WINDHOEK-Meatco is reminding producers to make advance bookings at the end of November for animal slaughter at its abattoirs in January 2019.   

For bookings, producers can contact Livestock Procurement employees by either telephone or e-mail. Bookings and enquiries in the areas of Grootfontein, Otjiwarongo and Gobabis can be directed to Rivonia Omes at 081 785 4609. In the Windhoek area, Michelle Victor can be contacted at 061 321 6446. In the Okahandja area, Vekondjisa Katjivena can be contacted at 061 321 6413 while Okakarara producers can contact Elvis Uanivi at 061 321 6019. 

The following information is to be provided when making a booking request: producer number, amount of cattle to be slaughtered, and preferred slaughter date. In accordance with the simplification of the booking and merit point system, Meatco is determined to educate producers on how the new booking and notification process will operate. Under the new system, once a producer requests a booking and the request is entered in the Meatco system, he/she will receive a booking request confirmation via email and/or SMS. The producer will then be notified via SMS regarding the allocation date or unallocated status once the allocation run takes place. Whether the producer wishes to change his/her allocation to a different date (try to improve), is satisfied with the allocated date, or wishes to cancel his/her booking, he/she must communicate with livestock procurement personnel or make use of the Meatco Go App (mobile.meatco.com.na). 

Once the status of the request is changed to booked, the producer will be notified via SMS, and he/she will receive the Sales Advice via e-mail. A reminder SMS will then be sent to the producer prior to delivery. Producers who receive an unallocated status (due to full status) after requesting a booking will receive an SMS notification. However, producers who prefer to wait for their status to change will not receive any notifications. Additionally, in the event that a booking request changes status from unallocated to allocated, an SMS will be sent to inform the producer of the allocation date. 
  It should be noted that Meatco is still in the implementation process of the above mentioned.