Mobile abattoirs - viability and sustainability: report

Appendix 5: Cost Benefit Analysis Data

• Scenario Data and Descriptions
• Cost and value/price data

Calculations and Estimates used in the CBA

Compliance Costs

The results from the CBA are provided at the end of this section. Informing these costs is data and calculations, provided in the Excel spreadsheet accompanying this report. A number of the tables associated with this are provided in this section, to give additional clarity. The table headings indicate which element of the CBA that the data pertains to.

The following costs for veterinarian inspections for a function MSU, and to approve an MSU and its docking stations are determined from conversations with FSS and the APHA, and with reference to the charges specified in regulations and guidance:

• FSS fees - “Guidance Charges for Official Controls Version 4.1 June 2018”
• APHA fees – “The Animal By-Products and Pet Passport Fees (Scotland) 2018

Data on Animal Liveweights, Carcases and Residual Items

The following data is used to assist calculations with respect to the following:

• Waste management – the storage capacity required at docking stations plus the removal costs. It also allows consideration for the local management of Cat 3 stomache/intestine contents, which can be applied to land.
• The quantity and value of premium meat sales can be calculated from the skeletal meat weight
• Potential offal sales

The offal value shown in the following table is an estimate and is produced for one of the operating models and scenarios in the CBA.

Added Value to Beef Sales on the Basis of Local Provenance – Facilitated by Having Local Kill Through an MSU

The following tables take Scottish Craft Butchers data (published in the Autumn 2019 Newsletter) and make estimates in terms of the value of beef and lamb products (such as fillet, sirloin steaks etc for beef). The CBA considers the additional sales premium that could be associated with such items, if sourced from local animals, and sold as such – this additional value is expressed as 5% and 10%, with the former used for this scenario in the CBA.

The same analysis of lamb products indicates that the average value of the cuts is £15.17. On the basis that the carcase weighs 20 Kg, this translates to £303.47 of lamb products for sale.

The table below summarises the added value that local/provenance sourced meat products could provide to a butcher’s business, through an MSU providing local kill services. The 5% premium is considered in two of the CBA scenarios/models.

Generating Value for an MSU Service Through Avoided Haulage and Kill Costs

The models and scenarios used in the CBAs were described in Section 10.1. The avoided costs associated with these and used in the CBA are summarised in the following table.

Waste Management Costs

Discussions with ABP collectors have resulted in a range of costs for the collection of the MSU’s waste streams. A summary of the key data from these discussions is shown in the table below.

A collector currently charges £30/uplift for butchers' waste, in 240-litre bins (this is Cat 2). They could collect Euro containers (1,100 litre) from docking station sites, winched onto a 18-tonne wagon If traveling to somewhere like Wick to collect 4 to 5 tonnes – using 10 x 1,100 litre Euro-containers. The cost could be based on the trip, rather than a charge per bin or tonne. The cost, for indicative purposes is likely to not exceed £1,000 per day (would be a maximum, worst case), and likely to be more than £500 – a mid-range of £750 per haul therefore used in the table. The cost for Orkney would be double, and more, including ferry costs. They take the hides off fallen stock, then mix all the categories of ABPs collected - no discount for separated wastes therefore no value in separated Cat 1, 2 and 3 collections. All of such waste is mixed before being shipped south. The most effective way to reduce waste costs will be to do so at source. The costs used for managing waste streams at the docking stations is summarised in the table below.

Hides and skins

The Sustainable Food Trust, in an October 2018 briefing paper^[49] to the UK parliament indicated the following position, in terms of hides and skins value:

“The price of hides and skins has plummeted in recent years. More research is needed to establish all the reasons for this. Small abattoirs are currently being paid only 20p per sheep skin (c/w £6 a few years ago) and sometimes charged to have them taken away. Cattle hide prices have fallen to £14 each, with some as low as £4.50. In the 1980s abattoirs received £20 per hide and in 2014 they were paid over £30.”

The above information has been discussed with an ABP and fallen stock collector and confirmed to still be the case. The following values are therefore used in the CBA:

• Cattle hides: £4.50 each
• Sheep skins: £0.00 each (may be sold for as low as £0.20, assumed to work out at £0.00)

MSU and Chill Capital Costs

Earlier in the report a number of MSU designs were provided for slaughtering different species, using a range of configurations. The capital equipment cost for one tractor and trailer provided by Kometos Finnmodules is used in the CBA, with 67% of the budget price provided being used. This estimate is based on a price being provided for a two-trailer configuration, one of which provided chill facilities for carcases, which is not required in the docking station model. A cost for two chilling units, one at each of the docking stations, is used in the CBA. The capital costs used in the CBA are as summarised in the table below.