From farm to fork, there is only one step. In Rochefort, a butcher and a pig breeder have joined forces to offer local products to customers.
On the heights of Rochefort, towards Saint-Hubert. For two years, pigs have been raised here outdoors, with the idea of eventually creating, alongside the breeding, a butcher’s shop and a cutting and processing workshop. This has now been done. Arthur Lhoist, owner of this breeding and of the nearby Ferme des Rabanisses, has joined forces with André Magerotte, a butcher in Nassogne.
I contacted André a little cheekily and we met. One thing led to another and we got along well. We became friends and then partners. André worked hand in hand with our project by cutting up, with his teams, our animals, here in Rabanisses from 2020 to 2022. And it was in June 2022 that we were able to agree to take over his butcher’s shop in Nassogne and then the development of the project on the heights of Rochefort followed.
Arthur Lhoist wants to sign this project with the qualifier of sustainability. Sustainability of an economic and environmental model that respects the quality of human relationships, the natural cycle and animal welfare. We are here in the real short circuit. The pigs raised next to the butcher’s shop are rustic ports labeled as Ardennes Prairies pigs, explains Jean-Charles de Marneffe, pig farmer.
It’s Duroc crossed with Landrace. The mothers are half Landrace. The emphasis is on animal welfare because they have a lot of space. They are really comfortable. They have the comfort of being able to dig, to turn the earth and that is essential. That is what also makes the port of a superior quality, for me, quite simply.
It is Sébastien Lenoir who will manage this new butchery, in addition to that of Nassogne.
The goal here is really to offer our customers first of all exceptional meat that has a limited ecological impact. Our pigs are raised right next to the butcher’s shop. Our cattle a little further away, a kilometer from here. So this sustainability and this concern from farm to fork is really a reason to exist, ultimately for the customer.
A henhouse or a slaughterhouse?
Further developments are already underway with eggs from the mobile hen house next door.
Perhaps a breeding of meat poultry interesting in taste, perhaps a slaughterhouse. We do not know. There are lots of projects.
For André Magerotte, this butchery on the farm is a new stage in his journey. It ensures the complete production and marketing chain. The values defended in Rochefort should be identical to those of the Nassogne butchery which, of course, is not going to disappear.
The majority is based on three pillars that I consider essential, namely attention to detail, rigor and allure. From the moment you master these three elements, you know how to stand out greatly from what is generally done in this profession.
Butchers in the region could take offense at this newcomer in Rochefort. The competition is tough, which is rather positive for the consumer. Here, we are talking more about complementarity and we assure that we are in another niche and another model.
