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Useful experience for butchers includes:

• any work in kitchens
• food hygiene courses
• retail work
• farm work
• work at a meat processing plant or as a meat packer
• work as a clean-up person in a butchery.

Butchers may do some or all of the following:

• break down and bone animal carcasses into cuts of meat
• make mince, sausages and other smallgoods
• help customers choose meat, and give advice about cooking methods
• cure and smoke meat
• sharpen and maintain knives and butchery equipment
• keep the workplace clean and hygienic
• package meat for display
• order and carry out stocktakes of supplies.

High demand for butchers

Demand for butchers is good because:

• people often leave the role after a short time, which creates vacancies
• the workforce is ageing, and more butchers are needed to replace those retiring
• not enough people are completing butchery apprenticeships.

Chances are particularly good for halal butchers (who kill and prepare meat in accordance with Islamic customs), as there is a shortage of people trained in this area. As a result, employers are hiring halal butchers from overseas to meet demand.

Halal slaughterer (butcher) appears on Immigration New Zealand's Green List. This means the Government is actively encouraging skilled halal slaughterers from overseas to work in New Zealand.

According to the Census, 4,152 butchers worked in New Zealand in 2018.

Types of employers varied

Butchers can work for:

• retail butchers
• wholesalers
• supermarkets.

Some butchers may own and work in their own butchery.

Skills4Work

0800 2 SKILL - (0800 275 455) - www.skills4work.org.nz

Butchers may progress to own and work in their own butchery, or manage a supermarket butchery department.

Butchers need to be:

• careful and safety-conscious
• organised and able to follow directions
• able to use their initiative
• skilled in handling, preparing and presenting meat products
• good at customer service.