Due to recent concerns in the press about the provenance and welfare of how meat is slaughtered and as a farm that prides itself on traceability and creating food you can trust, we wanted to detail the story behind our slaughter methods.
We wish to reassure customers that all our poultry and animals are pre-stunned before slaughter. After spending months rearing stock to the highest welfare standards it is important that the end is as stress free as possible.
Our pigs and lambs go to a small abattoir just 3 miles away with the pigs having several practice trips in the trailer when they are moved around the fields so that they are not stressed on their final journey. They are always fed when they go in the trailer which means loading is not a problem. They are loaded the night before and sleep on plenty of straw. Before leaving, the pigs are often still asleep when Jo gets to the abattoir with them. To avoid stress and fighting, our pigs are kept separate from others and are slaughtered quickly and humanely.
We make sure that neither lambs nor pigs ever go alone with a minimum of two animals going together with every attempt to minimise stress to the animal.
Our cattle are slaughtered at our nearest organic abattoir in Northallerton. Although it is around 45 miles it is only an hour’s travel – a fraction of the average food miles travelled by meat stocked in the UK’s supermarkets.
Again, the animals are not mixed with other stock and are slaughtered the same day.
All poultry are slaughtered on our farm, they are free range until the day of slaughter and travel food metres not miles to our abattoir, they are slaughtered by Jo who has a slaughter licence, which was gained after months of work experience on another poultry farm before being observed by a vet who grants the licence.
After our animals have been humanely and expertly slaughtered, we then butcher the whole carcass from nose to tail allowing full traceability of every cut, giving you the customer the opportunity to know where your food has come from and try traditional cuts that you won’t find elsewhere.
Want to experience the story behind your food? Our next Meat Up is on Saturday 31st of May
book your place here >.
For food you can trust sign up for one of our monthly meatboxes – every box includes visits to the farm so that when your box is delivered you know exactly what your family is eating.
