New Namibia Game Meat Plant

Before I left on my trip I went to the local "South African" store looking to pick up some meat, preferably Kudu. To no avail. Apparently the Beef industry here seems to be scared of some of those diseases and won't let them import it. They tried....
Not impressed!
Best substitute available; Pap! Interesting, but tough to Braai.

I just found this article and it gave me some hope of being able to taste some Kudu on the Braai here at home.
Lyle Renecker is a game rancher in Ontario, Canada. (he raises elk for sale to restaurants.)
With this news that he is obviously investing in Namibia and going to process Kudu and SPringbok with a view to export to North America. I can only hope that means Canada too.

Wonder what my shipping fees will be for that Eland and Kudu meat from the next trip??


Namibia launches R19 million game meat plant
Sun, 15 April 2012


Renecker's Palace Hillside Elk Farm of Canada, along with an investment group of about five game ranchers in Namibia, and US-based Indian Gally International, recently opened a game ranch and meat processing plant in Gobabis in eastern Namibia.


"The facility aims to focus its operations on rearing, value addition to promote production, training, marketing and consumption of meat products," said manager Lyle Renecker. The plant was assembled at a cost of US$2,5 million (R19 million). According to Renecker, animals to be slaughtered at the facility include kudu and springbok.

"We are not restricted to the two (species). Basically any game species qualifies," he said. It is envisaged that the opening of the plant will provide employment opportunities for about 10 and 20 people. He said that the new processing facility will enable direct distribution to North America, Africa and South-East Asia.


Meanwhile, Willem Schutz, manager of information systems at the Meat Board of Namibia, said that the impact of game farming on the beef industry depends on the magnitude of the operation. According to Schutz, an increase in game farming could put pressure on volumes of beef and throughput at export abattoirs." Currently, we do have a shortage in volumes leading to low throughput at export abattoirs, compounded by high fixed costs. This makes it difficult to serve all our markets," Schutz said.


"However, they could complement each other in the targeted markets and if game meat production is planned and structured well, the impact should not be negative. As Namibia is negotiating access to high yield meat markets such as the US, game meat is considered a potentially valuable niche export.

By Servaas van den Bosch
Farmers weekly

Thanks!

in the uk you can buy eland, wildebeest, zebra, kudu, impala, gemsbok, ostrich, camel, springbok, crocodile etc. so we can buy the meat, but you can go and buy the guns. i know which choice i would prefer .

Originally Posted by spike.t

so we can buy the meat, but you can go and buy the guns. i know which choice i would prefer .

Good point! But it would be nice to have some kudu steaks.

would send you some but i have a sneaky suspicion that sniffer dogs might find it!!

Isn't game meat one of those things, where it tastes really great out in the bush, next to a camp fire and especially if you hunted and worked for the animal yourself and the just the whole experience around it, but I mean, there is no way game meat can compare to proper beef. So is it really worthwhile going through the trouble to get hold of frozen, months old game meat in the US or Canada??
Don't get me wrong, it's ok and I have a freezer full of Springbok meat which we'll enjoy, but it ain't beef..

Originally Posted by CapeHunter

Isn't game meat one of those things, where it tastes really great out in the bush, next to a camp fire and especially if you hunted and worked for the animal yourself and the just the whole experience around it, but I mean, there is no way game meat can compare to proper beef. So is it really worthwhile going through the trouble to get hold of frozen, months old game meat in the US or Canada??
Don't get me wrong, it's ok and I have a freezer full of Springbok meat which we'll enjoy, but it ain't beef..

The majority of my diet for my entire life has been venison. So, being able to throw another flavour into the mix would be just fine to me. Here's hoping.

In the US there are ranches, mainly in Texas, of various acreage (the famed King Ranch has, or had, close to 1 million acres!) where many African species can be hunted almost year round. Many ranches have large viable populations of naturally- breeding animals. I loved most African plains game that I ate on safari and in Joburg & Windhoek restaurants, my favorite was eland. As soon as I was back in the states I booked a "meat" hunt for a cow eland. I spent under $1,000 to shoot a discounted (ie-broken horn) cow eland. The hunt was no fish-in-a barrel; it took hours to find a herd and after several blown stalks I got my freezer filled with prime cuts. I flew home w/four 50 lb. boxes of culinary joy & donated the rest to a local food bank.