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The North Island based Hereford Prime butcher is so enthusiastic about the branded beef he has recently established his own registered Hereford herd.
“I would like to see more pure bred Herefords come through,” says Mike.  Trev West is one of the 40 staff employed by Magills He has established his own Hereford herd so he can experiment for differences in the resulting beef. The new Pirongia herd is on the van der Hoeven’s property just out of Te Awamutu and Mike has plans to produce award winning carcases – either pure Hereford or cross bred. But he was coy about sharing his exact plans just yet. Ten females had been purchased (at the time of going to press) from the Taimana, Ascot and Harbour Hills herds. Mike describes Magills Meats as being similar to traditional butchers. “Everything we sell, we produce. We do the whole lot.” Hereford Prime beef is sold and distributed exclusively. “Hereford Prime is our flagship product. It works really well,” says Mike. He says it leaves any other beef in its wake. “There are others but they aren’t consistent. Hereford Prime is consistently top quality beef and that’s the biggest thing – quality,” says Mike. The business has grown substantially having started out supplying wholesale meat to a new supermarket in Te Awamutu. The supermarket approached Magills asking them to process meat for them, an offer too good to turn down. As that venture came to an end Magills and the supermarket ended up with stores on opposite sides of the same car park. Despite the obvious competition Mike says his business has never looked back. Combining the retail and wholesale components of the business complimented each other and the constant pursuit of quality and service has meant continual growth. Magills are killing an average of 190 head of cattle a month (50/week) year-round. They also process about 50 pigs/week, and 50-60 sheep/week with the sheep meat sometimes having to be topped up by buying in additional cuts to fulfill seasonal fluctuations. Mike says the Magills stock buyer Dave Wheelan (also helped by PGG Wrightson agents) has high standards and nothing is slaughtered unless Dave is 100% happy with it. Ruakura Abattoir slaughters the beef before the carcases are carted to Te Awamutu for cutting up and aging. Once the Hereford Prime is aged it is then dispatched for distribution in one of the five Magills delivery vehicles that are on the road.  Kate Hastie who co-ordinates the orders for Magills. Mike says quality is the foremost of his business philosophies, a contrast to numerous other businesses operating on price. “If we can offer service plus quality people will pay for that.” He says consumers will pay a premium within reason for quality. Unconditional quality is where Mike believes Hereford Prime fits well. Ensuring that quality remains starts with the stock buyer and is ensured by systems throughout the abattoir and processing. The beef is processed to Hereford Prime specifications and then aged. The beef is hung on the bone for 3-7 days before being cut and vacuum and shrink packed for aging for a minimum of 14 days. Mike says the aging process provides diners with an even textured cut of beef which retains moisture without pooling on the plate. Mike says hanging on the bone is a natural process and allows the muscle to set the way it should providing a superior eating experience. The aging process, which is done at between 0-3 degrees, is continually monitored. The Ruakura Abattoir is key to Magills maintaining their standards of quality and Mike says they do a good job of handling the carcases. There are about 22 staff at the abattoir who sustain the killing capacity of 105 beef carcases a day. They also process sheep for Magills. Magills supply Hereford Prime to some major players in the North Island’s food and hospitality industry. Among them is Montana Catering. Montana Catering exclusively serve Hereford Prime beef and are contracted for some of the bigger events held in the greater Waikato region from the A1 grand prix at Taupo to the Hamilton V8 street races to the corporate boxes at Waikato Stadium, the Waikato Business Awards and many other major sporting and social fixtures. Montana Catering will also be serving Hereford Prime at the David Tua – Shane Cameron fight in June. Head chief Fraser Kerr said he likes Hereford Prime because of the consistency. “It is always good and the cold boning is the major difference, giving us the quality product.” “We use it exclusively at everything, plated meals or carvery’s for thousands of people.” “We feed so many people and we can’t afford to have a bad experience,” says Fraser. He says Hereford Prime may be slightly more expensive but as a chef the consistent quality provides him with confidence knowing that each serving at any function will be perfect.  Michael van Mierlo in the boning room of Magills Meats, Te Awamutu. For Hereford Prime’s premium cuts to be successful there needs to be an outlet for the sub-primal cuts. Mike has carved out specialist contracts it this area supplying retirement homes, boarding schools and prisons. Hereford Prime itself is supplied to most of the top restaurants and new sales rep Eric Cornwell signed up 13 new restaurants in December alone. Mike confesses to being passionate about meat and machinery, making butchery the ideal career path. “The more I can do with meat and machines the better,” he says with a smile. This interest is evident on the processing line with technology developments being monitored and introduced where possible. Technology for getting the best from cuts of meat is employed and one of the latest acquisitions is a “tumbler”. This is used to enhance the succulence and tenderness of ham. The tumbler holds about 400kg of ham and manipulates the ham for a heightened eating experience. A dicing machine allows Magills to be competitive with diced beef (taken from the Hereford Prime sub-primal cuts). Mike says the labour of physically dicing sub-primal beef is prohibitive but the dicing machine allows Magills to compete on price, a benefit to consumers. A food safety programme has also just been implemented. It’s believed this makes Magills one of the first privately owned and operated butchers to have it in place. The food safety programme relates to record keeping, cleaning products, who did what, wearing the appropriate protection gear and batch numbers, providing stricter control and traceability within the system. Magills employ 40 full time staff (plus school students during the holidays) servicing a loyal and strong North Island client base. It is believed they are one of the largest privately owned butcher shops operating. To better serve his customers, Mike would like to see the factory expand and is working towards positioning the business to be able to do so. Slightly further growth in sales is needed to warrant the expansion, but Mike says they are nearing that point every day. The extent of expansion depends on decisions made by the third generation. Son Ben has just completed his butchers training, but Mike says any of his family are capable of entering the business. However there is no obligation or pressure to do so. Looking ahead Mike says the quality of Hereford Prime will see it endure. For the future his ultimate scenario would be to build his own abattoir, processing 200-300 carcases a week. He’s undertaken tentative research into this and knows if it were to go ahead it wouldn’t be without its challenges. But he also has his sights on winning the Steak of Origin title, having been a finialist numerous years. Now he has his own Hereford herd it could only be a matter of time before Mike van der Hoeven takes to the stage to collect that accolade.
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