The Abattoir!

[Nicky Hodge]

Cheers for that Mike !!

Thanks for that info Yvette. I can now, albeit vague, get a mental visual of where you lived, as I was always at the Ahrens' house, and I know where the Claasens lived. Where is Ruth these days. The last I remember, she was in love with a Jewish guy called Kyle. Did she end up marrying him?
Yes, I can remember little Leslie McDonald. What a sad tragedy hey. She was always a happy thing, and I have this image of her getting all excited just before a Saturday afternoon matinee was about to start, etched in my head. I think the guy that was driving the bakkie worked for Parks and Gardens if I remember correctly?

Nick

[joco Mueller]

When working at the abattoir as the 1rst polonymaker the butchery had, from 1958 to 1965 we,Bill Harper in charge of the killing and distribution of all the meat and chicken and me, both usualy started at 4 o´clock pm. Health inspection of all the slaughtered animals was carried out by us,as well as grading the carcasses.The lawn was always well watered and always watered all day long.We grew plenty of mushrooms on the lawn,enough for us and some of our friends. Bone and blood meal was produced for the garden dep..Nothing was wasted, every thing was used.What was not used in town, went to the farm.Smoking the sausages was either done in te smoke house at the entrnce to the place or in one of two in the back of the building.There were appr.20 workers doing all the slaughtering and 8 the meat processing.The cattle was tranported from Kolmanskop by truck,the pigs and chicken delivered from Beauvallon. I loved to work there.Plan to supply some photos.

[joco Mueller]

I must  correct myself : we did not start working at 4 pm but am, usualy finishing at appr.2 pm.

[Michael Alexander]

Joco, how did you feel when you saw the recent photo's of the abattoir?
???

[joco Mueller]

Hello Mike,
To look at these photos makes me sick! What a bad change. The photos I will send will show the difference, only the smoke tower is still the same,used by me for salamis and other things that had to be smoked for a longer period,it was always padlocked. Why and when was the slaughtering stopped?   Joco

[Michael Alexander]

Remember by the mid 80's Oranjemund was almost self sufficient , thanks to Beauvallon farm, we had fresh fruit and veg, cream, yoghurts cheese and milk, oranges, the meat was slaughtered and cured, the meat was brought in from the local area... then true to form along came a new group of managers for the mine, as they do every 5 years or so, bringing along their new ideas..... and before you knew it, it was cheaper to bring the meat in already slaughtered..... the fruit and veg and dairy to extent went the same way.... In a way the Power Station was part of that "outsourcing excercise", with independence looming  things started to change and the Oranjemund community once again had to rely on the outside world...... The mine m, through Sodexho, still gets sachets of fresh milk from Dunvlei ( beauvallon farm), but on a lot smaller scale..... The desert could have bloomed and Oranjemund could have been the breadbasket for the South of Namibia...

1lt of UHT Milk in luderitz costs just over N$17.00 , Spar Oranjemund at N$11.65 and just over the border in Port Nolloth, R 6.45..... Government has imposed a 40% additional tax on Milk products to try and rescue the collapsing Namibian Diary industry.... imagine, CDM had kept and expanded their agriculture ambitions....

:'(

[SandyB]

publicly  hang  and  flog  those  " managers "   I  remember  My  dad  had  a healthy  disrespect  for  university graduate  engineers  .. as  they had  not worked  their  way up . and had  not  lived   as  he  said .. .. and  had  no  empathy with  the " common  man "  thank  god  this  was  instilled in  me  ,,  I  like  my  dad  used  to  get  into  trouble  regularly   cos  I  never  forgot  my  roots   and  am  accused  of   being  at  times  whimsical  and yes although  I  am  in  essence  a " business  manager " now  I  have never  forgot the  importance of people   and  the  importance    of  their  role  in  running  a  company  ...   If only those dumb  " bean counters "   could   been   been  brought  to  wisdom .. sady so  they move on   up the  ladder  having   scored  a few  corporate " brownie  points "  for  cutting  costs , streamlining   or what ever you  call it ..  instead  of  seeing  the opportunity  of  making  Oranjemund  a  viable  entity  in  perpituity  instead  of  facing  a  Kolmaskop   scenario ..  Uuugh !! I  get  so angry ..

[Clive Symes]

Sandy, remember STRESS MANAGEMENT:

I agree with what you say, before independance a number of us listed all our concerns at the way we saw things changing and predicted wht was a likley senario. Sad to see we were pertty spot on.

We even suggested that the Daberas farm be extended to accommodate the short commings expected when the border was closed- when travelling along the North bank road ons can still see the neglected fields along the river bank.
A number of people even offered to farm the area.

[georg ruf jr.]

lesley macdonald? was this about 1975? i remember a girl being killed then, just outside coras cafe'. what a tragedy.

[Uwe Leube]

Just joined the forum and was glad to see the abbattoir photos. My dad (Hermann Leube) worked there from 1967-81. I spent many a holiday "working" and helping out. Sure brings back the memories.

[Michael Alexander]

Welcome on board Uwe..... The abattoir is run down now, but I know of an outside meat supplier to Spar, that is trying to get the grounds back into shape...... how much biltong did you consume in your time there.... heheheh!

[georg ruf jr.]

Biltong is something i miss here. Tried making some myself a couple of months back. Slightly smoked, first hung up to dry outside and the used the electrical dryer my wife uses for fruit and herbs. Was.n't to bad. It just doesn't get dry enough to keep it longer. I'll try again...

[Uwe Leube]

HI Michael - Dad never seemed to bring biltong home. Always had to beg for the stuff. Even braais at the beach - there never was meat in the house! Strange isn't it. The baker's kids never had bread either...

[Colin Benton]

billy mckay was the town fitter who did planned maintenance once a month one the biltong slicing machine.Of course he had to test it to make sure it worked ok.So once a month the scotsmen in caseys had a big bag of biltong to sample,aaah those were the days but to much biltong makes your lager go flat!

[Florrie van Zyl (Muir)]

Georg, I may be mistaken but I think Lesley died earlier than 1975 and it was closer to the East side of town, not near Cora's cafe. I remember Lesley's freckles and smiley face. I think she was an only child and her parents were older than the average age of our parents. They doted on her.  She should have been about your age because she was a few years younger than me.