The Farmers Mart Aug/Sep 2015 - Issue 41 | Page 18

McIntyre Meats Carving their own meat niche in Wensleydale Chris Berry talks with Martin & Lindsey of McIntyre Meats »»It’s funny how people look at things when they don’t know the other person’s business. In the case of McIntyre Meats at East Borwins near Bainbridge it would be easy for some farmers to think that - because the abattoir is responsible for quite a bit of the area’s throughput of lamb at certain times of year - the owners Martin and Lindsey McIntyre have been immensely successful. It’s true that they’ve been nominated for awards such as the Meat & Poultry Processing Award as Small Processing Business of the Year and that again adds to the impression that they must be doing well. The further truth though is, that while they now have some good contracts and seemingly have their heads above water, this does not mean there can be any let up. It has been a long, hard road since they decided to build the abattoir on Lindsey’s dad’s (Tony Routh’s) farm just before foot and mouth disease decimated the area of livestock in 2001. “We’ve had some bad patches and at times we’ve really been on the back foot,” said Martin. “But I wouldn’t want us to bleat about it too much. Although those who think we had everything given to us in grants are very wrong. The abattoir cost us £1.2m to build and the grant all went on consultants. That side of it was just a farce. “Pre-foot and mouth disease we had thought what a good idea it would be to open an abattoir, but it didn’t look good when the disease hit. If we hadn’t already begun the building work we probably wouldn’t have started the business at all.” Hawes Farmers’ Auction Mart Company Ltd RENOWNED FOR QUALITY LIVESTOCK; MANY BUYERS RETURNING YEAR AFTER YEAR Services include; • Livestock Auctioneers & Valuers • Chartered Surveyors • Property & Land Sales • Farmers Advice Bureau Proud to be associated with Mc Intyre Meats and wish them continued success Est.100 years ago Tel: [phone] | www.hawesmart.co.uk | E: [email protected] Hawes Auction Mart, The Mart Office, Burtersett Road, Hawes, North Yorkshire, DL8 3NP 18 Aug/Sep 2015 www.farmers-mart.co.uk Penrith Auction Mart wish Martin and the team at McInt