Soggy Bottom Holdings

onathan Walker has built a viable business raising heritage breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs and turning them into processed meat products for sale at farmers’ markets in the Waikato. Stock are slaughtered at licensed premises and he does all the processing at his premises. His pork sausages and bacon are particularly popular and he has a loyal clientele. He has the capacity to process more and wants to grow the business further. He also runs courses for people wanting to learn how to make smallgoods. Jonathan is a firm believer in the value of Farmers’ Markets and is involved in their organisation at local and national levels.

In 2003 Jonathan and Sarah Walker emigrated to NZ after living for a time in the Scottish Highlands. Intending to buy around 5 acres of rural land they ended up with 60 acres of hilly country on the edge of the Hakarimata Scenic Reserve, North of Hamilton. Jonathan is a forester by training and so in the winter of 2004 he planted many trees on the steeper slopes.

On the better areas he grazed large steers that “wrecked the place” and so realised the land was better suited to smaller animals.

“So I went for Belted Galloways that I knew tasted great, and some Tamworth pigs. The reason for the heritage breeds was that they suited the land and our type of farming better and we were convinced that the slower growing animals would taste better,” says Jonathan.

“Originally it was supposed to be a hobby to provide meat for ourselves and friends but when we sampled the smallgoods from home-kill butchers we were appalled at the poor quality, so we saw a huge gap in the market for decent products.”

Jonathan had no prior experience in meat processing and so initially contracted butchers to make products. That was frustrating, he says, because it seemed they knew only how to make bacon pumped full of water and sausages from pre-mixes and had no idea how to make sausages from the recipes they had obtained from Scotland.

“After four attempts we found a butcher who could do it, and that coincided with the start of the Farmers’ Market in Hamilton. And that was the key – we couldn’t have made a living just farming animals to sell, we needed to get every bit of value out of the animals and sell directly to the public,” says Jonathan.

“We were there at the first market February 2006. We’d had a pig killed and processed into sausages by the butcher, and we sold out in an hour. At the next market we took products from two pigs and again sold out in an hour.”

“We did that for six months then the butcher closed down. I spent a week with him learning the basics, and then while visiting the UK I went on a River Cottage curing and smoking course. That also gave me the idea to run similar courses here – I figured I needed only a couple of days a week for butchery for the market and so I might as well make some money from the knowledge the rest of the time.”

Currently the Soggy Bottom property is home to 12 sows, 3 boars, and 30-40 young pigs of various ages. There are three breeds of pig – Tamworths and Wessex Saddlebacks, which are traditional UK outdoor breeds, and European Wild Boar, which are slower growing, have lower feed requirements and produce a stronger flavoured redder meat. The pigs spend most of their time outside and are fed a mixture of stockfood cheese, milk, apples and other fruit, fruit syrup, and prepared grain based meals when needed. Also on the property are 24 Belted Galloway cattle and 30 Wiltshire sheep.

Stock are slaughtered at MAF approved abattoirs and the carcasses are hung in the Soggy Bottom butchery to age before being processed into prime cuts, speciality sausages, bacon and a variety of other cured meats. The cattle and sheep are processed into a variety of sausages, prime cuts and burgers.

“We don’t put artificial additives, colours or flavourings into our sausages. They are MSG free and are all made from recipes. Our bacon is dry cured using natural salt and raw sugar, then oak smoked,” says Jonathan.

“We aim to sell meat with an identifiable origin, produced from stock that have been raised in a free-range system. We can tell you exactly how our animals were treated and what went into the final product.”

Jonathan says he has fantastically loyal customers and doesn’t advertise. Demand has grown by word of mouth. In a typical month the company processes one cow, 6-8 sheep, 6 bacon pigs and one chopper for sausages. He also processes carcasses for other customers.

Demand has also grown because the local Farmers’ Markets have grown. The Hamilton Sunday market is his main one and he also sells at the Saturday Cambridge market and the more recent Thursday twilight market at Te Awamutu.

“Hamilton is my best market. We have 2-3000 people on a Sunday and we could double that as long as we always have plenty of fresh fruit and veges available at a good price. We have fresh veges picked on the day and better prices than supermarkets,” says Jonathan.

“We also have artisan and specialty foods that are more expensive than regular supermarket products, like my sausages that cost twice as much as a supermarket sausage but they are distinctly different and of higher quality. Similarly we have cheesemakers with fantastic quality products and they don’t try to compete with regular supermarket products on price.”

Jonathan is a firm believer in the value of farmers markets to the community in terms of freshness, variety, price and quality. He was chair of the Hamilton Farmers’ Market Trust for 4 years, and now is involved with the national body, Farmers’ Markets New Zealand.

Website: http://www.marketground.co.nz/soggybottom