At the cutting edge

Home kills are becoming more popular - the meat can work out to half the price of a supermarket purchase.

Suddenly home kills are in vogue - not that they've ever been unfashionable in rural regions of New Zealand - but city dwellers have recently discovered such things actually exist and have adopted the concept as a new and trendy metropolitan idea.

It's now quite the done thing in office towers of Auckland for staff to form a consortium of colleagues to buy a beast for future meat supply, a bit like the veggie runs that used to happen before farmers' markets were born. Or, it may be a sign of the economic times and given Auckland prices it's no surprise that cost-saving is back on the agenda. Home kills can, on average, work out at around half the price of an equivalent purchase from the supermarket shelf.

That's not to say it's boom time for home kill suppliers. It's an expensive exercise adhering to bureaucracy as Waipapa butcher, Pete Chaney, discovered a dozen years ago when the rules and regulations surrounding home kills were tightened up considerably. Before the law change in 2000 practically anyone could home kill.

"I had to do a risk management programme and was one of the first in New Zealand to do it through MAF. They are really strict and it costs a lot of money to get the license which I have to update every year."

Many a butcher shop stopped doing home kills after 2000 when faced with having to instal separate fridges, slicers, a separate chiller for retail and home kills. Even corned meat can't be placed in the same containers and everything has to be washed separately. It's also fairly time-consuming. Pete Chaney averages two home kills a week and is fussy about the killing process, probably because before moving north he worked at Harrods in London and in the swankier parts of Sydney and Auckland and where the customers demand a certain standard.

"I have a guy who does all the killing for me and is a very good shot. If you upset an animal in the paddock it disturbs its bleeding and a lot of people use electric shock treatment because it helps pump the blood out of the system and helps tenderize the meat. Depending on the quality of the animal and how much fat is on it, I'll age it for as long as the customer wants."

Not all home kills are from large farms. He will also process lambs, pigs, fish, duck, wild pork and other meats like venison and lifestyle block owners are increasingly fattening up one or two animals specifically for eating purposes.

"You can go to the sale yards to buy an animal. Young male calves aren't much good so they'll be taken home, have their balls cut out to become steers and in a couple of years' time you have this big boy ready to eat!"

There's a degree of risk attached to eating all meat - and as recent events showed even certified meat or small goods can harbour listeria or other nasties. However Pete Chaney says there's a greater risk in not thawing meat properly and, in fact, not cooking it correctly.

"The days of our grandmothers cooking in stoves are gone because there are too many fast foods. Many people are ignorant about the basic things and don't cook the meat right through and if it's not cooked you'll certainly get sick!"

This might even present an enterprising business opportunity for the Far North - not just offering home kills but weekend workshops on bucolic basics for the desk-bound of Auckland.