The organisation which represents rural butchers is feeling the pinch from a drop in membership, as operators come under financial pressure from falling stock numbers and the recession.
The rural butchers group is part of Federated Farmers. It represents mainly small-scale operators who provide home-kill services for farmers and others who want stock processed for their own use.
It started when a major tightening of regulations covering the home kill trade meant rural butchers needed a body to representative them.
Chairman Gibby Campbell says membership numbers have fallen to half the level they were two years ago, which he blames on a number of factors.
Meanwhile, a 'code of practice for commercial slaughter' is to be published soon.
Mr Campbell says the code, which took many years to assemble, has the potential to impose significant additional costs on many rural butchery operations.
