Calls to enrol in butcher courses at TAFE as demand for meat increases

Butchers’ jobs involve more than tradies ‘cutting carcasses’ but a retiring workforce has made it tough to recruit apprentices despite the demand for their services coming to the fore during Covid.

It’s an increasingly plant-diet world but the strong demand for meat for Covid has continued, prompting calls for more workers to fill positions left by butchers hanging up the cleavers and retiring.

Supply-chain issues that left supermarket shelves stripped of the bare essentials, including meat, during lockdowns highlighted the value of local butchers but the Australian Meat Industry Council has found that about a third of independent retail butchers need staff.

The council says employment forecasts indicate the occupation will grow by 11.2 per cent by 2026.

Experienced butchers blame the shortage on long hours and more attractive jobs.

At Bungaree Butchery, Toongabbie, only two applicants responded to a job advertisement a week after it was posted.

“I just think it’s the times we’re in,’’ butcher Steve Carlaw said.

“More are into IT and stuff. A lot of trades are short on tradesmen.’’

Bungaree Butchery’s Steve Carlaw says he was one of many apprentices when he began his trade aged 16. Picture: Monique Harmer

Mr Carlaw, 55, has been a butcher for almost 40 years.

“There were a lot of apprentice butchers when I started out and there were a lot more shops too,’’ he said.

“A lot of shops closed.’’

Tender Gourmet Butchery owner Adam Stratton, who has shops at Hornsby, Macquarie Park, Bondi and Warringah, has struggled to entice apprentices.

“We can’t find staff at all,’’ he said.

“I don’t think it’s so much the trade, I think it’s really hard to find staff at the moment. We’ve got to get up early, there’s long days and you’re on your feet all day.

“I just don’t think the kids want to do that. They’re just a little more picky, Even my friends that are electricians, they can’t find apprentices.’’

But there are drawcards too. If there were any misconceptions butchers spend all day slicing flesh, Mr Stratton has debunked them, saying a lot of their skills involve artisan techniques and making pies.

“We’re a lot more fancier than when we were cutting carcasses,’’ he said.

He said customers flocked to small butchers during Covid lockdowns when meat flew off the shelves at supermarkets.

“We had the Christmas rush for up to four or five weeks in Covid,’’ he said.

Butcher Adam Stratton with some of his award-winning gourmet sausages at Tender Gourmet Butchery in Hornsby. Picture: Joel Carrett

Not one attracted to an office job, Nathan Higgs is a third-year apprentice at Granville TAFE and is studying meat processing retail butchery. 

“Throughout school my favourite subjects were biology and hospitality, so I decided to become a butcher because it’s a perfect mixture of both,” he said.

“I learn a lot of practical skills at TAFE NSW that I can apply directly into the workplace, such as providing customers with advice on the different methods of cookery, and a deeper understanding of the industry.

“I love learning about the anatomy of the meat cuts, and that every day is different.” 

TAFE NSW meat and allied trades head teacher Ben Barrow said apprentices were taught skills such as how to break down carcass meat, trimming smaller cuts of meat, honing artisan techniques and learning about cooking methods and the nutritional role of meat.

“Consumers are changing the face of the meat industry with demands on ethically farmed produce and an expectation of food provenance,” Mr Barrow said.

Granville TAFE student Nathan Higgs loves training to be a butcher.

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Originally published as Calls to enrol in butcher courses at TAFE as demand for meat increases