Chapter Eight..
The Sheep Men.
The sheep trade was changed dramatically from the Heady Days of 1954, by the opening of the French Market for lambs.
This combined with the immigrant market for mutton.
The Indian and Pakistani communities started to open their own butchers shops. 
The meat had to be Ritually killed by the Halal method.
There was a man called Yaqoob in Birmingham, who was the first immigrant butcher, to open a Stall on an English wholesale meat market.
Birmingham had slaughtering facilities on the meat market, so Yaqoob had mutton at his own prices, for this lucrative New market.
Today there are thousands of Moslem Butchers all over England, especially in the centers of London, Birmingham, Leeds and Bradford.
This previously discarded meat, had now become a valuable commodity.
The reason the Indians and Pakistanis prefer mutton, is because of the cooking.
They soak the meat in spices, cook it overnight in curry, lamb just goes to shreds, however the tough texture of the mutton, stays in shape and becomes tender, with the length of the cooking.
By the end of the fifties and in the early sixties, the Immigrant trade was massive and growing on a weekly basis.
The Pakistan community now control their own abattoirs, kebab factories and retail shops.
The best example is Queens Market in the East End of London.
Around the West Ham football ground at Upton Park, there are hundreds of Halal butchers.
Equally in Southall, Harrow, Wembly and Willesdon.
The main diet is mutton and chicken.
Today the children of the Immigrants of the fifties and sixties, are middle class, doctors, lawyers, bankers and accountants, so like all middle class English people, tastes change. The Halal butchers now use 60% lamb, also large quantities of beef, Halal burgers and small goods.
The export of lamb to France was pioneered by Peter Blackburn, Toby Cobden and Doug Clay.
These men were getting 6 pence a pound more for lamb than anyone else.
However to protect their own industry, the French would close the door on imports.
This often happened without notice causing many lambs to be sold on commission at Smithfield.
It wasn’t long before smaller plants started to specialize in France.
More of them lost money, than made money.
Namely because they neglected then own traditional markets.
The three pioneers mentioned were cow men, the lambs were a side line.
If the French markets closed it didn’t effect them.
The other people Rowleys of Kiddiminister, Welsh Quality Lamb, didn’t last long.
Marshal Brothers of Lamberhurst in Kent.
We can’t talk about lamb without mentioning Dick Cawthorn of North Devon Meat.
Dick was the manager of a small cooperative plant in Bideford Cattle Market.
They had a second plant in Halwill, that used to belong to Fred James, an old railway slaughterhouse.
Dick had been the foreman/ manager of a small bacon plant in Weymouth Dorset.
He employed a slaughter-man called Jack Harris.
Jack had served his time in the Caledonian Market and was an excellent beef and sheep slaughter-man.
The North Devon way of killing sheep, was dress them on the cradle.
When you lift the lamb up, just pull the skin down the back.
Jack Harris designed and Dick Cawthorn patented, the moving cradle in 1967. this was manufactured by Bristol Abattoir Equipment.
Very soon 60% of plants in England had the system installed, so simple yet so very good for effecting a well dressed lamb.
Cawthorn went from strength to strength building a State of the Art plant at Torrington, which opened in November 1967.
This plant could kill 360 lambs an hour, unheard of outside Australia and New Zealand.
Not only good on production, Dick Cawthorn pioneered direct selling to multiple retailers and supermarkets and was awarded the MBE for services to the Meat Industry.
There are other players came on the scene such as Oriel Jones in West Wales.
For quality lamb perhaps Lloyd Maunders were number one.
They have been associated with Sainsbury’s for 100 years as suppliers of poultry pork, bacon and lamb in the season.
Still a family run business they would be the “Royal Family” of the English sheep trade.
today, since the demise of the Vestey Organisation.
Today Dunbia are the biggest lamb people in the country.
Owen Owen in North Wales is also a big player and Dungannon Meats who have bought out Oriel Jones.
Euromeats at Cravan Arms, are an off-shoot of Halal Meats in Ballyhaunis, Ireland, like nature, the flower dies and the seeds “Sprout Up”.
Chapter Ten.
The Quality Wholesalers Beef, Lamb, Pork.
The first name that comes to mind on this segment of the book is WJ Parker of Leicester.
Based in Leicester cattle market Parkers had a big reputation for buying quality stock.
They had a good local trade in the Midlands, complemented with 20 of their own Retail Shops which were very high class.
In the fifties and sixties young Willy, of Parkers built a reputation for quality second to none.
As well as the local trade Parkers supplied multiple chains of shops in London mainly West Layton who had 120 shops and Sainsburys.
Sainsbury High Quality Stores, only went as far north, as Watford in the fifties. 
They were a southern chain of high quality food stores.
Parkers used to rent the Queens farms at Sandringham in Norfolk, to finish off many of their own cattle.
When Parkers men were bidding at the auction, the other buyers stopped, as they knew what Parkers wanted, they bought no matter the price.
They used to take a lot of good quality Hereford cattle from the Welsh border counties.
Paddy Peters sent them a lot of good cattle from Northern Ireland for many years.
Parkers pork and lamb operation, was as high in quality as the beef.
Lloyd Maunders of Tiverton in Devon only took lambs 39 to 44 lbs if the buyer selected lambs out of that weight range, they were in trouble.
Like Parkers, Lloyd Maunders had 12/ 15 retail high class butchers shops in Devon and Somerset.
All the very best Devon ruby red cattle, steers 9 ½ to 11 cwt were bought from auctions by Lloyd Maunders buyers
The cattle were aged for 2 days, in the cooling room prior to being quartered.
The lamb operation was only operated seasonally, from suck lambs in March until old lambs until December.
They would not kill lambs for three months each year.
The pork and poultry operation were massive for their day. 
High quality capons and chickens all grain fed.
Good quality cutting pigs.
I suppose without doubt Barrats and Baird, would be third on the list with a similar operation to Parkers, debatable is the mention of North Devon meat Torrington, whilst Dick Cawthorne did a wonderful job in quality of beef and lamb, he also dabbled in sows, cows and ewes.
North Devon Meat lambs, would be second only to Lloyd Manders, Dick pioneered direct selling to West Layton, Keymarkets, Safeway, Mansons of Merton and Fine Fare.
Sending trucks to London with perhaps deliveries for 20 shops , he cut out all the wholesaler profits.
All the export lamb went through Borthwicks and in return, North Devon only sold Borthwicks branded New Zealand Lamb.
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North Devon opened depot in Exeter, to cater for local trade with great success, the butcher could walk in and select his own meat. They took over the Borthwicks depot in Plymouth, This was a poor city, the main employment being the Naval Dockyard.
Cow beef and mutton were the order of the day.
This trade had been well run by the local boys and they gave North Devon a set of manners, Dick never forgot.
The result was he closed the depot in Plymouth.
Buswells of Blisworth, were again very high class wholesalers.
Based in Northampton they serviced Birmingham and the Midlands in a similar manner to Parkers servicing London.
Buswells were one of the first English plants to go into vacuum pack and portion control.
They sold out to Dalgety, the Australian Company, that purchased Meads of Reading and Banbury Sale Yard.
There were many more smaller, quality mixed wholesalers, yet nothing on the scale of the mentioned companies.
Alf Meade of Reading had a good name in the trade for quality meat and high class dressing...
Meads plant at Omagh in County Tyrone Ireland, was in the heart of good quality Northern Irish beef Country.
Northern Irish Beef being part of Great Britain, could be sold as “Home Killed”.
The best quality meat was always sold in London and the Home Counties.
Birmingham used smaller plainer beef and lamb.
Manchester loved very small cattle, glorified stores, lambs from Wales 18 to 28 LBS.
These lambs were “Back Set” the ribs cut back and the front of the sheep opened.
Then the carcass front, was covered in call fat from the Stomach.
They looked beautiful, a work of art if done well. 
Alf Mead was an expert in decorating his sides of beef, cutting out flowers and designs with his knife on the Flank, when the animal was on its back.
These would be cut in such a way as to “Open Up” when the beast was hanging.
With the advent of line killing, use of water and cutting of meat in abattoir, dressing quality seems to have lost all importance, to everyone, only we Old Hands at the game.
Alf Meades logo was “If its Meat you need consult Alf Meade”.
The king of Plymouth was Len Karkike of Dawson’s.
Len a Master Butcher, only killed cows and ewes for his 25 shops..
I recall once in 1966 steers were cheaper than good cows, with the subsidy.
I said to Len “why don’t you cut Steers for a few weeks”, he replied.
“ Oh no boy, that will spoil my customers, I won’t be able to get them back onto cow Beef again”.
Len was like a little “Bantam Cock”, yet a very clever Master Butcher.
He would buy his own Livestock at Hatherleigh on Monday, Newton Abbot on Wednesday and Exeter on Friday.
Big Fresian good cows 600 kilos plus and 50/60 lb ewes were his preference.
Like the Vestey Organization Dawson’s had the first and last of the profits.
Jaspers of Launceston, specialized in big Devon long-wool, lean cutting sheep, killing 300/350 sheep a day and perhaps 40 bobby calves, Jaspers were kings of the big lambs.
Run by father Harold and his son Graham, Japers are very big operators today running two
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plants in Cornwall with Grahams Sons.., David and Keith.
Japers were the first wholesalers to buy their own lamb stall on Smithfield cutting big lamb for the London trade.
The Devon long-wool was a big sheep, the lambs only mature and fit to kill at 50/ 60 lbs.
No matter how big they grew, they only put on flesh not fat. The skins also had a premium price.
There were other good lamb men, John Hill of Fremington, John was also a very successful breeder of Race Horses.
Eric French of Truro in Cornwall.
Bill Yeo of Barnstaple, Dan Stevens at Copplestone.
These men bought their lambs very well and John Hill was the only one selling direct, to Mansons cutting out the wholesaler.
John Hill retired a wealthy man, the others faded away.
The exception were Graham Jasper of Launceston, and Michael Hopkins of Taunton.
Bob Gearing stayed the course, Bob was a slaughter-man from Exeter and worked for Dan Stevens at Copplestone.
Bob is still operating at Newton Abbot in Devon.
My men used to work 6 days a week, the only day we didn’t kill was Thursday.
Bob used to come over and dress 15 cattle for me, on a Thursday morning at 10 shillings each.
Chapter Eleven.
The Multiple Butchers.
The Vestey Organization had 1500 retail butchers shops before the War.
By 1980 they had 2200 retail shops, one in most towns and all cities of England.
Having emerged from 15 years of rationing in 1954, the late Lord Vestey was quick to get his act together and capitalize on Home Killed Meat.
The Vestey managers were notoriously underpaid in salary, however as long as they turned in 33 % gross profit each week, they could pocket the rest.
This made them extremely well paid, if they were good.
The area managers had a traditional niform of Black Suit, Grey Tie Black Overcoat and Bowler Hat, The area depots supplied the shops with meat and canned goods.
Dewhursts and Eastmans the Master Butchers, specialized in New Zealand lamb, Australian and Argentinean beef, Argentinean corned beef and home killed pork, mutton and cow Beef.
This made them cost effective and attractive, Donald Cooks of Kings Lyn in Norfolk, part of the Vestey group, supplied a wide range of canned fruits and vegetables. 
The Vestey managers always endered and usually won, school meal contracts, army navy and air force contracts, prison and hospital contracts.
This gave a good base to clear the inferior meats.
The volumes of Argentinean and New Zealand Meat all came from Vestey’s own plants and farms.
With Vesteys shipping companies, transport, companies, leather companies he received all profits on animal from farm gate to house wife’s plate.
The most remarkable operation in the history of the meat trade.
Baxters tried to copy Vestey with some 250 shops in South of England.
Baxters had an abattoir in Northampton and one in Gloucester.
They specialized in good quality meat similar to Parkers in Leicester, In the live stock sales Baxters buyers and Parkers buyers always worked together, as they required identical stock
Baxters were also successful and swallowed up by Vestey, in the eighties and merged into the Dewhurst hain.
Mathews Meats were a chain of 200 cheap meat shops, around London and home counties.
specializing in fore quarters and cheap steak.
They were swallowed up by Borthwicks prior to the demise of Borthwicks in the eighties.
Wests of Leytonstone, Known as West Layton, were a Chain of 120 shops, very high class, they were part of the Fitzlovel Group who also owned Keymarkets supermarkets.
Williams Brothers of White Hart Lane, Tottenham, had about 60 shops specializing in Barley Beef and small welsh lamb.
This was a very slick operation in a Niche Market.
Williams Bross were taken over by Waitrose Supermarkets.
The biggest man, with the biggest heart in London was Bill Knapman.
Bill was 25 stone and an East End Butcher.
He started with one shop in the Lambeth Walk, before the war.
Bill claimed on a Saturday night, you could walk on the peoples heads, it was so crowded.
Bill sold more meat on a Saturday, than the other six days of the week together.
In 1954 will partner John Dobson Bill formed “Mansons” which was the last letters of both names Man from Knapman Son from Dobson.
They opened a central depot in Merton SW 19 and soon had 120 shops going full steam.
All the fat and bones came back to the depot to make tallow and bone meal.
Bill paid his managers a fat and bone bonus.
This way he had full control of his shops. Bill had a beautiful farm in Surrey and treated himself to a new Rolls Royce each year.
Every Wednesday Bill would take his wife (Who had worked in the first shop) for a random drive in the Rolls.
They would pick 3/ 4 shops and just turn up, look in the window, then inspect the shop.
This was great fun for Bill and his wife, it also kept the managers on their toes.
Bills Partner sold his 50% of the business to Mathews. Bills biggest competitor in 1982, Bill was heart broken, he said to the Writer “That’s 50 years of Friendship for you”.
Having no one to continue, Bill let it all go, perhaps one of the biggest Tragedy’s in the Meat Trade.
Mansons were extremely loyal to their suppliers, mainly Irish beef, west country lamb and pork from Berkshire and Norfolk.
Mansons were very slow payers yet good payers, no claims, you got the last penny.
If anyone was in trouble, Bill Knapman would help if he could. There were the smaller Chains, Ritchie of Highgate 30 shops, Tuckers 30/ 40 shops, GW Biggs 20 Shops, Fishers of Harrow 30 Shops, Louis Edwards in Manchester 40 Shops all did very well.
Then along came the supermarkets, initially the shoppers were reluctant to buy from supermarkets.
Today the multiple butchers have all gone, the supermarkets control. There used to be Fine Fare, Tesco, Keymarkets, Safeway, Waitrose, then along came Asda or Associated Dairies. Sainsbury’s had only their own accredited suppliers and were confined to the south of England.
Sainsbury were the quality store in those days.
Whilst all the retail shops have gone, the Indian shops have come on the scene.
The Indian shops today are like the retail shops of the fifties. The reezer centers started in seventies with Bejam, Iceland who are now big Players in the industry.
The Mr Halal Shops set up by the Yaqoob Family in Birmingham, are the way of the future.
This same family that pioneered Halal Meat have now revolutionized the retail trade.
London, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Birmingham. The shops are akin to Mc Donald’s or Kentucky and easily recognized immaculately clean, moving Huge volumes of meat, small goods and poultry.
The writers has the utmost respect for Yaqoob and his two sons, knowing them for 37 years.
Chapter Twelve.
The Burger and Sausage Trade.
Birdseye Foods part of the Unilever Group, were the first mass producers of burgers, selling four burgers in a box frozen.
This complemented the frozen vegetables and fish fingers, they already had the retail outlets in every corner shop.
Birdseye would buy plain manufacturing cows ex fillet, minimum weight 400 lbs this operation was very clever, they took the primal cuts and pressure cooked them for hours.
Sliced the beef wafer thin and froze it in packets with gravy. 
It was beautiful to eat, just melted in your mouth.
The rest of the carcass went into burgers, cheap meat sold at wonderful prices, six months shelf life, a licence to print money Findus Foods, owned by Nestles and Lyons did the same, ran an identical trade, not unlike Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola you were either Birdseye or Findus.
The first chain of burger bars were “Wimpy Bars” these little cafes served a burger and chips or scampi and chips.
Soon the burger vans started at football grounds, out side night clubs, pubs late at night.
many nights after a good nights drinking and dancing, I would get a burger on the way home.
These early days were the start of a vast industry quite unbelievable, 20 years later along came Burger King, Mc Donalds and the rest is history.
Burgers, kebabs and sausage today are 30% of the meat industry. The kebabs with very humble beginnings in the late seventies.
Made from trunk of mutton and beef fat they are approx 15 kilos of mince, made up on a stick.
Well seasoned, very tasty, there are plants producing 20/ 30 tonnes of kebabs a day, today.
This again is a late night food, on the way home food, after a night club or pub.
The kebabs are very popular with the younger people, who consider them “More Hip” than a burger.
This with their “Designer Label” bottle of water. 
The sausage, the humble sausage, used to be the Butchers way of using up his off cuts and fat.
Today with the demise of the retail butcher, they are also mass produced.
There is not very much you can not put into a sausage, if you have your seasoning right.
Despite all today’s modern technology, no one has really perfected a Synthetic Casing, we still have to rely on the sheep or pigs intestine, for a good natural sausage.
The sausage game used to be controlled by the big bacon and ham companies, this is not the case today. with the advent of the burger and the kebab, raw materials do not come cheap for a sausage today, small goods, meat and handy foods, very few people in England or Great Britain can claim a week without eating a burger, sausage or kebab, multiply that by 72 million and you get an idea of the market, horses for courses, different strokes for different folks.
Roast Sunday lunch, is not what it was years ago, with cheap restaurants pub grub, etc.
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Chapter Thirteen.
The Pet Food Boys.
In 1954 all the By Products from the abattoir went into one bin, guts, feet, Trimmings, lungs, udders, condemned liver, etc.
I recall my Father saying, some women give fillet steak to their dogs and sausage to their husband.
Any supermarket today devotes a whole aisles or corner, to pet food, canned goods, dry goods, plastic wrapped, tubes of fresh meat.
In 1954 there was Chappie for dogs, Kit E Kat for cats, both produced by Mars. The salesman, would open the tin and eat a spoonful, to show it was good enough for humans.
A company called Oakleigh Animal Products, started up in the late fifties, going around all the small abattoirs and buying the offal suitable for pet food.
They were offering 6 pence a pound in old money on 2 ½ p today. 
They took Condemned Liver, Lungs, Tripe, Cows Udders and Trimmings.
This was cut up and cooked, placed in gravy and this is your canned pet food today.
Very few people realize the chunks of meat are not meat at all, rather chunks of the mentioned products.
A good thick gravy hides a multitude of sins.
Pet Foods Melton Mowbray, part of the Mars Group, are the biggest manufacturers of pet food in the World today.
They are a great operation, buying raw materials from all over the world they have no union problems, every member of staff gets a birthday gift and Xmas gift.
The families and children of the employees get the same.
This new market was a great boost to the Industry in selling the Fifth Quarter and the cheque each month was considerable, for this previously waste material.
Quite a funny story in 1973 Albert Reynolds the former Prime Minister of Ireland opened a Pet Food Plant.
The plant cost 144,000 pounds to build and was financed by the I.D.A in Dublin.
After being opened for 2 weeks, all the tins of pet food began to explode in the store.
Talk about the “Shower of Sh-t over Shropshire”.
There was green, brown slime on the walls, ceilings and floor, no one could walk into the store, for fear of an explosion, Albert in panic, got scientists, chemists, flown over from England, yet the problem could not be solved.
I helped Albert get this project off the ground, doing “Own Label” for Sainsburys.
When Albert showed me the problem, I looked at the mixing bowls and the pipes going to the can fillers, No one had ever cleaned out the pipes between the two.
This was the month of June and the pipes were filled with green slime and maggots.
The build up of bacteria was causing the problem. today C & D pet Food employ 300 people in Longford Ireland, Albert is a multi millionaire.
Not bad from a former Railway Porter to Prime Minister of Ireland, Albert Chooses to forget this particular story, quite rightly .
Spillers the Flour People, soon got in on the Pet Food Act, also James Frovien another graduate of the Caledonian Market.
Pedigree Pet Foods had the market cornered.
You can today buy Gourmet Food for cats.
Any flavor you desire, Fish, Rabbit, Chicken even bloody Vegetarian.
Having said this and joking aside, this was a very big leg up for our Industry.
Love me, love my dog and long may this continue.
The American market is huge, in Hollywood they take their dogs and cats to the Psychiatrist at hundreds of dollars an hour, thank God they don’t know what goes into the Cans of food.
Chapter Fourteen.
The By Products Men.
Unilever have controlled the By Products industry for the last 50 years.
In 1954 they had small companies all over England with trucks going out collecting fat and bones from butchers shops.
The tallow from the fat was the base of their soap and soap powder.
They had there raw materials for pennies, as the butcher had no other choice than give it to them or dig a hole and bury it.
This applied to the abattoirs also.
J.L Thomas were the main collectors in the south west. Of England.
De Mulders in the Midlands and Ramsey Forrest in Scotland. There were many small collectors in between, yet the finished product ended up with Unilever or Recket and Coleman.
The High Grade Tallow, would go to companies like Max Factor, for the base of cosmetics.
John Pointon was a Salesman for De Mulders in Coventry.
John used to see these brand new trucks, going out each day and many times, coming back with only half a load.
John put two and two together, realizing the profits must be enormous.
The Meat Trades Journal, again published the weekly prices of fat and bone, a vital By Product
John bought an old Bedford TK lorry and went out buying his own raw materials.
Based in Meridon Warwickshire John also purchased runners and skins to fill up his truck
John was selling his raw material back to his old boss Demoulders and making good profit
In the Seventies John purchased Gilbert Animal Products near Stoke on Trent for 14.000 pounds .
This meant John could process his own raw material.
The rest is history John went on to be the biggest, By Product processor in England.
With the recent cow cull from BSE, John has without doubt the finest plant in Europe.
The new controls on animal feed, caused by BSE, have meant finding new markets for bone meal, traditionally the base for pig, poultry and cattle feed.
There is an old Jewish saying, “There is more money in Rags than Silk” the by products men have made and are making a lot of money, as well as producing a valuable service to the industry.
The Hide and Skin merchants were controlled by Vestey with Tremletts Leather, Three Castles Leather,with Hide and Skin Depots, from Exeter Hide and Skin Co, in Devon, to Yorkshire Hide & Skin Co.
Strong Rawle and Strong Ltd, based in Bermonsdsey London, were big in the trade.
likewise, South of England Ltd, which was owned by FMC.
There were many small tanners of sheep skins.
Saunders of Barnstaple, Buckfastleigh, today there is only one Tanner of Hides and two Tanners of sheepskins.
All the raw skins go to Turkey or Poland, tanned and finished goods returned to Engalnd.
Pollution was the major problem followed by labor.
Working in a tannery is not a pleasant job.
There are 180 tanneries in Turkey and 60 tanneries in Poland along with abundant cheap labor and little concern for pollution, since the break up of the Vestey Empire Bristol Hide and Skin, Bradford Hide and Skin and Exeter Hide and Skin, all private companies do a good job in collecting, grading, salting and selling.
The weekly prices for Hides and Skins are always reported in the Meat Trades Journal along with the prices for Fat and Bone.
The writer has a photograph of John Pointon and his wife Sheila in his office today the photo was taken on January 2nd 1971 at Nuneaton .
Chapter Fifteen
The Pharmaceutical Trade.
In 1954 a Company called Derricks of Hatfield in Hertford visited my fathers abattoir.
Miss Derrick was a polio victim and arrived in a Bently..
She told my father she would install a small chest freezer, in the plant and could he save the Calf Rennets (Vells) the Pancreas, from cows and pigs and selected pigs hearts with the valves Intact.
We did this each day and to my fathers surprise he received a considerable cheque each month.
Derricks had a freezer in every abattoir, I ever visited, which was hundreds over the years.
The rennet was used for cheese making and a lucrative market.
The pancreas was to extract insulin for diabetes.
The pigs heart valves, were the very first transplant, in open heart surgery, Miss Derrick was One of the Wealthiest Women in England and had inherited the business from her father.
Most of the rennet today, comes from the large bobby calf kills in Victoria Australia.
The Japanese then began to buy gall stones as medicine in the Far East.
So all the slaughterhouses had a milk churn with stocking-net on the top. 
You would cut the Gall Bladder, if it contained stones. They would sit on the stocking-net, whilst the liquid went through. The stones 200 pounds an ounce. rather like panning for gold. This was followed by the Swedes buying blood, to extract the plasma. They would install a stainless steel tank, only to very big cattle plants.
You had a sticking, knife joined to a hose.
When you bled the animal, the blood came down the knife and was sucked up the tube into the refrigerated stainless steel tank, not unlike the bulk milk tanks in dairies. The medical trade was a small part of the business and the money never shown on the books, this was “Pin Money” or pocket money usually for the plant manager or owner.
Chapter sixteen.
The Offal Trade.
The offal from a steer or heifer consisted of Head and Tongue, Heart, Lungs, Liver, Skirt, Tail, Call Fat and Kidneys, Brains. In 1954 Butchers killing their own cattle, had the offal “pro-gratis”, the butcher buying his beef, would usually buy the beef offal by the set, two pounds or three pounds a set.
He could bone the head for mince, cook and press the tongue for slicing, render the call fat for dripping. 
The other items he would sell fresh over the counter.
With lambs you had the head and the pluck, the pluck was windpipe, lungs liver and heart.
The head before the war, was used by the working class, for broth or stew.
By 1954 the only thing saved was the brains and tongue.
The lights or lungs would usually go for pet food. The hearts and livers over the counter.
In the spring of the year the sweet breads were saved, thyroid land also the testicles from Ram suck lambs, known as lambs Fries. The heart bread was also a delicacy..
Pigs you had the pluck and the spleen and call fat.
The Midlands of England, used the whole pluck to make Faggots, this was heart liver, lungs all minced then cooked with spices, made into balls and wrapped in the call fat.
Delicious, is an understatement, the Pubs in the Midlands would serve up faggots and mushy peas.
The pigs head could be boned for sausage, or cooked to make brawn depending on the part of England you were in.
Braun was traditionally a north of England dish.
Tripe was cleaned in the big slaughterhouses and by some butchers, yet with the good pet food prices it was a dying art.
When the French market opened a whole new world opened for offal.
The French had been used to high prices for meat for so long, the poorer people were glad to get offal, as they could not afford meat.
Several of the Smithfield Wholesalers had offal stalls, namely Warman and Gutteridge, Hensons, Gee and Webb and Dufaires.
The Meat Trades Journal published the offal prices each week.
The offal used to be put in polythene bags and thrown under the carcass for delivery.
In the summer months, a lot of offal was lost, due to the hot weather and no refrigeration, on the trucks, or in the slaughterhouses. I can still recall eating lambs liver the day of killing, it was like Devon fudge nothing to beat it, you could it with a spoon.
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Chapter Seventeen.
Transport of Livestock and Meat.
The trains were the first long distance movers of livestock, every station goods yard had a set of cattle pens.
The animals would arrive at the station then taken by drovers to the market or abattoir.
When the railways became to expensive, the cattle trucks got bigger and bigger from all being 20 ft to 24 ft.
Then 28 ft and 32 ft came into play.
Lamb trucks went from two decks to four decks. 
Cattle from one deck to two decks.
Most trucks today are 40 ft two decks for cattle 55/60 head, four decks for sheep 450/ 550 sheep depending on size.
This is a big change in the Industry, the meat stopped going by rail, by the early sixties.
It really was such a tragedy, Dr Beecham, closing down the railways and pulling up the tracks.
Nine Elms station in London, received all the meat containers, 140 lambs per container.
They were pulled from the station goods yard, by little three wheel articulated tractors.
Today all the meat goes in 40 ft refrigerated containers taking 800 lambs or 60 bodies of beef or 350 pigs.
The meat is all now refrigerated. Smithfield used to have 2/300 small 16 ft trucks delivering meat to retailers, once sold on the market, none refrigerated.
These little white trucks, were like lies around a jam pot, each night and morning in ECI
It was not long before the Irish Boys stopped using the Boat Train, they now had 40 ft trucks Roll on Roll off on the Ferry.
The railways were now finished, for all time, to transport livestock and meat.
I recall Eric Vick Transport of Gloucester, sending me two empty three deck trucks to take sheep to France from Exeter Market in 1967.
When the local farmers saw the size of the trucks, you would think the circus had come to Town.
So much has changed in fifty years and most of it for the better, with the exception of the use of water in cleaning carcass’s.
Without doubt this shortens the life of the meat and I believe, spreads more bacteria than it removes.
Perhaps the greatest invention in meat transport was the Market Loader. I am surprised all trucks are not fitted with one, and of course the hydraulic tail gate.
Someone coming back today, who died in the early fifties, would think they are in “Outer Space”.
The one thing I forgot until I came to Argentina was the Butchers Delivery Bike.
Usually big black bicycles with a metal frame on the front, to put a basket in.
The basket was for the delivery boy, to deliver meat to people’s homes.
31
Chapter Eighteen.
Diseases and Disasters.
The 1958 out break of foot and mouth was bad, this hit the Midlands and South West England.
In those days, holes were dug on the farms, the animals buried before they bloated, covered with lime and that was that.
The outbreak in 1963 was similar and just as bad, yet soon brought under control the same as 1958.
The 1967 outbreak was a disaster and bought the meat trade, to a virtual standstill.
The MAFF in their wisdom, blamed the bones of the Argentinean Beef, as it all came in frozen carcass.
This didn’t stand up, as the bones or carcass’s never came into contact with farms of animals.
It has been suggested this was “Pay Back” by Lord Vestey, for all his plants being nationalized in Argentina and the Vestey Group given marching orders.
Today I live in Argentina and involved in the meat industry, Mark Vestey was down here recently, when I broached the subject, he just smiled and said “Rubbish”. No matter in November 1967 Argentina Beef on the bone, was banned by the UK.
The Argentineans invented Cryvac and with German engineering, perfected the vacuum pack.
By the time they were ready to go into full production, England joined the EEC, this meant no Argentinean Beef, only quotas.
The most recent outbreak of foot and mouth in 2001 was a total disaster, leaving stock in fields for weeks with birds, foxes picking at the remains.
Thirty years after the last out break, yet 100 years behind the times in handling it.
Try and burn just one sheep carcass and you will see what I mean.
As for the BSE, mad cow disease, its my opinion, no link has yet been established between this and the food chain, it’s the old adage of what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t bleed over.
I could tell tales of abattoirs and butchers shops, especially sausage making that would make your hair stand on end.
I recall an Indian girl worked for me in Australia, in my small goods factory.
She came from the biggest small goods company in Australia “Primo Foods”.
Making sausages on her first day she said “Mr Hayes, what is this red meat you are using, at Primo we only use green and brown meat”.
From the lips of fools children and Indian Sausage Makers.
Going back to the BSE the Ministry of Agriculture were an examining lambs blood, for twelve months thinking it was cow blood.
Many men made a lot of money on the Cow Cull.
The Government was paying initially 100 pounds a cow plus the hide thirty pounds.
AIBP Ireland had four plants in moth balls in England, they soon opened up and were away in production.
The By Products men like John Pointon, were laughing all the way to the bank.
Yet it was the end of the cow trade in England and the end of the big cow abattoirs, Cobdens Martock, John Scott Saltcoats Scotland and Midland Meats Crick Nothampton, Frans Buitilaar Boston Lincoln...
There days are over and gone, not to be seen again in my lifetime.
The Irish Boys got out pretty unscathed, yet the Irish Department of Agriculture was always ahead of the UK.
This going back to the American trade, of the fifties and the strict requirements of the USDA.
The Disasters I suppose the biggest was the winding up of Hawkers in Chard.
Followed by the German Company, that ruined John Scott, Doug Clays Brother, Basil Palmer, Lesle Hughs and Dufaires of London.
There have been several Big Blow Ups in the Pakistani trade Halal Meats Southall was probably the biggest.
Bridgeman of Devon hurt many small farmers, in his collapse, as did my own Company Exbourne in 1968.
Halal Meats Ballyhaunis, Angelsy and Locherbie, Sher Rafique was the Biggest Lamb Producer in Europe.
Halal Meat Bishop St Birmingham lost everything, they were Pioneers of the Halal Industry.
Invicta Meats that took over Marshals of Lamberhurst, Foot and Mouth stopped Dick Cawthorn in his tracks.
The biggest disaster was the demise of the Vestey organization. The “Royal Family” of the meat Industry for 100 years.
The Pioneers of Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Imports to England The Vestey family have been in my life since I was 12 years old.
I could not believe on returning to England, Borthwicks, Swifts Zwananbergs, Armours, Sansaina, C.A.P Cyril Hurvitz. All gone and lost for ever, many of those companies especially Vestey, Leibigs will never be forgotten, Toby Cobben, Frans Buitlaar, Pioneers, Men of Vision, men before their time.
Some of the other people are best forgotten Jimmy Sanger, Basil Palmer, Leslie Hughs, the Rolls Royce men, riding out on a Bicycle.
The biggest personal disaster, was the third generation butcher in Scotland a beautiful shop, bakehouse, small goods, staff of sixteen people.
Someone got Salmonella from meat in his shop, cooked meat, ham I believe.
They died, he was put out of business after three generations, charged with initially manslaughter, then reduced to a lesser charge, yes of course I share grief with the Family of the victim.
I also sympathize with the butcher a man who tried to do everything correct, cooking meat is always dangerous, pork is a delicate meat, perhaps the Jews and Moslems have it right.
Maybe not eating pork unless there is an “R” in the month like the old days.
Having said this if my maid put a bacon sandwich in front of me on the hottest day in June.. I would taste the smell, while it was frying, eat it without one moments hesitation.
People are too healthy today, we are too delicate, we have no immune system left in us.
Equally with air conditioning and heating we are more delicate to Colds and Flue.
I have no science on Technology, to back up my opinion only Fifty Years in the Meat Game on 21st July 2004.
Chapter Nineteen.
The Supermarkets.
In 1954 there were hundreds of small breweries all over England.
By the end of the sixties only the big five Watney Mann, Bass, Charringtons, Whitbread, Newcastle and Scottish.
In 1954 we have covered the multiple butchers, all gone, the supermarkets like the breweries are now Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda (Wal Mart) Morrisons (Safeway) the Big Four.
Tesco handle 40 %of the meat in Engalnd.
The Irish Boys control the English meat plants, with one great exception St Merryn Meats Wadebridge Cornwall, this company took over North Devon Meat from Hillesdown Holdings.
They geared themselves to supply product to Tesco upermarket chain.
Value adding the meat as much as possible.
The obvious thing to do, is cut the meat, pack the meat, at the abattoirs you save labor, packing, transport all expensive items.
St Merryn have gone from strength to strength in the last ten years. 
They now control plants in Australia, Brazil and Argentina.
Sound familiar, Terry Johnson the CEO of St Merryn Meats, is the Lord Vestey of the new millennium.
This shows again how the Meat Trade has changed, logistics and costing’ direct to supermarket shelf.
Cutting out all the middle men, again sound familiar, the modern day Vestey Organisation.
Terry Johnson will go down in history and be one of these brave characters, to keep our trade alive.
Johnson was first in, best dressed, I am confident people will model themselves on him for years to come.
When I closed my abattoir in Devon in 1970.
All my staff went to North Devon Meat, I trained them all, so I know a little about St Merryn from the Horses Mouth, my Old Slaughter-men.
I have nothing but admiration for Pioneers. Vestey, Borthwick, Frans Builtlaar, Peter Blackburn, Toby Cobden, Curly Bell to name but a few.
Jack Clarfelt, Mickey Ziff, Hermin Van Vlyman, Lary Goodman, the Baker Boys.
These are the men that made our Industry “The Meat Game” not a game for the faint hearted.
Today the four big supermarket chains dictate the trade, the prices, because the person who really controls it all, is the House Wife. The amount of money she allocates from her housekeeping to meat, dictates it all.
Very few people think of this, if Mrs Smith chooses to Cut Down on her meat for a week, the Domino Effect goes right down the chain to the farmer.
Two things I have never seen, are a Satisfied Farmer or a Dead Donkey. No matter what prices are for livestock it is never enough.
I must mention Robin Heffer of Southern Meats and Romford Wholesale Meat.
Robin had a depot in Romford, the phone number was Romford 40227 nearly forty years ago, I sold Robin pigs in the sixties from early seventies I sold him beef from Ireland. I recall he liked big Smithfield cutting steers.
I forgot all about him for 30 years, then heard he had bought into Richard Cobdens Business at Langport in Somerset.
Richard was Toby Cobdens Son, mentioned in the Chapter on cows.
I was reading the Sunday Times Rich List of the top 1000 people, there was Robin Heffer.
Congratulations Robin you were always a shrewd buyer of meat, I remember you preferred pigs from Stoffers in Newbury to mine and beef from FMC Newry rather than mine, but you did help me out from time to time..
I wish you continued success in the future.
I was informed at Robins new plant, the Animal Walks in one end, goes out on a Supermarket Tray, at the other.
This is the Meat Industry of 2004.
When I think of all the handling, loading, unloading of 160 lb quarters of beef, let alone the movement of cattle.
Some of the cattle if today, would be eligible for Frequent Flyer Points.
This is all a far cry from Bill Knapman in the Lambeth Walk on a Saurday night.
Chapter Twenty.
The Irish Boys.
Prior to 1954 most of the Irish Cattle went live to England, to be killed in English Abattoirs.
The two main reasons, bad refrigeration and being killed in England could be sold as English Beef at premium prices.
The main shippers were the Goodman Family, the Horgan Family, the Purcell Family and the Faheys and The Mollihan Brothers.
The English Boys would come to Dublin Saleyards, each Monday and buy cattle.
Tom Swires of Leeds, Willy Parker Leicester, Weston Brothers, City Meats, Monks of Birmingham, to name but a few.
This was a man called Seamus Coonahan who was a character and a half.
Seamus was a good Dealer and good Operator.
He decided to build a State of the Art Beef Plant in Grand Canal Street Dublin.
Seamus had plans drawn, modeled on the Argentinean plant at Yaguanne in Buenos Aires.
The plant was vertical dressing, German Engineering and 20 years before its time, added to this, it was going to cost a cool million pounds. 50 million of todays money.
Seamus had the right idea, he would kill 2000 Cattle a week, send to England in Carcase form.
He would have the market to himself. He borrowed the money from Eagle Star Insurance,
They backed the Man and the idea, when the Plant was built in 1956 it had gone well over budget.
Seamus had no money to buy cattle, Eagle Star put Receivers into Grand Canal, “The White Elephant of Dublin” Crowleys at Roscasa, previously mentioned, had been the Kings of the Meat Trade prior to this.
Frank Quinn was killing a few cattle, in the Old Dublin Abattoir and in 1957 could sense things were changing, health controls becoming more strict, lucrative quotas to the USA for Cow Beef were on offer.
Frank rented Grand Canal for 100 pounds a week, Eagle Star were happy to take his money.
Terry Kennedy was Company Accountant and General Manager, that was the birth of Irish Meat Packers.
Frank was a drinking chronic alcoholic and what a character, yet clever shrewd and a good Meat Man.
They made millions for the next five years and built a new state of the art plant a Leixlip and a second one at Middleton in County Cork.
In 1968 Cork Marts wanted to buy into the Meat Trade.
Frank sold IMP for 3 ¼ Million pounds. The Deal was 1 ¼ million Cash, one million after first year, if they made money, balance in the second year if they made money. Terry Kennedy stayed on as Company Secretary, Frank retired.
Year One they made 14,000, so paid Frank his million.
Year two they lost 300,000, however Terry Kennedy took the Auditors around the Cold Stores three times, placing Stocks at a value of 500,000.Therefore in profit.
Terry paid Frank his second million, resigned before the shit hit the Fan.
Cork Marts blustered on for ten years and never made a profit. The other big players were Clover Meats who combined Bacon with the Beef at Waterford, Clonmel, Limmerick and Cork.
They were big players, the bacon subsidized the beef for years, they also had a good Domestic Market for canned goods and sausage.
The rest of the Irish Meat Industry was FMC at Sallins and Newry FMC bought Newry from Dalgety in 1970.
Alf Meade had Bagnastown and Omagh, the Meade Lonsdale group mentioned Earlier.
Jack Clarfelt had Castlebar and Monaghan bacon and beef.
Then there was Lyons at Longford, Hanlys at Roosky all small players.
The Irish were twenty years ahead of the English in Big Plants, Beef plants, especially.
Within fifteen years Larry Goodman had opened Dundalk, Hugh Tunney had opened Clones.
The lambs in Ireland were controlled by Paddy Lynch at Ballinsaloe, Paddy Nolan at Ballymon and later Paddy Lynch at Ballyjamesduff, Lyons at Longford and Bert Allen at Slayney Meats.
When Intervetion came in 1974 all the lamb plants turned to beef, building the famous Beef Mountain, profits were 100 pounds an animal and more, no plants had facilities to Freeze their full production, beef was frozen in containers, on pallets in Public Cold Stores.
The plants just kept killing, the Government just kept paying.
This left all the lambs in Ireland to Halal meats in Ballyhaunis, who had purchased a little lamb plant for 44,000 pounds.
I sold the first lambs for Ballyhaunis in 1974 to Socieviandes in Paris.
By 1976 they were killing
Source: newsroom - meattradenewsdaily.co.uk
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