Soil Association License: G4314
GB-ORG-05
UK Agriculture
Our home-produced meat is reared to Soil Association Organic Standards and carefully prepared, matured and butchered at a local Organic licensed abattoir and butchery to achieve maximum tenderness and flavour. It is then vacuum-packed in individual cuts for your convenience and to ensure it will keep well in your freezer. Finally, it is packed into a plain cardboard box that can be returned to us for re-use or recycled locally. Aternatively you may bring your own cool bag or "bag for life" and we will be happy to pack it for you.
We are often asked where our meat comes from. All our meat is from animals born on this farm. We do not buy in livestock to rear-on and we keep our animals on the farm for their whole lives. It is important to us that our animals do not have to travel long distances to slaughter. For this reason, our abattoir of choice is Broomhalls at Eastington, near Stroud, a journey of about half an hour and we usually take a small number of lambs at a time in our own livestock trailer. If we need to use a haulier, we use Bisley Transport, an experienced livestock haulier who we have used for over 20 years and who we trust to take care of our livestock in transit.
Our meat is collected from the abattoir by the Woodchester Meat Company, themselves organic farmers, and they hang it in their chill room and then butcher and pack to our requirements.
All our beef is cross bred from traditional Breeds such as the Hereford, Aberdeen Angus and South Devon, which produce excellent beef within an Organic system where a grass-based diet is mandatory.This allows the animal to mature in its own time and gives the best results.
Relatively new labels like "Pasture-fed" or "Free-Range" have always applied to Organic meat plus you have the reassurance of the full organic standards on top!
We are also Farm Assured to Red Tractor standards and inspected annually at the same time as a full organic inspection and audit.
Our lambs are born indoors for their safety but will be out grazing grass with their mothers within 72 hours of birth (weather permitting!) and will spend their whole lives outdoors. We time our lamb sales so that they are already weaning naturally from their mothers so as to reduce stress to an absolute minimum.
March calves are born indoors and turned out with their mothers within a few weeks of birth (weather permitting) and the summer calves are born outdoors. We only house young or heavily pregnant cattle in winter and where possible they still have 24/7 access to a field for exercise on mild days, although in very wet conditions we may have to keep them in to prevent damage to the soil structure and comply with soil protection regulations.
We sell both lamb and beef by the box so you can have locally/regionally produced, high quality organic meat at an affordable price all year round.
Our Meat Boxes....What's in the box?
(All prices are approximate. Actual pack price is according to weight.)
Lamb:
Priced at at £11.50/kg and available Sept-April, either fresh (to order whenever a new batch is due back) or frozen.
Available frozen only from April to Sept. Pictured is a typical half lamb box.
Whole legs and shoulders available to special order at £12.50/kg.
Lamb burgers (made from whole lamb cuts) in packs of 4.
500g approx packs of Rosemary sausages and Merguez sausages (spicy with paprika and cayenne pepper) usually available and can be included in your box.
Mutton: (tender, rich, full flavoured from sheep over 2 years old) and Hogget (from animals over 1 year old. Tender, full-flavoured, but not fatty or strong )
Priced at £12.50.kg.
Mince and diced...Ideal for curries, tagines and Mediterranean casseroles.
Both available February to September or to order.
Quarter lamb: From £45 approx.
Half leg of lamb (either leg or shank joint).
Half shoulder (either knuckle or blade).
2 packs of chops (loin, chump and cutlets).
Half lamb: From £85 approx.
Leg of lamb divided into two joints…Leg and Shank for roasting.
Shoulder of lamb divided into two joints…Blade and Knuckle for roasting (Knuckle can be diced to order).
Loin Chops, Chump chops and Cutlets…A selection of each. Average 4 packs of chops (2 or 4 in a pack) per half lamb box.
Neck chops (for soup or a classic Irish stew).
Kidney.
Liver (available to order).
Pack of mince, lamb burgers or sausages (according to availability).
Whole lamb: From £160 approx.
Beef:
Our beef is priced at £12.50 per kg for a mixed selection box including a range of roasting joints (slow roast, brisket, rib on the bone, silverside, topside, chuck roast), steaks (fillet, sirloin and rump), braising steak, diced shin and mince, all vacuum packed, labelled and ready to put in your freezer.
Box prices start from £50 and can be made with sizes to suit families of all sizes. (Pictured is a typical £100 mixed box).
Available to order all year round in mixed freezer selection boxes with large rib joints and other cuts available to special order.
Rib joints or large Topside joints can be ordered individually at £16.50/kg for Christmas (subject to availability).
Premium Organic Beef Burger boxes and Steak and Burger BBQ boxes seasonally available to order.
Buying direct from an Organic producer means:
Traceability from farm to plate. Knowing exactly where your food comes from and how it was produced...just ask us!
High standards of animal welfare and environmental management.
Seasonally available, local, naturally-produced, simple food with a flavour that is unsurpassed.
Supporting the local economy and landscape.
Cutting out the middleman and getting high quality, British meat without paying supermarket or "meat by post" premiums.
Helping to reduce food miles and carbon footprints while saving money by buying in bulk.
HOW TO ORDER:
Please use the contact form to let us know your requirements, email us or give us a call and leave a message and your contact details. We can then advise you of availability and the cost of the box you would like, and arrange a mutually convenient time for you to collect you order from the farm.
Payment can be made either on collection by cash or cheque made out to " M. and P. Whitaker " or in advance by credit card using Paypal or by bank transfer.
Special orders will require a deposit or full payment in advance.
We are also the sole supplier of Organic meat to the Green Shop at Holbrook Garage, near Bisley so if you just want a single pack or a small quantity it would be worth popping in and having a look in their shop freezer.
To keep our overheads as low as possible and therefore give our customers the best value, we do not have a farm shop or regular opening hours. As a working farm, we may not always be around so a quick call first is recommended to save you a wasted journey. Sorry, we are closed on Sundays.
PLEASE NOTE:
We generally have both beef and lamb in the freezer but because we are a small, specialist producer, we aim to have at least half of the beef boxes pre-ordered before we send the animal to the butchers. This ensures a regular turnover of stock for us and therefore a longer storage time in the customers freezer, but it does mean that while we will always try to accommodate special orders, we need to know well in advance so that we can plan ahead when to send in the next beast. When you taste our meat you will realise it is worth the wait (that is not us being big-headed. It is a quote from several customers!)
We sell at what we believe is a very a reasonable price in freezer-sized mixed packs so that organic food is more affordable to more families, but this means that unfortunately, we are not usually able to supply individual joints.
Thank you for your interest!
A typical half lamb box
A typical £100 beef box