That’ll do pig.

[T00ts]

Many years ago I knew a woman who was married to a slaughter man (I don't know if they are called that now) in Norfolk. He was slightly crazy by all accounts and the marriage didn't last. She often thought that the job sent him a bit potty.

I can't imagine spending a life killing. It is one thing if it is as required in order to eat for those nearby, but wholesale slaughtering for others to stick on a shelf with a shelf life as a commercial enterprise feels wrong somehow. It must take a certain type of person so filling vacancies might be challenging.

[papasmurf]

No one is disputing there is a shortage of abattoir workers.

You give the impression that you are disputing that.

[Nick]

Well good for you, the majority of the population can't do that.
The shortage of abattoir workers is now causing a crisis, and that the fault of Brexit and Priti Patel refusing to put abattoir workers on the skill shortage list for foreign worker visas.
We can't all do this:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVqvGuhBHDM&t=129s

Read the OP cause you obviously don't understand it.
No one is disputing there is a shortage of abattoir workers.

[papasmurf]

I have kept pigs, my property is registered as a small holding and I have a slap mark. I took my pigs to an abattoir and got them back whole minus the head as I didn't want them looking at me. My mate butchered them and kept some meat as his fee so it is not about the butchery.
If the farmer got them to the abattoir and dispatched he could take them away whole if he had storage facilities, there is no law against that.

And yes, I've bought whole lambs many times. Used to be about £35, you're talk about £200 now.

Well good for you, the majority of the population can't do that.
The shortage of abattoir workers is now causing a crisis, and that the fault of Brexit and Priti Patel refusing to put abattoir workers on the skill shortage list for foreign worker visas.
We can't all do this:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVqvGuhBHDM&t=129s

[Nick]

Nick, it has everything to do with the butchering. I suggest you try and buy just a pigs carcass that has only been killed and nothing else and see how far you get.
In any case very few people have the facilities to do so.
I really do suggest before you comment on a subject that you at least do some research on it before commenting.

https://www.pigprogress.net/Finishers/Articles/2021/10/Fears-rise-for-UK-pig-sector-as-abattoir-backlog-grows-800552E/
Oct 4, 2021 last update:Oct 5, 2021
Lack of workers with butchery skills
Peter Hardwick, British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) trade policy adviser, said the number of EU workers leaving the UK was rising with a number of companies reporting shortages of up to 20%.

"EU workers are leaving or have already left. They now either will not or cannot come back, with butchery and related skills not on the shortage occupation list. When this is raised with government it is dismissed that we simply need to pay more. This overlooks the fact right across the sector that wages have risen sharply by as much as 20% and yet it still proves impossible to sustainably recruit local staff, who do not want to do this type of work."

I have kept pigs, my property is registered as a small holding and I have a slap mark. I took my pigs to an abattoir and got them back whole minus the head as I didn't want them looking at me. My mate butchered them and kept some meat as his fee so it is not about the butchery.
If the farmer got them to the abattoir and dispatched he could take them away whole if he had storage facilities, there is no law against that.

And yes, I've bought whole lambs many times. Used to be about £35, you're talk about £200 now.

[papasmurf]

All I can say on the matter is that it did not take my hippy dippy friends two years to learn how to slaughter and butcher a pig.

Basic certification for abattoirs is now 16-22 months
  (I did not make the regulations for the certification.)

https://www.butcherytraining.co.uk/qualifications/abattoir-apprenticeship-standard/

Abattoir Apprenticeship Standard
How long does it take?
16 to 22 months, however everyone learns at different speeds you can complete in 12 months 18 months is the average.

[Borchester]

Nick, it has everything to do with the butchering. I suggest you try and buy just a pigs carcass that has only been killed and nothing else and see how far you get.
In any case very few people have the facilities to do so.
I really do suggest before you comment on a subject that you at least do some research on it before commenting.

https://www.pigprogress.net/Finishers/Articles/2021/10/Fears-rise-for-UK-pig-sector-as-abattoir-backlog-grows-800552E/
Oct 4, 2021 last update:Oct 5, 2021
Lack of workers with butchery skills
Peter Hardwick, British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) trade policy adviser, said the number of EU workers leaving the UK was rising with a number of companies reporting shortages of up to 20%.

"EU workers are leaving or have already left. They now either will not or cannot come back, with butchery and related skills not on the shortage occupation list. When this is raised with government it is dismissed that we simply need to pay more. This overlooks the fact right across the sector that wages have risen sharply by as much as 20% and yet it still proves impossible to sustainably recruit local staff, who do not want to do this type of work."

Maybe I pressed the wrong button because my last post has disappeared.

All I can say on the matter is that it did not take my hippy dippy friends two years to learn how to slaughter and butcher a pig. As I recall the hard bit was cleaning off the bristles and making sure that the intestines were not punctured, else the meat would be ridden with poo.

[papasmurf]

It has nothing to do with the butchering,

Nick, it has everything to do with the butchering. I suggest you try and buy just a pigs carcass that has only been killed and nothing else and see how far you get.
In any case very few people have the facilities to do so.
I really do suggest before you comment on a subject that you at least do some research on it before commenting.

https://www.pigprogress.net/Finishers/Articles/2021/10/Fears-rise-for-UK-pig-sector-as-abattoir-backlog-grows-800552E/
Oct 4, 2021 last update:Oct 5, 2021
Lack of workers with butchery skills
Peter Hardwick, British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) trade policy adviser, said the number of EU workers leaving the UK was rising with a number of companies reporting shortages of up to 20%.

"EU workers are leaving or have already left. They now either will not or cannot come back, with butchery and related skills not on the shortage occupation list. When this is raised with government it is dismissed that we simply need to pay more. This overlooks the fact right across the sector that wages have risen sharply by as much as 20% and yet it still proves impossible to sustainably recruit local staff, who do not want to do this type of work."

[Nick]

Cor Blimey  it is how to carry out the butchering to an acceptable standard that takes two years training.
Abattoirs do not just kill animals, that is only a small part of the process. It is the cutting up of the carcasses that takes skill.
(I am starting to wonder about some of the people on this forum, I really am.)

It has nothing to do with the butchering, anyone can buy a whole pig and butcher it at home if they do wish. But to be approved for sale for human consumption it has to be dispatched at an approved facility.
So less of your ffs.

[papasmurf]

I have slaughtered a pig.

I did not like it, but I don't see how it takes two years to learn.

FFS it is how to carry out the butchering to an acceptable standard that takes two years training.
Abattoirs do not just kill animals, that is only a small part of the process. It is the cutting up of the carcasses that takes skill.
(I am starting to wonder about some of the people on this forum, I really am.)

[T00ts]

I looked up to see what the background to this is and there is loads as far back as 2015 telling the plight of small abattoirs. Changes in rules and working demands seems to have made life tough for small ones where they might slaughter only 1000 animals a year has made only the large ones viable. That means greater travel for the animals and less locally sourced food potentially.

[Borchester]

No Nick you are not hearing it right, it is 120000 pigs that will have to be killed on farms and disposed of, not ending up for sale into the food chain because of the shortage of abattoir workers to process the meat.
The shortage of those workers who take two years to train is due to Brexit and Priti Patel.
They are skilled jobs, not quite up high street butcher standards. 

I have slaughtered a pig.

I did not like it, but I don't see how it takes two years to learn.

[papasmurf]

Well sort of.


Because both the butcher's I buy my meat from, have a family member or two in the despatching business. They got fed up of being stiffed by supermarkets and now the only thing that stops them doing it all themselves is government red tape.

The closure of small butcher owned abattoirs some years ago due to it not being economically viable because of new regulations is also a factor in the current problem. It also increased the distance animal have to travel to abattoirs.

[johnofgwent]

No Nick you are not hearing it right, it is 120000 pigs that will have to be killed on farms and disposed of, not ending up for sale into the food chain because of the shortage of abattoir workers to process the meat.
The shortage of those workers who take two years to train is due to Brexit and Priti Patel.
They are skilled jobs, not quite up high street butcher standards.

Well sort of.

Both the proper butcher's (as opposed to supermarket shelves) I buy my meat from, have a family member or two in the despatching business.


One shop In town was opened about 25 years ago as a direct response to Sainsbury's trying to screw a local(ish, 10 miles away) beef and sheep farming family. 


The brothers and cousins who ran the several farms in question got together and decided enough was enough. They opened their own licenced abbatoir, and went about slaughtering and then selling their own meat through the shop in the town and it grew from there.


About twenty years ago the government started to bring in red tape to screw with abbatoirs and a lot closed down. The guys who ran the one for their family farm got together with other like minded people and merged their operations, but it is the shortage of capacity in that bottleneck that is now a pain


I suspect however much of this might be the media having fun at public expense twisting the real issue into something it isn't

[papasmurf]

Am I hearing this right?
We are having to slaughter millions of pigs because there are no abattoir staff available to slaughter the pigs. Eh?

No Nick you are not hearing it right, it is 120000 pigs that will have to be killed on farms and disposed of, not ending up for sale into the food chain because of the shortage of abattoir workers to process the meat.
The shortage of those workers who take two years to train is due to Brexit and Priti Patel.
They are skilled jobs, not quite up high street butcher standards.