| Subject: |
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INTERVIEW WITH A SLAUGHTER BUYER |
| Name: |
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Theresa Gray |
| Date Posted: |
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May 8, 05 - 11:02 PM |
| Email: |
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grayhorse_ranch@yahoo.com |
| Message: |
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The following is an excerpt of a PBS interview with a buyer for one of the horse slaughter plants. Gives you an idea of the mentality of these types of people, and what you're dealing with when you're attempting to rescue a horse from their clutches.....
CHRIS] Jack, I want to start by asking, when you look at a horse, given your job, what do you see?
[JACK] Well, when I look at a horse, I see the value of the horse in an export market, in a dress meat market. In a retail market.
[CHRIS] Is this particular horse a good example?
[JACK] That's a good example. That horse right there will make a hind-quarter, a full carcass. It's large enough. It's old enough. It's not overly fat. It's got a lot of muscle to it and that'll bring a premium price.
[CHRIS] You know most people look at a horse and they see a pet; they see a beautiful animal; they see a practical animal perhaps, something to ride. They see a symbol of the old west. When you look at a horse, what do you see?
[JACK] Well, I see basically the same thing. But I see something else that is a commodity that you can get more money for. There is a use for the animal after it's use as far as a pet, riding, and such as that.
[CHRIS] What is one of these horses worth?
[JACK] That roan right there is worth probably around $700.
[CHRIS] And what is the product when you're done with it?
[JACK] That one will be a full carcass. It'll be shipped four quarters. It won't be bone or there's no prime cuts or anything. That'll be sold as a carcass, after dressing. The other one back over here, that'll be probably just the hindquarter will be sold, and the front will be bone for a meat that goes into sausage. Then there's some of them that will be bone in the prime cuts, pretty much the same as beef. And they'll be sold that way
[CHRIS] You're talking how much a pound? If I sell you this horse, how much am I going to get per pound?
[JACK] You would get around 60-, maybe up to 65-cents.
[CHRIS] Sixty-five-cents a pound?
[JACK] That's for the top horses, yes.
[CHRIS] And if I buy the meat, how much am I going to pay?
[JACK] If you buy the meat and you want to pay, it's about $1.30.
[CHRIS] A dollar 30 a pound?
[JACK] No it's $1.30 for the whole carcass, is what you would pay here. That's not including, if it's exported, then you have freight, duties, freight over there, profit so.
[CHRIS] Now, who are your customers?
[JACK] We're owned by a European firm. And they're -- they're the customers. We sell to them.
[CHRIS] Okay. Now what country is that?
[JACK] Belgium.
[CHRIS] Oh all right.
[JACK] All the plants in the United States are owned by Belgian firms, and they all deal strictly in horses.
[CHRIS] So this meat is sold in grocery stores?
[JACK] And butcher shops. Mainly in France. France is the largest consumer. And it's mainly in butcher shops that strictly sell horsemeat. That's all they do and then in the supermarkets.
[CHRIS] Why hasn't horsemeat caught on in this country do you think?
[CHRIS] We don't eat our pets. In some other countries they eat their pets. But we don't eat our pets. And with the other things we have, the beef, the pork, the poultry, lamb, we don't have to rely on horses for our red meat. |
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