Farm shops were a familiar sight in recent years when the economy was strong. Many have since closed as they struggled to compete with larger, multiple retailers. For a farm shop to be successful, the business has to offer something different.

After a number of years considering the idea, Richard and Deirdre Henry opened their own farm shop two weeks before Christmas outside Ballykelly, Co Derry. Named The Meat Locker, the centre piece of the business was the on-farm butchery that would process their own beef and lamb.

Beef is only produced from heifers on farm. Cattle are slaughtered through a local abattoir but returned to The Meat Locker’s own cold storage facility for chilling. All meat is dry aged to enhance flavour with prime steak cuts matured for a minimum of 28 days before being boned out.

While most farmers try to adhere to the highest welfare standards to produce quality cattle, it is the management after slaughter that has the greatest influence on the eating quality of the meat.

The business will market the first of its new season lamb this year in time for Easter. Richard selects other locally-produced products to market through the business.

Farm details

Richard operates a spring-calving herd of 50 cows on 85 acres of ground close to Lough Foyle. Calving runs from late January to early April. Cows are mainly Limousin cross and pure-bred Salers and served with a Charolais stock bull.

Traditionally, all calves were sold as weanlings in the autumn at local livestock marts, with bulls averaging 350kg liveweight and heifers averaging 300kg. The farm has low running costs but profit margins from cattle were still not viable without the Single Farm Payment.

From last year onwards, heifers have been retained for finishing on farm while the bulls continue to be sold as weanlings. The weanling heifers were wintered on ad-lib silage, 1kg/day of meal, and molasses. They are going back to grass at 360kg to 380kg and the strongest animals will be slaughtered off grass in the autumn.

The farm and the farm shop are being treated as separate businesses. Heifers that will be sold through the farm shop are priced on grade and fat class similar to the normal beef classification grid and price quotes of that week.

After a number of poor eating experiences, Richard saw the opportunity to produce a beef product that was high in flavour. He had been interested in the concept of developing a farm shop for a number of years and eventually decided to take the plunge.

The farm shop was set up by converting a stable into a cold storage room, preparation room and the shop itself. The set-up costs were £60,000 and came from private funding as no diversification grant was available. The shop employs two butchers on a part-time basis, as well as Richard and Deirdre. Return custom to the shop is growing.

Heifers

Richard does not want bulls or steers for the butchery. Instead, he wants an R4 heifer weighing 300kg to 330kg carcase weight. To keep continuity of supply throughout the year, Richard is sourcing heifers either directly from known farms or through the mart.

Heifers are purchased at approximately 550kg liveweight for further feeding. The heifers are then finished on a 40% maize ration and haylage until they reach the required fat cover.

A fat class 4 is desirable as the higher fat cover provides flavour, marbling and also protects the meat when it is hanging in the chill.

Although the farm butchery is in its infancy, Richard is killing around five heifers monthly for use in the farm shop and to supply other retail businesses.

Richard has no plans to move away from using his Charolais stock bull as he is getting a good price and weight on his bull weanlings when sold live. The heifers still mature and slaughter at the desired carcase spec by 20 to 22 months if properly fed.

In future, he may reconsider a more traditional beef breed but as he can currently source these types of heifers from other farms for finishing, there is no need to change his suckler herd breeding policy.

Meat yield

The dry ageing process is where the quality of the meat is brought through. Heifer carcases are returned the day after slaughter. Some of the forequarter meat for processing is removed from the chill after 21 days.

The fillet is also removed after 21 days as Richard has found that hanging these cuts any longer does little to enhance flavour. The remainder of the carcase is hung until 38 days.

Many farms will have slaughtered one of the their own animals for home freezing. The volume of meat that is produced by a U grade 300kg heifer is substantial.

From just one side of the animal, the entire sirloin weighed 11.5kg. When boned, it weighed 8.7kg which is the equivalent of producing 21 14oz steaks. The fillet on the same 300kg carcase weighed 3.5kg per side, or the equivalent of 12 10oz steaks. The rib eye from one side of the carcase weighed 11.3kg.

The fore quarter is mainly used for frying and braising steaks as well as mince. The forequarter weighed 66kg and meat yield is heavily influenced by the animal’s weight and fat cover.

Future plans

Consolidating the business is the short-term plan for The Meat Locker. While the shop is located around 1.5 miles from Ballykelly village, there are no plans to move the location to a more populated area. Richard’s view is that a farm shop should be that, located on a farm. He is in a position to show any customer the entire production process under one roof from birth to finish.