14 | RURAL PEOPLE » Matangi Ltd The vision of two Hawkes Bay families Sue Russell Producing the best Angus beef in the country is the shared vision of two enterprising Hawkes Bay families – farm owners Robert and Inge Haselsteiner and farm owners and managers Jamie and Nicky Gaddum. Austrian’s Robert and Inge fell in love with New Zealand and happened to be looking for a farm to buy here at the same time as Jamie was managing a farm on the coast and starting to think he wanted a change. “Together we found our goals and vision which was to grow the best grass fed Angus beef in New Zealand for New Zealanders and we’ve gone a very long way to achieve that,” Jamie says. To achieve that goal Matangi Angus Beef control every step of the journey, from the breeding programme, the environment the animals are reared in, the finishing off and the processing and Jamie says its this control that is providing their customers with surety and consistency of quality. All cattle are born on Matangi farm and enjoy life on this typical steep Hawkes Bay property owned by Robert and Inge. They are then transferred at 6 months old for finishing to Atua Farm, owned by Jamie and Nicky, about 20 minutes away. It begins with genetic selection of the sires and the dams around EBV’s focusing on carcass traits including IMF and EMA. “We wanted consistency so we decided we had to control the breeding from the outset. We wanted a cow herd that centred on carcass traits above all else. We started off in 2016 with 28 animals and we adopted the same philosophy for bull selection to get a calf on the ground that would carry those traits, and have the best potential for marbling” The herd are kept with their same mates and have access to excellent quality grass every day of their life, to ensure they enjoy a stress-free enviroment as this creates the right structure of meat with great marbling. If an animal experiences feed-stress then the first thing that impacts is the IMF, which begins to break down. “To seek validation we were doing things well we sent samples of our meat to top chefs and the response was overwhelmingly positive.” Each week between 4 – 6 animals are killed at Progressive Meats in Hastings which is 15 mins from the farm. The meat is independently graded for eating quality including marble score to ensure they can offer their customers a quality eating experience. The whole carcasses are then collected in their chiller truck and delivered to their purpose-built butchery in Hastings, where the carcasses hang in quarters for 21 days in their chillers to improve tenderness and flavour. The butchery is not only used as a processing facility but has a showroom and retail store with a custom built dry aging room on display, so their customers have the option of having their particular cut of beef dry-aged. The pursuit of excellence has certainly carried over and been expressed in the way the butchery looks and operates, as Jamie explains. “We wanted the butchery to present like a showroom. Mechanical & general engineering Certified welding Repairs & maintenance Bespoke builds Mobile field service 111 Te Mata Mangateretere Road, Hastings 0800 GCW ENG (0800 429 364) | office@gcw.nz | www.gcw.nz Proudly supporting the Matangi team The butchery is not only used as a processing facility but has a showroom and retail store with a custom built dry aging room on display, so their customers have the option of having their particular cut of beef dry-aged. There are large photos displayed of the farms and animals, and messaging as to our values on the windows, along with a special dry-aging cabinet. It was an exciting moment for us when we opened the butchery in February last year.” Dry-aging meat brings profound improvements to its structure and taste. During the process, natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the meat and allow the moisture to evaporate, concentrating the flavour. All carcasses are hung in a chiller before being presented for sale to customers, but the dry-aging facility provides another option to age it further, should customers wish. “It’s like a big chiller held at 2-4°C where the humidity is controlled at 80%, by a DRY AGER Unit imported from Germany.” As more customers sample the dry aged product, custom dry aging is becoming more popular. The price of the product is dependant on the duration of time in the dry ager, and gives the discerning customer a special experience.
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