only on the MLC levy, Killing is part of the food chain and is zero rated. I think some butchers may be charging this and bumping the cost up!! Beware!!
I hang and have own butcher.
You must collect offal next day or it will go off. All offal is labelled for meat hygiene inspection and traceability so you should get your own back.

JacquiP · Post by **JacquiP** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 1:29 pm

I have been told that the abattior in Machynlleth charges £140 to kill, hang, butcher and pack a Dexter.

Rob R · Post by **Rob R** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:40 pm

We pay about £100 for killing & cutting- the cost to the abattoir involved in slaughter depends upon the weight of the waste they have to dispose of, so not getting a reduction on the larger cattle price will mean that the abattoir is profiting from your smaller cattle. Of course if you don't have much choice of abattoirs then it is up to them how much they charge, but we are lucky to have a good working relationship with our good, local butchers.