BORDER butchers are ending the year on a high as people favour Australian produce and stick close to home for Christmas.
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Lavington's Meat Talk Butchers co-owner Wade Thompson said customers were increasingly conscious of buying homegrown produce amid the COVID-19 crisis this year.
"People want to know where their meat is coming from and how it's raised," he said.
"People have really stepped up to supporting local family businesses."
Mr Thompson said their Australian hams were made in the store over a 12-hour process and sold in cloth bags.
"I'm very old-school in my style of butchery," Mr Thompson said.
"Supermarkets can make their hams months ahead.
"We make our hams fresh in store within a week or two of Christmas; they will then last up to a month after Christmas if kept in the right conditions."
Offering Mitta Valley Beef and Albury Wholesale Chickens products too, Mr Thompson said they had pre-cooked a variety of meat this year for the first time.
"A lot of people aren't confident cooking turkey themselves," he said.
"We've had our chef in store making it easy for customers this year."
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Wodonga's Formichi Smallgoods co-owner Steven Formichi said they had very strong Christmas trade this year with hams particularly popular.
He said they filled their ham orders a month ago and people had picked them up during the past week or two.
"It's been a great Christmas after the year we've had with COVID and border closures," he said.
"A lot of people are eating at home instead of travelling for Christmas.
"People want to know where their pork comes from and ours is locally-produced in the North East. The locals are supporting small businesses over supermarkets."