Rarin’ to go at new lamb and deer plant

Press, 11 February 1983, Page 23

Rarin’ to go at new lamb and deer plant

Satisfied with the first few weeks of operation ,at its Ashburton deer slaughtering and meat packing house, Canterbury Venison, Ltd, is looking for expansion opportunities. Maximum utilisation of an expensive automatic rotary cryovac machine in the lamb cutting plant is high on the priority list for Canterbury Venison and its associated

company. Canterbury Meat Packers. Ltd. The managing director of Canterbury Venison, Mr Graeme Thompson, explained this week that he had put “buy back" proposals to the Meat Board which would, if accepted, result in greatly increased activity in the Ashburton plant. Under the present lamb acquisition scheme, exporters who want to service an overseas market with further processed lamb cuts can “buy back” lamb carcases from the board for cutting and exporting. “We are experiencing a certain level of frustration in coming to terms with the Meat Board policies. Opportunities for exporting further processed meats are being stifled," said Mr Thompson. The. large automatic cryovac (or vacuum packaging) machine gives Canterbury Venison the potential to process lamb to consumer-ready packs — portions of controlled size suitable for going straight into supermarket freezers overseas. At present the lamb cutting facility at Ashburton is being used to split frozen lamb carcases into legs, shoulders and loins for the Meat Board. “That is about the most basic job this facility is capable of.” said Mr Thompson. Although the staff are busy now the machinery is capable of much more. There is no mistaking Mr Thompson’s keenness to see more “value-added” work go through the lamb side of the $2.5 million complex. It is perhaps more surprising that he should be moving that way less than three months after opening the plant and staffing it with workers who had not been in the meat industry before. The desire for expansion is its own testimony to the largely trouble-free shakedown period for the new plant. The staff of 32, recruited in Ashburton, surpassed all the production targets set during training and have formed themselves into an effective workforce. Overtime is about to begin and the plant manager, Mr Barry Ford, is confident of the ability of his team to meet any production challenge. Mr Ford was production supervisor for Alliance Freezing Co., Southland and his foreman, Mr Ray Church, had experience in meat processing. Most of the staff are employed in the lamb cutting , room during the normal working day but eight or nine are transferred to the deer slaughtering premises (D.S.P.) when stock are available to be killed. The lamb operation gives the company the flexibility to offer all-year employment to all staff. The first D.S.P. north of the Waitaki River and east of the Alps has been drawing stock from as far afield as Southland and Nelson. There are two other D.S.P.s in the South Island — at Hokitika and Mossburn. The North Island has five plants to kill farmed deer and the total New Zealand kill is about 10,000 head a year for around 1000 tonnes carcaseweight. Canterbury Venison has put through up to 200 stags a week in three daily kills of around 70 and it could handle around 100 a day five days a week. The stag killing season comes in two periods; from December to March and June to August. In between the stags are hard to control because of the roaring or mating season. At present deer are killed one day and the carcases cut up the next day by the same staff. The plant is seeking deer for slaughter from anywhere it can get them and with deer-fenced holding paddocks

on the grounds, the flow of stock to the works can be varied to suit. The progress of stock through the plant starts in the steel holding pens, where 2.5 metre-high solid walls confine the excitable and fleet-footed deer. Triangular pens radiate from a central pen from which the killing race leads up to the stunning box. The pens are built with weldmesh floors for easy effluent disposal and overhead catwalks for the movement of staff. They are also covered, which goes some way to quietening down the deer. As confined as they are. the stags still manage to work themselves into awkward positions as they progress to the killing floor and they continue to kick after stunning, which makes sticking and bleeding a difficult job. The carcases are also electrically stimulated at this point. The one slaughterman has control of the carcases until they reach a three-man legging and hide-pulling section. Hides are pulled off downwards from the rear end with a drum and winch. After brisket splitting and evisceration the heads are removed and the meat inspector goes over the whole carcase. The tongues, hearts, livers and kidneys are being packed for export markets and the hides go to a tannery. After thorough washing the carcases go into chillers to await cutting. Mr Thompson and Mr Ford pointed out the extensive fat trimming, particularly over the hindquarters, which has to be done on quite a proportion of the stags killed. This predisposition to fat is preparation for the roaring season and because it is a secondary sexual characteristic would be difficult to avoid by breeding selection. When the carcase is cold the substantial fat cover on the ribs can also be peeled off but even a very fat carcase can be quite adequately trimmed up, unlike fat sheep or cattle which remain inferior products. The carcase is not split down the backbone because loins are exported as “saddles,” which command the top international price and for which demand is always strong. • The venison plant can bone out the hindquarters to export orders but some of the legs go overseas as “haunches," which after

roasting would need two football teams to do them justice. Much of the brisket and flap and some of the forequarter meat goes into mince and smallgoods for the local trade. Canterbury Venison will next week launch a domestic promotion of the cheaper venison cuts such as diced meat for casseroles, mince and venison sausages. Mr Thompson maintains that half a kilogram of venison will do tiie job of one kilogram of beef because the venison is more dense and very lean. He believes that New Zealanders will probably go for the cheaper cuts of venison, which will De equivalent in price to beef, leaving the leg and saddle cuts for the higher-priced export markets. New Zealanders have always had an interest in venison, although they .were more likely to have acquired it “over the back fence" from someone who shot wild deer. Farm-raised venison is not as “gamey” and there would seem to be no reason why it should not confirm itself in the domestic meat market. For venison export markets Mr Thompson believes New Zealand should be looking beyond the traditional West German market. It was important to maintain the status of the meat. /If we can’t make a good job of marketing these small quantities of venison then we shouldn’t be in the business,” he said. Canterbury Venison's main markets will be in North America, Japan. Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The higher-priced cuts will be available in New Zealand as well and Mr Thompson is keen to see local restaurants feature more venison. Like the lamb cutting venture, the aim of the deer plant is' to process venison as much as possible, even to portion-control packs for supermarket freezers overseas. Mr Thompson said NewZealand venison exports were running into competition in Europe and the United States from Scottish products. European markets would accept field-shot, semi-farmed deer meat from Scotland while the New Zealand production had to be fully farmed and slaughtered in a registered plant. Therefore the key to New Zealand's whole marketing strategy must be top quality farm-raised venison.