At the butcher Martin Mayr, the animal dies without stress or fear.
With his battle trailer he drove to the Allgäuer Höfe.
At the same time, mobile slaughter has its price.
Baisweil - Dying without fear.
This is not possible in an animal transporter with more than 30 animals.
The way from the farm to the slaughterhouse is stressful for the animals.
It's different with butcher Martin Mayr.
He comes to the animals and slaughters them directly on the farm in familiar surroundings.
In an interview with
Merkur.de
, the butcher explains why he chose this path.
Mobile slaughter since 2021: start with high investment
Exactly two years ago, the 32-year-old opted for mobile slaughter.
"In April 2021 we slaughtered for the first time," he recalls.
Martin Mayr has invested heavily in this business model.
He and his cooperation partner Günztal-Weiderind put almost 160,000 euros in start-up capital into the small company.
Mayr bought a slaughter trailer and rented a butcher's shop with almost 70 square meters in Baisweil, in the Swabian district of Ostallgäu.
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Butcher Martin Mayr comes to the animals and slaughters them directly on the farm in familiar surroundings.
© IG slaughter with caution
In mobile slaughter, the animals die without fear
"The mammoth project would not have been possible without financial support and help with the funding application," says Martin Mayr.
But all the effort was worth it.
For him, the goal of stress-free slaughtering still stands above everything else.
People should value meat and the creature behind it more.
"I want the animals to be able to die without fear."
The trained butcher himself worked in a large slaughterhouse for seven years.
In 2018 he saw a report on mobile slaughter on Bayerischer Rundfunk.
"By slaughtering on the farm, we can take some of the suffering off the animal." Almost three years later, he dared to take the step into independence.
A mobile battle unit
The mobile slaughter unit MSE-200A is about the size of a car trailer.
As an EU-certified slaughterhouse, the mobile is a full-fledged slaughter room.
It consists of a 19 square meter enclosed work area with a bleeding tilting table
and hygiene devices as well as an extendable and retractable fixing module with feeding station.
Martin Mayr is on the move at around 70 farms.
Sometimes once a month, sometimes once a year.
He even drives to Send.
Otherwise, Ober- and Unterallgäu, Peiting and Schongau belong to its regions.
In addition to the farmer, there is always a local official veterinarian present.
The butcher must submit an application to the veterinary office in advance and agree on an appointment for the slaughter.
The entire process of a mobile farm slaughter is stipulated by law.
Martin Mayr brings the slaughterhouse to the animal
A few days before that, Martin Mayr set up a catching stand with fodder on the farm.
The animals can get used to the feeding fence during this time.
On the day of slaughter, the butcher brings a clean catch stand.
Normally, the cattle go into the catch stand without help, just by attracting the feed.
Then the neck bar closes and the cow is fixed.
In the event of complications, the butcher cancels the action.
Then, a few days later, he tries again.
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Butcher Martin Mayr comes to the animals and slaughters them directly on the farm in familiar surroundings.
© IG slaughter with caution
If everything goes according to plan, Martin Mayr says goodbye to the fixed cow and stuns it with the bolt.
He then pulls the cattle into the mobile slaughterhouse and stabs him in the chest.
The butcher bleeds the animal dry in the trailer and drives it to his slaughterhouse in Beisweil or to an external slaughterhouse.
With sufficient capacity, the 32-year-old prefers to process the animal in his own halls.
For this he has a slaughter room, a cutting room and two cold rooms.
Everything is recycled.
The tanner collects the hides.
Fat melt for birdseed is produced from the beef fat.
Hardly anything is thrown.
Just skulls, brains and intestines.
On average, Mayr slaughters three to four cattle a week.
That's good, but he can't make a living from it.
Two days a week he works part-time in an excavator company.
That will probably not change in the near future.
People would go on vacation more and not invest so much money in good meat.
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Regionality, animal welfare and quality have their price
Martin Mayr would like to see a greater appreciation for animals and food.
Regionality and animal welfare have their price.
Then there is the top quality.
"The animal dies without stress and you can taste it," explains the butcher.
No adrenaline rushes through the cow in the final seconds before death.
Sure, that affects the meat.
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Butcher Martin Mayr comes to the animals and slaughters them directly on the farm in familiar surroundings.
© IG slaughter with caution
A kilo of roulades for 26.90 euros.
Everything is included in the beef mix package, the most popular combination.
In the summer season, the somewhat more elegant barbecue package is also popular.
With fillet pieces and club steak it is a bit more expensive.
"Most of it goes to private individuals, but the expansion with the catering trade is in progress." He sometimes sends the meat as far as Hamburg by express delivery.
In addition, the people of the Allgäu can also pick up their steak directly in Beisweil.
Martin Mayr knows that not everyone can afford it.
Nevertheless, he is convinced of mobile slaughter.
“The animals spend their whole lives on the farm.
I think they have the right to die with dignity.”
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