Kaipara\u2019s Danbri Farm to produce a new premium meat brand<\/a>.<\/p>\nTaylor was also one of a handful farmers licensed to harvest and sell his own meat directly to the public.<\/p>\n
![\"Kevin]()
Kevin Bell says he wants answers on how a “commercial slaughterhouse” could be set up on his boundary fence. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
He said he was hiring the mobile truck to kill about three to four of his own animals each fortnight for sale at his Dairy Flat shop, The Local Farmer Butchery.<\/p>\n
The concept had great support from customers, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s getting right behind it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re buying local \u2013 they\u2019re buying animals that are farmed just up the road from where they live, which people seem to like.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was also opening new opportunities for farmers by \u201ccutting the big boys out \u2026 the supermarkets have held us all over a barrel for so long\u201d.<\/p>\n
Supporters of the model also say avoiding trucking animals to big abattoirs reduced stress and improved their meat.<\/p>\n
The whole thing is quite disturbing: Bell<\/p>\n
However, Bell believed the stress was being transferred on to his family and his own sheep and cattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing is quite disturbing to be honest \u2013 my wife doesn\u2019t enjoy seeing it happening and neither do I.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy stock walking up and down my land watching their brethren being killed on the other side of the fence isn\u2019t cheering anybody up either.\u201d<\/p>\n
The operation occurs about 150m-200m from Bell\u2019s window but close to his property\u2019s boundary.<\/p>\n
Races are used to move animals into position to be killed behind screens, with the meat kept inside the covered truck.<\/p>\n
Bell claimed he could hear the \u201crifle shot\u201d used to kill animals as well as the noise of generators.<\/p>\n
He said he had also seen offal and other waste being put into rubbish bins and worried blood could be draining into waterways.<\/p>\n
Wait and Taylor said they had licences to operate and that each kill was dictated by a registered risk management programme that included having a veterinarian or meat inspectors present.<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The mobile abattoir also visits Danbri Farm in the Kaipara, where a family-run regenerative property uses it to create a premium Angus beef brand. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
Given the model was a new one, Wait and Taylor said they were keen to work with neighbours like Bell to make improvements. <\/p>\n
Taylor said he\u2019d \u201cbent over backwards\u201d to help Bell in the past, including helping slaughter some of Bell\u2019s own animals and helping him do things such as drench his stock.<\/p>\n
He also offered to build the embankment so the operation would be shielded from sight.<\/p>\n
He claimed Bell told him he\u2019d consider the offer before Bell texted back to say he\u2019d see Taylor in court.<\/p>\n
\u2018Looking into the matter\u2019: MPI and Auckland Council <\/p>\n
NZ Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said his team had received a complaint about whether the operation was \u201cmeeting the necessary rules around slaughter\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have spoken with the complainant and are looking at the information provided and requesting further details,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
All food producers must be registered and meet food safety requirements to ensure what they produce is fit for humans to consume.<\/p>\n
MPI rules stated mobile abattoirs did not necessarily need resource consents from local councils to operate but that could depend on how the operations affected the environment.<\/p>\n
![\"A]()
A photo taken by Kevin Bell of the mobile abattoir in operation on the neighbouring property on Blackbridge Rd, Dairy Flat. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Auckland Council compliance manager Adrian Wilson said resource consents had not been sought to operate a micro-abattoir at the Blackbridge Rd property.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn issue has been raised with the council relating to the slaughter of animals and the [potential] fluid run-off into a stormwater drain and nearby stream,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis matter is under investigation by the council\u2019s compliance team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor and Wait said they were working with MPI and council closely to answer all questions about the operation.<\/p>\n
They believed the mobile abattoir was a promising business model for small farmers.<\/p>\n
But Bell, meanwhile, said he\u2019d keep fighting to stop \u201cthis carnage in front of my home\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNow I get to watch 300-plus animals killed 6m outside my boundary each year.\u201d Neighbour David Taylor said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65775,51,11164,3595,65779,8414,30548,65777,6259,42,16397,296,4188,20832,342,117,43,1536,1118,90,17177,42900,5425,3175,28464,18916,65778,1361,40,38,41,39,19054,65776,52398,1530],"class_list":["post-86733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-abattoir","tag-auckland","tag-began","tag-by","tag-carnage","tag-couple","tag-distress","tag-distressed","tag-door","tag-headlines","tag-homeowner","tag-into","tag-living","tag-makeshift","tag-mobile","tag-new","tag-news","tag-next","tag-of","tag-on","tag-operating","tag-peaceful","tag-regular","tag-rural","tag-scenes","tag-sight","tag-slaughterhouse","tag-that","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-turned","tag-upsets","tag-wheels","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86733","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=86733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}