Page 97 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2018

“We’ve had to reduce the size of our roasts, put only two Ryan is passionate about starting their own stud and having
pieces of scotch fillet in a packet, cut the rump steaks in half. their own line to compete with other brands, but he wanted to
It’s all trial and error.” ensure a good market first.
They’ve priced the meat in the mid-range to make it “We want control right the way through. We want to grow
affordable to more people. Scotch fillet is about $40/kg, with but we need to keep control of our supply.
eye fillet $50/kg. “The end goal one day would be an international market, but
“We want it to be available to the average Joe Public. first we want to have a strong domestic market.”
“At the moment the porterhouse, scotch fillet and eye fillet
fly out the door – the chuck steaks and bolar roasts we need to
educate people how to cook them, so we cook a different roast at BELOW, TOP TO BOTTOM: Karapiro Prime started selling
every market for people to sample and we pass the recipe out.” at Auckland markets in August 2017; Consumers want
The next step will be creating recipes for gourmet sausages, smaller roasts and smaller cuts of steak; Ryan and Graham
Strawbridge say there is a growing market for Hereford beef.
rissoles and meat patties and packaging it to sell at markets. This
will be in time for summer as people start cooking more barbeques.
Consumers are certainly engaged and interested in the aged
beef and ask a lot of questions about the whole process, Ryan says.
“I spend most of my days talking to people at markets about
what we do and why we do it, about how the animals are reared.
“It’s amazing what people know – they ask a lot of questions;
people are definitely more aware of the welfare of the animal.”
It’s important to keep engaging with customers about what
they want so you can deliver the best product, he says.
“You’ve always got to keep learning and move forward with
what consumers want. Without our customers we may as well
pack up shop.”
Karapiro Prime is purely grass-fed, naturally reared and
antibiotic free. New Zealand is one of the few countries still
predominately grass-fed and that’s an area they are determined
to stay in to preserve the taste of the meat, Ryan and Graham say.
Graham leases two blocks, one at Karapiro and a second
property at Whangamata. He will carry 200 cattle at Whangamata
and 100 at Te Awamutu. Currently they are culling a steer every
three weeks, which will increase with growing demand. The
beef are slaughtered at Auckland Meat Processors and aged
and processed at a local butcher in Whangamata.
The meat is vacuumed packed, which means it can be
stored in a fridge for up to 80 days, and a freezer for two years.
Unlike buying meat from the butcher and having to eat it
that week, the vacuum packaging gives people more flexibility,
Ryan says.
Their biggest focus is on killing cattle at higher weights
to ensure there is developed marbling and taste in the meat.
They’re also conscious of being sustainable and being able to
make the most of each animal.
“We like to get cattle to 600kg and above before we cull
them – you pay the same to kill them, but a higher killing weight
makes us be able to be more competitive,” Graham says.
Graham currently purchases top quality four-day-old
Hereford calves to finish and cull as two-year-olds, but the goal
is now to start their own breeding herd.
The father and son partnership will be using embryo
transplants this year as they start building their own beef supply.
They are in the process of selecting top sires and dams with
high intramuscular fat traits.
“We are looking for sires who are producing high marbling
scores,” Graham says.
“We can get an extra 70c/kg for top marbling, premium
meat. That’s where we will be placing our emphasis.”
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