Stephen Waples is filling a gap in the butchering and meat processing industry.
His mobile, small capacity butchery travels from his home in Grenthorpe to provide on-farm-butchery services which he describes as the 'ultimate traceability' from paddock to plate.
"People still don't quite understand or know that I can do this on your place, its yours," he said.
"Local Abattoirs have stopped doing small batches."
"Now they're not taking less than ten, if you wanted to put in eight or nine at a time you have to combine with someone else or you're out of luck."
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"For me, 10 is the maximum, four is my minimum, anywhere between that and I'm happy. It keeps the truck running and myself and my family fed."
Having grown up on a farm in New Zealand, Stephen said the skills of butchering and processing meat was something he was lucky enough to have had passed on to him from a young age.
Seeing an opportunity in the lack of on-farm butcher services, the commute and wash down after each job is a small price to pay to be on the road and meet people in the community and across the industry.
"I find a lot of guys refer to you as my butcher - it becomes a little personal," Stephen said.
"A friend who is just retiring now has been butchering for many years, he's seen the kids grow up, it's like an old friend coming to visit.
Just how far Stephen ranges is something he's still figuring out. However with his business SB Rural having started just two months ago and his services already in demand through until September, things are looking promising.
"I'm still figuring out how far we should go. We'd be happy to go out as far as Cargo or Eugowra, I've got a job near Cootamundra - so it's a broad area we cover, about two hours of driving either side of the job is probably the limit," he said.
Where does this fit in the industry?
"It's for people who want to consume their own product. For people who might have 10, 20 or 60 acres and they've got their own sheep, cows or whatever the case may be - and they want to go from raising these animals to consuming them."
"It's really good for small batches. It is specifically designed for home consumption market."
"Anything butchered on-farm is unable to be sold commercially; it's not branded or meat inspected. It is done in as clean and sanitary an environment as we can provide on-farm.
Stephen says that for the scale he operates on, on-farm butchery is a great way for people to access their own produce and know the process from start to finish.
"It's the ultimate traceability," he said.
"That animal has never left your farm, you've raised it, you've fattened it up yourself and instead of sending it away to the abbatoir - we cna process it right there. You get to control the whole process."
"The number one doubt I've heard people express when sending their animals to the works is 'is it my animal coming back?' or is it someone else's?"
"When it's killed on-farm, it's stress free. That animal can be grazing in the paddock that morning and then be in the coolroom by lunch, done without the stress of going through transport and processing at the abs."
"You get to enjoy your cutlets, roasts, sirloins, scotch, sausages - the best cuts in the world that people are paying hundreds of dollars for at the supermarket and we're doing it at an incredibly affordable price."
SB Rural can be contacted on 0457 502 945
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