\u201cEven a lot of farmers commented that they\u2019d never seen the inside of an udder.\u201d<\/p>\n
That fascination speaks to something Barkla is seeing more and more of in his day-to-day work.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople really want to understand where their food comes from and be able to access it more directly,\u201d he said a Federated Farmers Podcast episode. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a big part of what\u2019s driving his next move, establishing a regulated micro abattoir that will open the door for more Kiwis to buy top-quality, locally processed meat.<\/p>\n
Homekill has long played an important role in rural New Zealand, but it comes with tight rules. <\/p>\n
Because the slaughter happens in an unregulated environment, the meat can only be returned to the animal\u2019s owner, farm staff or immediate family. <\/p>\n
It can\u2019t be sold, and it can\u2019t enter the commercial food chain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no official inspection process in homekill, so you can\u2019t go out and sell meat to the public,\u201d Barkla explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s for good reason too, because we need to protect food safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those restrictions are what Barkla wants to work around by stepping fully into a regulated system. <\/p>\n
His vision is a micro abattoir that operates on a small, local scale, but meets all the food safety and inspection requirements needed for meat to be legally sold.<\/p>\n
At the time of writing, Barkla, his slaughterman and his partner were nine weeks into a meat inspector course run by AsureQuality. <\/p>\n
They\u2019re learning the disease, defect and compliance requirements that underpin regulated processing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re actually already applying what we\u2019re learning on the course when we\u2019re out on the job,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the definition, a micro abattoir can process up to 20 animals a day, supplying only the domestic market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat scale is important,\u201d Barkla said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about massive numbers, but it\u2019s big enough to make a real difference in the regions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another driver behind the move was waste \u2013 something Barkla said had frustrated homekill operators for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, we can\u2019t utilise a lot of our byproducts at all, not even for pet food,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Because homekill meat is unregulated, the hearts, livers, kidneys, fat and bones must be buried on-farm or sent to rendering. <\/p>\n
Even hides, which once had value, are now frequently treated as waste.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sucks seeing it go to waste,\u201d Barkla said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a 300kg steer carcass, for example, a third of that is fat and bones as waste product. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of goodness there, and that\u2019s a huge part of why we want to set up a micro abattoir.\u201d <\/p>\n
With inspection and traceability in place, Barkla will be able to use the byproducts, dramatically reducing waste and opening up new income streams.<\/p>\n
For farmers, especially those in remote areas where small abattoirs have closed, Barkla believes the model could be a real win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be awesome for places like the East Coast,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d mean a lot less travel time compared to sending meat to the big plants.\u201d <\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a strong local angle, as micro abattoirs are designed to feed New Zealanders, not export markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a real feel-good factor,\u201d Barkla said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt means New Zealand\u2019s eating its best meat, rather than sending it overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be neat to be able to pick out some of our prime beef \u2013 imagine a beautiful line of nice fat Angus heifers \u2013 and make that available to the local community.\u201d <\/p>\n
While limited in scale, the model is big enough to support rural employment, too. <\/p>\n
Barkla estimates a fully operational micro abattoir could employ 15 to 20 people, creating skilled jobs in provincial communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s definitely a win for farmers and for towns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Barkla\u2019s social media videos may have captured overseas attention, but his next chapter is firmly grounded in the regions. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited about finding smarter, more sustainable ways to get quality Kiwi meat onto Kiwi plates.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpening a micro abattoir will open up so many avenues for us to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Supplied by Federated Farmers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cEven a lot of farmers commented that they\u2019d never seen the inside of an udder.\u201d That fascination speaks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[65775,162520,74026,19686,79504,3588,17898,100581,19338,4191,2944,12469,3822,1073,37265,130,5969,111,43,139,69,2171,8240,5348,1072,48077,131,61,121620,67850,4519,25361,1316],"class_list":{"0":"post-294285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-abattoir","9":"tag-barkla","10":"tag-butcher","11":"tag-clip","12":"tag-cows","13":"tag-cut","14":"tag-didnt","15":"tag-edgecumbe","16":"tag-expect","17":"tag-homekill","18":"tag-inside","19":"tag-interest","20":"tag-meat","21":"tag-media","22":"tag-micro","23":"tag-more","24":"tag-much","25":"tag-new-zealand","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-newzealand","28":"tag-nz","29":"tag-plans","30":"tag-posted","31":"tag-showing","32":"tag-social","33":"tag-specialist","34":"tag-than","35":"tag-to","36":"tag-toby","37":"tag-udder","38":"tag-usual","39":"tag-waste","40":"tag-when"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}