2022 Booking Calendar
Poultry slaughter days in 2022 will be Tuesdays with pick-up on Wednesdays.
Red Meat slaughter days in 2022 will be Thursday with pick-up on the following Friday.
Please note that we need a minimum number of animals (~150 Birds / ~15 Lambs) to open a day so please be aware that at less busy times of the year we might have to move a booking back or forward a week.
May & June Poultry Bookings
If you have already ordered chicks for early in the season, please send us your preferred processing dates now. We have space on May 17 and could open a week earlier if there is enough demand. If you were hoping for the end of May or early June, we are already full. It may be possible to add a day if we can find the staff but there is no guarantee. Please remember to book well in advance – as soon as you order your chicks.
March & April Red Meat Bookings
Some of you have already requested bookings for early in the season. At this point it’s unlikely there will be red meat slaughter days before May, due to the progress of the expansion project, but we will let you know if anything changes.
Turkeys
We will process turkeys on Tuesday Oct 4 (still space) & Thursday Oct 6 (almost full) so again if you don’t want to be disappointed book your turkey dates now. Christmas dates will be announced in an upcoming newsletter.
Ducks and Geese
We have not yet figured out how to process ducks at a reasonable price without losing money so again this year we are not taking bookings for waterfowl. But we are still looking into how to make it work and may be doing one or more experimental duck days later in the season. Please keep an eye on more information in an upcoming newsletter.
Booking fees and number updates
Over the past few years, the abattoir has run a significant deficit on days where booked animals have not shown up. To help the abattoir avoid losing money we are introducing a booking fee for all red meat and requiring poultry producers to provide updates on their numbers.
When your red meat bookings are confirmed, you will receive an invoice for $25/lambs $50/pigs or $100/beef to hold that booking. This amount will be subtracted from the slaughter fee in the final invoice. The booking fee is only refundable if you cancel more than 2 weeks ahead.
For Poultry, if due to heat domes, predation, or other unexpected events you experience significant mortality let us know as soon as it happens. We also plan to send reminders 2 weeks in advance of your booking date and will require poultry producers to respond with an update on their numbers (and if anything changes within the last 2 weeks please let us know as soon as possible).
We know it can be a surprise to find your lambs are smaller or your chickens aren’t ready but with some advance planning and checking sooner rather than later it will help everything run more smoothly.
Pricing Policy
You will see that we have had to raise prices. We will do our best to hold that price, but we may have to make additional changes as the season progresses. Unfortunately, this business is not immune to inflation. We must be able to pay staff and cover the ever-increasing cost of supplies and overheads like insurance. Your invoice will reflect the price at the time of slaughter not the price at time of booking. Thank you for your understanding.
Volunteer Treasurer Wanted for Abattoir Society Board
Our current treasurer is stepping down and we are looking for a replacement. It is not an onerous position – we do have a paid bookkeeper and the accounts are on Quickbooks. Is there anyone out there who would be willing to join the board of directors to take on this role?
Staffing Needs for 2022 season
We are looking for people to fill several positions from May to December.
Unfortunately, a business like an abattoir is always losing and seeking staff. Right now, due to the building boom and the scooping up of island workers, we are short-staffed and always threatened with closure if we cannot find people willing to do the work.
As Brian Brett wrote in 2017:
“One of the threads within the agricultural community is an abattoir, a task that can be gory and not admired by the most delicate members of a community, yet without livestock even the vegetarian community would be stressed by the lack of manure to feed the gardens. A good working abattoir can also provide composted offal to return all that energy back to our fields.
The abattoir has managed to survive and even expand, but now we are struggling once again. There’s not enough of us.”
Can you help make the difference? For 2022 we will need new board members and new staff.
Work is available on a regular basis from 1 to 4 days/week depending on skills & interest.
- 1 for Poultry plucking (6-8 hrs Tuesdays)
- 1 for Poultry evisceration (6-8 hrs Tuesdays)
- 1 for Poultry bagging & labelling (4-5 hours Wednesdays)
- 1 Meat wrapper Thursdays & irregular Mondays or Tuesdays depending on bookings.
- Back up butcher – we have a butcher for 2 days/week but for high demand weeks additional days are needed.
- Red meat slaughter person for Thursdays and possibly other days in the fall. Previous experience with beef and/or pigs preferred.
- Is there anyone with a firearm license willing to help on beef slaughter days or anyone willing to help on days we are processing pigs?
Please contact ssiabattoir@gmail.com for more information.
Wanted Locally Grown & Processed Chicken
Haidee Hart of Woodshed Provisions would like to buy up to 160 chickens a month at a price around $6/lb if possible. They will work with any farmers and a mix of chicken breeds is fine. If it’s a heritage variety its helpful if not too large boned. If you are interested in being a supplier, please contact Haidee directly: haidee@woodshedprovisions.com
And please remember to check you can get the bookings you need at the abattoir before you commit to specific dates.