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Gertie
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Posts: 1638
Location: Yorkshire
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Bugs
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744
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Gertie
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Posts: 1638
Location: Yorkshire
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Daydreaming
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 291
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judith
Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
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 Posted: Wed May 11, 05 6:20 pm Post subject: |
 
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Daydreaming - I know of at least one freerange poultry farm around here that sells direct to the public, but I have no idea what sort of quantities they produce. I would expect that it is necessary to have dedicated premises for slaughter / packing if the work is done on the farm. This means that you would have to be producing a good number of chickens for it to be financially viable.
So the answer is probably yes - you could sell chicken to a restaurant, but you would either have to send them to a poultry abbatoir or would have to invest in suitable premises to do the work yourself. In which case, you would probably need to be supplying several restaurants with regular quantities in order to make that sort of investment.
(Don't take this as gospel, I haven't checked the facts, but Defra does tend towards more regulation rather than less).
As for the breed, orpingtons are known as dual purpose birds, but they are not that large. Unless the restaurant specifically wanted that particular breed and was willing to pay a lot for them, it might be difficult to find a market (they would take up to 24 weeks to grow to full size, i.e. 3-4 times as long as the broiler hybrids, and the dressed weight would be about half, so you would have to charge anything up to 8 times as much to make the same amount of profit).
That is a pretty doom-laden scenario and I have probably exaggerated the figures. You also might be good at marketing yourself and your products, which I certainly would not be. But I think that the days of turning up at the back door of a restaurant with a few chooks for sale have probably gone. The fact that you could probably still turn up at that door with a few brace of pheasant or rabbits rather makes a mockery of the rules, but there you go.
Now that I have waffled on a bit, perhaps someone who really knows what they are talking about can supply chapter and verse  . |
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Daydreaming
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 291
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High Green Farm
Joined: 30 Nov 2004
Posts: 349
Location: Mid-Suffolk
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judith
Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
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alison
Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon
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Lloyd
Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699
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| Posted: Sat May 14, 05 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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I must say that despite my active shooting present and past, the more I read in this thread, as well as the current article by Nickhowe on pig rearing, the more I think I would have difficulty killing things I had raised at home. This is a troubling anomaly, as I have never had a problem shooting wild things, (or people I didn't know!), but to bring something up, care for it, feed it, vaccinate it when required, and then twist its neck and prep it for the table.....I think I would find it traumatic. Very puzzling that.  |
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hardworkinghippy
Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 1110
Location: Bourrou South West France
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wellington womble
Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands
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| Posted: Sun May 15, 05 9:55 am Post subject: |
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| Judith wrote: |
| As for cost, it works out at �6 - 7 per bird..... the last lot were between 6 and 8 lbs each. |
The (approx 5lb) organic chicken coming to room temp ready for my Sunday lunch set us back �14, plus delivery. That's why I asked about cost. I know that obviously someones time has been taken into account on mine, and it oven ready, but thats quite a big price difference.
I have no problem with paying that for a chicken - it will feed us for three meals and the dogs for at least two (if I had a less greedy OH and less lucky dogs it would probably easily go further!) but if we had the opportunity I'd like to give it a go. I've seen an organic chicken farm, and while I would say that they were well treated, they weren't as well treated as I would like.
I think the whether its right to eat meat issue is a bit academic for us a species, and a very personal decision for us as individuals. I'm happy with the morality, but only if the animals are well treated and dispatched. For this reason I now never buy meat from a supermarket (and the more selfish and less moral reason that it tastes pretty rubbish!) It means that we spend a comparatively large amount of money on meat (you can buy a battery chicken in a supermarket for, what, a fiver?) and it goes against my downsizer ideals to be tied to a 9 - 5 job to pay for it. It's nice to know there are other options. We do eat less meat now, and I make more of it, but I live with a man who loves his meat, and now it tastes better, he wants to eat more of it!
I'm happy to pay more for better meat, but I don't intend to work forever, so I need to either get rich (HA!) or work around the money issue a bit! |
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cede
Joined: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 62
Location: surrey
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Daydreaming
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
Posts: 291
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| Posted: Tue May 17, 05 9:40 am Post subject: |
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| Madman wrote: |
| I must say that despite my active shooting present and past, the more I read in this thread, as well as the current article by Nickhowe on pig rearing, the more I think I would have difficulty killing things I had raised at home. This is a troubling anomaly, as I have never had a problem shooting wild things, (or people I didn't know!), but to bring something up, care for it, feed it, vaccinate it when required, and then twist its neck and prep it for the table.....I think I would find it traumatic. Very puzzling that. |
That's my problem too but I tell myself I have to come to terms with it or carry on being a hypocrite... or become a vegetarian!! |
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judith
Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
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