MeatCrew is lending a hand to other meat producers

On top of raising their three children and Xavier working as a carpenter, the couple spent their days raising beautiful free-range Berkshire and Duroc pigs.

But apparently this wasn't enough.

So now the couple from Barongarook Pork have kicked off another business, and not only does it help with their ever-growing pork business, it also lends a hand to other producers.

Their idea for their MeatCrew business, which cuts up, packages and can even deliver meat for customers, came about thanks to their thriving free-range pork business.

The Meade family from Barongarook, Victoria, runs 75 Berkshire sows at their Irrewarra property. Their gorgeous free-range sows are joined to Berkshire and Duroc boars.

What makes their pork so amazing is the fact the pigs spend their days just being pigs - foraging on pasture, digging, wallowing and snoozing under trees in the paddocks.

But producing 1000 bodies a year was no mean feat, and the process of having the pork cut up and packaged, as well as delivered, was proving tricky for the Meades.

"We were getting them cut up at Murnane's Country Fresh Meats, and they were great, but there was only so much they could do in a week," Xavier said.

He said there was strong demand for a boutique butcher service which could process beef, lamb, goat, venison and pigs.

"We'd had it in the back of our minds for a while, but we just decided to do it," he said.

So in November last year, MeatCrew was born.

The Meade family knows how important it is for producers to trust their meat is being cut up and packaged with care, so they offer a service that is perfect for producers just like them.

Customers can call up and book their meat in with MeatCrew. Xavier then books them into the abattoir, or producers can take care of this part of the process themselves. Xavier picks them up from the abattoir once they have been processed.

He has an amazing brand new boning room facility in Colac, which is temperature controlled.

The fantastic facility also has a smokehouse for creating ham and bacon, and facilities to make charcuterie and aged beef are in the works.

"It's Mickey Mouse," Xavier said.

Xavier and his butcher Clint O'Brien then cut up the meat, package and label it.

They can also deliver the meat directly to customers.

"We can pretty well get the meat into the customers' hands without the producer having to do anything more," he said.

"We can also give feedback about the meat, so there is that transparency there.

"You can find out exactly what your carcases are producing, like six kilos of porterhouse or eight kilos of scotch. That way you can cost things out and know exactly what you are producing."

And even though they process their own Barongarook Pork there, they are still more than happy to process other producers' pigs.

The best part is the service is not only for producers wanting their meat cut up for customers - it is also for people who want meat cut up for their own use.

"We can deliver boxed meat to customers Victoria-wide," he said. "But we can also cut up meat as a freezer filler."