FAQs
If you’ve left the butcher or the supermarket feeling like you’ve been punched in the mouth after buying supplies for a casual barbecue lately, you’re not alone. The price of meat has gone a little bit nuts - which has a lot to do with labour shortages, global trade volatility. And remember that war and that pandemic thing…? Meat is a global commodity and all of this has an impact.
Subscription meat? WTF?
We ask our customers to opt in for 1 year of meat so that we can plan accordingly. Selling this way means our Meat Club members receive fresh high welfare meat, immediately after it has been butchered and packed. This community supported agriculture model is designed to share the risk between farmer and customer.
Each delivery includes the yield of a whole beast (somewhere between 150 and 200 kgs of meat) and a few lambs (approximately 50-60 kgs). If we know we have a certain number of packs sold before we take an animal to slaughter, we reduce our income volatility so that we can set a consistent price point AND ensure we’re profitable. (Duh, business 101.)
In 2023 we will deliver quarterly via pick up points in and around North East Victoria and Metro Melbourne. This model also allows a bit of balance between our farm offering and our off-farm day jobs.
We open annual subscriptions at the start of each calendar year. If you’re keen for some goods but not able to commit for all 4 deliveries that’s totally fine. Occasionally the animals we select from the paddock yield a little extra and we give our folks on our mailing list a heads up that we have extra packs available for purchase.
The best way to be notified when subscriptions open, or if extra packs become available is by signing up to our mailing list. You’ll also find out if we feel like throwing a party / shindig / collaboration with clever friends which is a great way to get access to some of our goods.
What’s in a pack?
Every pack includes (at least) 4 kgs of a mix of juicy beef and lamb from right here in the Kiewa Valley. Each pack contains a mix of premium cuts (steaks, etc), something to roast, and some thing to slow cook, and some of our delicious sausages and mince. Some packs contain a little more beef or slightly more lamb - it just depends on the total yield of our animals with each delivery.
Depending on your family make up, and how often you’d like Rogers Lane meat on your plate, you may wish to lock in more than one membership to receive more than 1 pack each quarter. As a guide, we consider a portion of meat to be approximately 250 grams so each kilo of meat is enough for:
2 generous meals for a couple OR
1 generous meal for a family of 4, and probably enough for a family of 5
How do your deliveries work?
It might sound more unusual than throwing it in the trolley it with your weekly supermarket shop, but it isn’t that complicated. Goods are delivered each quarter to our drop off points in and around North East Victoria (in Myrtleford, Wodonga and Beechworth) and Metro Melbourne (Preston, Footscray and South Melbourne). We’ll ask you which is your preferred pick up point via your membership check out process.
Your goods will usually land at your pick up point by midday on a Friday, and will be held until midday Monday so you can collect at your convenience over the weekend. (You will receive an email confirming your goods are ready to be collected.) You don’t want to leave it beyond Monday - the sooner it goes in the fridge the better!
Your goods will be delivered super fresh (ie, butchered the day before) and vacuum sealed. As a rule, fresh vacuum sealed meat will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days. Because it is so fresh it will also freeze well. Occasionally we’ll include some frozen meat - usually a roast or snags - from the previous delivery, which we recommend you freeze straight away. This is another way we try to manage the risks and variability in the size of our animals and ensure we have enough to supply all our members.
Unfortunately we can’t suspend a subscription for a single delivery and reinstate it for the next one - cows don’t work like that. If subscribers opt out mid-way through the year it makes it very hard for us to plan and increases our risk. We may be able to hold over your delivery from one quarter to the next if necessary. Send us an email and we’ll see what we can work out.
Is your meat organic?
At this stage, we haven’t opted to pursue organic certification, which can often be an expensive and time consuming process, and possibly not quite right for us given a few factors…
Our grass-fed animals are raised in an environment about as a far from a commercial feed lot as you can imagine. Our pastures are managed with holistic grazing practices (rotational grazing, grass selection, and a sustainable stocking rate). This means we have rich pastures, without relying on fertilisers or chemical sprays. Our animals are free to roam and graze, and are treated to mix of grasses, which sequesters carbon and preserves the health of our pastures. All of this makes them very happy while they’re with us, and unbelievably delicious and nutritious once the time comes.
But, we live in a valley surrounded by some other farms deploying more intensive farming, which can result in a high risk of disease for neighbouring cattle, like ours. We drench and vaccinate our animals annually, which would likely preclude us from organic accreditation. We are also required (by law) to manage noxious weeds on the property like blackberries and thistles. While we have and will use some organic means where we can (like goats), these pests currently require more than just goats to keep them in check. We hand spray using specific chemicals on a seasonal cycle, to control a variety of these weeds, which we hope will become less necessary over time.
