I am writing for your recommendation on where I can buy meat directly from the farmer/ butcher. eg; Whole Lamb, Half cow etc. I am based in Sydney,
I see in the news farmers are getting ripped off by the supermarkets.
Your thoughts?
Buying Meat Directly from Farmers
Comments
I live in a farming district
Explains so much, thanks for clarifying..
Glad it makes more sense. Cheers.
The Asian food place in the local suburban shopping centre sells whole carcasses. Minus head, skin and guts of course. I've seen the guy who works in the shop bring them in from his carpeted unrefrigerated SUV. Since they are also minus their tail I don't know whether they are sheep or goats.
Why so formal…;-)
Read the first three word of the original post.
Oh… Thanks for that…
As funny as ever, Muzeeb š
Or buy from you local butcher.
So much easierOP has an issue with supermarkets
I've been buying farm killed direct from various famers in the Hunter Valley for almost 20 years.
You're correct in that its very rare, but I do cook it as I prefer medium rare.
Yes nowhere near as common as veges but there are 3 within 30 kilometers of me in Wellington
Shire Gippsland, Victoria. One specialising in pork products and they sell a few other products on behalf of other producers. Another started off with just eggs now sell a bit of everything some basic beef products as well as a kabana range. The other ive never been to.Problem is even though frieght etc and middleman costs are cut out they are usually more expensive at farm gate i usually only buy from them for something different or a particular line.
Do you by any chance own an axe?
I mean, if the farmer doesn't own one, how are you going to process the whole lamb or half cow (and what is the farmer going to do with the other half)?
i have a butter knife
start cutting now, be ready by christmas, 2032
Most people are clueless about this (see the first post here), but can find them via Google …
For example, all these guys are local farmers that have farms in NSW and deliver to Sydney:
https://maehillfarm.com.au/
https://halfacow.farm/
https://provenir.com.au/paddock-to-plate/
https://www.farmtofreezer.com.au/
https://www.ourcow.com.au/
http://1888certified.com.au/our-story/paddock-to-plate/
https://www.ethicalfarmers.com.au/
https://www.paddocktoplatecateringco.com/
https://www.bannockbrae.com.au/
https://www.fieldtofork.net.au/
https://www.paddocktoplates.com.au/
https://theconsciousfarmer.com.au/
https://countrymeatsdirect.com.au/And there will be hundreds of others that do similar in your area: https://www.google.com/search?q=Sydney+farmer+to+plate+bulk+ā¦
When in Australia (NT/SA/QLD) I have used (and can personally vouch for, but don't know if they have any ability to deliver to NSW):
https://pariscreekbeef.com.au/
https://paddockboxes.com.au/
https://www.evavalleymeats.com.au/Whats is google ?
faster to post on ozbargain
Why learn to fish when you get buy from the fish shop?
teach a man to fish for a life and he'll day to ate
Whats is google ?
The term google itself is a creative spelling of googol, a number equal to 10 to the 100th power.
Googol was coined in the 1930s and is attributed to the nine-year-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner.
It's like Bing, but better
To save me clicking on every link, which ones actually provide half a cow or whole lamb directly from the farmer as per the OPs request?
To me the OP wants to save money by purchasing bulk but maximising their dollar to the farm gate.
I'm guessing the links are just to overpriced meat supply businesses that just run a model of playing on city folks emotions and optics of caring for the environment. What a load of hogwash.
The three I verified down the bottom certainly do (have been using all 3 for over 5 years for whole beef, lamb, pig), but I have no interest in product delivered to Sydney, so I haven't verified each link and product personally :P
But that help is far from "I know everything, no farmers do it, call them individually!" type replies!
Much easier to get on your high horse and proclaim "hogwash" instead of admitting you are clueless !!
I am clueless
or just one step back again…
Farmers offloading sheep for free as drought looms
https://www.theage.com.au/national/farmers-offloading-sheep-ā¦I looked into this a few times and it never worked out to be cheaper buying direct from the farmer. You're meant to be cutting out a few middlemen in the process but the price is on par with the local butchers/supermarkets. Didn't really understand that.
Economies of scale. Simple.
Yep. Unless you have a direct relationship with a farmer, it usually works out more expensive. As an example from the list above (I won't specify which website), there's an assortment of beef and chicken for $282. My local shop sells all those things combined for just over 30% cheaper.
it's like buying wine at a cellar door - it's usually the same price as in store. because they(the winery) can charge that because the customer has driven to the cellar and if they want the wine then will pay the RRP, plus the customer get the whole "I bought this at the winery" -snob /genuine factor.
my father was a big believer in driving his mercedes benz to a fancy winery to buy his wine at the same price as uncle dans so he could say he drove his benz to the winery and bought it straight from the cellar.
plus the winery can make a neat profit from it - various online sources give a rough figure that the cost of making a bottle of wine is about 20% of the RRP.
on a side note - here is a good discussion paper on the costs of producing wine
Depending on the āsnootinessā of the winery, you can often end up paying more than Danās prices at the cellar door.
Think of the cost of all those arrogant salespeople, the chefs, orchestras, unnecessary artwork, building costs etc.
At least in the bottle shop you donāt get the BS, just a cardboard box containing bottles.Or like picking your own strawberries š¤¦š¼āāļø
What is the price of grass fed/grass finished ribeye at Coles per Kg? Last I checked their "graze" brand was over $40/kg:
https://www.coles.com.au/browse/meat-seafood/beef-veal/grazeā¦
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/175593/macā¦All the links I provided in the initial post, for whole animals, are under $20/kg butchered & delivered - half the price of the ColesWorth stuff :/
any idea how much wastage there is though? paris creek for instance states pricing before carving it up
btw, thanks for the link. will order once we have freezer spaceIf you order the offal and bones there is zero waste ;)
Hides are sold for leather, all the off-cuts are ground to mince and sausage within your order :P
Lol. You got the full stop on a separate line. I've been waiting years for this opportunity.
Sydney meat market 1 madeleine Strathfield south
This is exactly why new accounts shouldn't be able to start threads.
They've been members for 6 years.
I'd hope that this is just a troll account. Rather than an indication of how stupid the internet is making us.
OP lives in Sydney and is looking to buy a half cow. Do you know how absurdly huge a cow is? I hope you have an extra chest freezer (or two) for 250-300kg of meat. And unless you have a band saw, good luck cutting it up into human-sized portions. After labour, equpiment, storage, etc., you're at best breaking even compared to Colesworth. Do yourself a favour and get a Costco membership.
It comes butchered into steaks / mince / roasts and half cow butchers down to ~ 100kg of meat, which easily fits into a 300L chest freezer …
It's at least half the cost of the grass fed and grass finished at ColesWorth, been ordering for years :P
Butchering eats into the cost advantage considerably. I checked one you linked, it's $23.5/kg. Of course, it seems to be a mix of cuts, but averages out to about what you'd pay for a standard cut in the Colesworth beef section.Aldi, and especially Costco, will be even cheaper. Any marginal price advantage to buying a half cow will then need to be weighed up against the electricity cost of a chest freezer for however long it takes you to consume 100kg+ of beef.
LOL that's a Darwin tax, but of cause you pick the highest priced to suit your argument …
You then compare Coles/Aldi's GRAIN FINISHED product to a price for grass fed and grass finished whole / half cow …
Here are the supermarket prices for similar product:
https://www.coles.com.au/browse/meat-seafood/beef-veal/grazeā¦
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/175593/macā¦
(Coles MINIMUM is $20/kg for mince)The health differences between grain fed and grass fed are immense, but you go ahead and cherry pick those prices to suit your argument!!
Paris Creek, $15.50/kg for grass fed and grass finished … completely screws your comparison, so we know why you didn't use that example link :P
@7ekn00: Suit my argument? They're links YOU provided. You accuse me of cherry-picking, yet the supermarket product you're specifically comparing to, is scotch fillet. Exactly what proportion of a 100kg half carcass does that make up? At the very least, that 'half price' claim is looking mighty optimistic.
The health differences between grain fed and grass fed are immense, but you go ahead and cherry pick those prices to suit your argument!!
Now you're arguing against a point no one made. Who mentioned anything about grass vs grain feed? Stop shifting goalposts. Speaking of, what's the shipping cost from these places to where the OP is based? How much is a chest freezer, and how much will it cost to run that for a year?
@SydStrand: Indeed, just ignore the $15.50 per Kg of Paris Creek … sore point you can't argue against huh?
Lots of words, none address the more likely price (SA will be much closer to NSW than NT will) ;)
comparing to, is scotch fillet
LOL way to miss the Coles link with all the products! Talk about Cherry picking links! But it looks like you are an armchair expert at cherry picking, deflection and hiding posts via negs :/
Lets see you compare Paris Creek @ $15.50 / Kg with the whole Coles "Graze" products for parity … oh that's right, you wont … will just add more words, hide my posts with negs because there is no argument and your posts have zero actual details!!
I got a sabre saw and a can do attitude!
go to any halal butcher in south west sydney and chat with the owner, they will happily sell you a full carcass and if you ask nicely and pay a bit extra they will be happy to give you all the cuts from the animal inclusive at a set price per kg.
eg. whole intact carcass $10 a kilo for the whole weight of the animal or $12 for each part cut up into separate parts (bones, steaks, back strap)
PRICES are NOT accurate and just used as an example
also if your buying in bulk and make friends with the butcher then will offer you a good price
I've heard of people buying a big freezer and getting a whole cow. I'm sure they do it through a butcher though…
Unless your handy with a knife and able to humanely slaughter and prepare it yourself OR have a farmer friend it will not be any cheaper to purchase directly.
Best bet is try to find a friend of a friend and get a connection for cheap bulk meat.
I get cheap lamb through a friend with a property that neighbours a farmer and they have a good relationship, so just get my friend to hit the farmer up for me.Ask the vegans. They were probably protesting there last weekend.
I live in regional Victoria and sadly the couple direct from farm outlets near me are rarely cheaper than the local butcher or supermarket.
I've always found that to be interesting. I was at the markets this morning and the fruit and veggie prices were more than that of the supermarkets.
Farmers complain that supermarkets buy off them cheap and sell at extra high prices, yet, they do themselves no favours by selling direct to the public at prices higher than what the supermarkets are charging.
Many many years ago we had friends whose relations owned cattle. This is in rural north Queensland (woop woop). We combined to buy a cow off them which was then processed by the very small town butcher. The thing is with a whole cow you only get a certain amount of the prime stuff like steak and have heaps of cuts that you have to think about with cooking. We gave the other couple the bits like the bones etc for their dogs as we didn't have animals. What we were left with was a freezer full of meat cuts that we probably wouldn't of bought. The butcher did process some in things like sausages and mince but it is hard and very overwhelming when asked how you want the meat processed for you. We did save a bit on paper I suppose but we have never done it again. I much prefer my meat fresh from my local butcher down the road where I can buy the cuts I want when I want and not meat that has been frozen for 6 months.
Iāve bought from halfacow.farm and itās been great.
Hello loadofrubbish,
I am writing in reply to your correspondence dated January 13, 2024.
It would be rare for a beef cattle or sheep farmer to sell meat directly to the public.
I live in a farming district and never seen such a thing.
I suggest you call some mobile butchers (check the yellow pages) and see if they can help you out.
Kind regards
Muzeeb