A Busy and Rewarding Month

It’s been a very busy month!

With even more follow up rain and the warmer weather arriving, things are looking good on our farm. Some cold windy days kept the fire alight in the house, but the worst is now gone and we can feel summer on its way. September is always busy at home; the ewes are lambing and we have plenty of pigs about, enjoying the bounties of the good season. The cows have wintered in ‘reasonable nick’ this year and have calved already. The warmer weather brings life everywhere on the farm, and more work too!

Between Jack at Gunnedah, and my Dad, Pete, we have a good supply of pigs this year, and the growing demand for a True Free Range Pork product is seeing our Pasture Fed Pork and smallgoods receiving more enquires than ever. Recent changes to labelling laws which enforce a stricter use of terminology such as ‘Free Range’, as well as the ACCC taking action in this area has encouraged growers to continue their efforts in providing a True Free Range product. It’s gratifying to be able to label our products as Free Range, without worrying about it being compared to a ‘Not as Free Range as You Might Think’ product…

This month also saw us receive some more product acknowledgements at the 2015 RAS Fine Food Awards for our Pasture Fed Smallgoods, with a Silver and Bronze medal awarded for our Ham and Bacon, respectively. These medals are a great follow up from our 2014 Medals, and it’s really satisfying to know the products produced from our small team can be amongst the best in the business.

Which brings me to Hams…. and Christmas is coming… sooner than you think…. so get involved in ordering your Ham early!

This year I can bring you an early Christmas present. Because of greater efficiencies at our boning room (we bought a bigger smokehouse and some better equipment), we can offer a better price on our Pasture Fed Hams this year. In anticipation of a busy festive season, and on the back of some great awards for our quality product, we are happy to announce that we can reduce the cost of our hams this year to $19.99kg – a $5.00kg saving from last three years prices. With meat prices on the rise for the past year (yesterday I paid the most I ever have to get some 1st quality Grass Fed steers), we are glad that we can offer some reprieve for Christmas as our pig prices are steady, feed prices have settled, and we have plenty of grass on the ground. The efficiencies in our boning room still give you that honest, handmade article, but save us in work and time.

As the old saying goes ‘Early Bird Catches Worm’… Please don’t be ‘December Ham Shopper Misses Out and Buys Ordinary, Unethical Ham from Big Nasty Shopping House’!

free range pork, Newsletter - September 2015, pasture fed pork


Ben Clinch

Ben Clinch has a strong background in agriculture and has experience in operations and project management. Before starting The Free Range Butcher he worked as jackaroo, camel handler, barman, security guard, handyman, and tiler. These days he manages the day to day running of The Free Range Butcher business, and you can usually find him out the front of the farmers market stall; often telling bad jokes, or offering samples to vegetarians. He’s also the go to guy for sales, corporate enquiries, events, and silly questions.

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