Ox Gallstones Austria

About Ox Gallstones

Cattle gallstones are a natural byproduct of the digestive tract of cattle. Their value lies in their bilirubin content, which Chinese medicine practitioners believe is useful for treating a wide range of health issues.

For many years, meatworkers in Australia have kept gallstones in a padlocked box at the back of their pockets and sold them on the ‘grey market’–via darknet marketplaces and private Facebook groups–for between US$57 and $60 USD per gram.

Sources

Gallstones are hardened muddy deposits that can form in the gallbladders of cattle and oxen. They are a result of excess production of the naturally occurring chemical bilirubin. These stones can block the bile ducts, leading to inflammation and possibly death.

In the past, gallstones were collected from slaughtered cattle at abattoirs for a variety of uses. They were sometimes used to make a kind of herbal medicine, often with other ingredients like buffalo horn and deer musk, which Chinese medicine specialists believed could provide an effective cure for a range of ailments.

The market value of gallstones, however, was relatively low. The average yield of gallstones derived from one head of cattle is around 100 grams, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of meat these animals are slaughtered for.

But in the past 15 years, gallstones have become a significant source of income for the big beef abattoirs. These businesses are in the business of turning almost every animal byproduct into money-making byproducts: a head-to-tail model that makes use of every part of an animal and leaves no stone unturned.

Gerard Murtagh, who owns Sunshine Trading in Australia, spotted the potential of cattle gallstones. He saw the opportunity to turn a small, family-run business into a national monopoly over a lucrative white market: a way of raking in cash from a byproduct that’s usually treated as a discarded carcass by the abattoir staff themselves.

Sunshine began by offering a service to abattoirs to collect gallstones. He installed stainless steel boxes with mesh baskets to secure the stones from any sticky fingers.

Since then, he’s built up a nationwide network of abattoirs who are happy to sell him their gallstones. He’s raked in an estimated $11.5 million USD a year from his abattoir customers alone, with the majority of those he works with being abattoir owners themselves.

He’s even built up a small fleet of patrol vehicles to monitor the abattoirs where his gallstones are collected. He’s also adamant that any gutties who are caught pilfering their own gallstones for sale face the full force of the law, no matter what their motives might be.

Processing

When ox gallstones are harvested from slaughter cattle, they are a precious byproduct. The demand for them is high in China and throughout Asia. They are used as a valuable ingredient in proprietary Chinese medicine.

The price for natural gallstones can be up to HK$19,000 for one tael, or about US$65 per gram. That makes them a lucrative commodity for those who can get them, and a great business opportunity for any beef processing plant.

But if you’re looking to start an ox gallstones Austria business, it’s important to understand what goes into the process of harvesting them. You must work with a supplier and a buyer to build good relationships and get the best prices possible for your product.

Ox gallstones are an excellent choice for anyone who is looking to start a small business that doesn’t require large investments or special equipment. You can start by purchasing ox gallstones from local abattoirs and then sell them to buyers around the world.

Once you have a good supplier and a good buyer, your success as an ox gallstones Austria business will depend on the quality of the stones you purchase and the level of care you take in packaging them. The best stones will be large, whole and have a beautiful golden brown color.

The size and cohesion of a stone will also play a role in how much you get paid for it. If it’s chipped, broken or otherwise not in pristine condition, the value of your stone will decline significantly.

You can get the highest payment for your ox gallstones by selling them to buyers that specialize in the sale of cattle byproducts. These buyers are usually located in China and will pay you a fair price for your product.

Many of these buyers will have a minimum weight requirement and expect detailed invoices, so you’ll need to do your research to find the buyer that works best for your business. Then, you’ll simply need to ship your products to the buyer’s location.

You’ll be able to make a lot of money by selling ox gallstones, and the only cost is buying the stones and shipping them to buyers overseas. You can then use the profits you earn to buy more ox gallstones and continue making a profit as long as you continue to do business with the right people and follow the tips mentioned above.

Markets

For many years, gallstones had been a sideline to the meat industry–an additional animal byproduct to turn into money. But the price of gallstones soared in recent years, and slaughterhouses began raking in a tidy sum for every stone they collect from cattle’s bladders.

The demand for cattle gallstones, which have been used for centuries in Chinese medicine to treat a wide range of ailments, has led to a thriving market in Australia and around the world. In the past decade, they’ve been spotted on darknet marketplaces and private Facebook groups as collectors try to cash in on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

It’s easy to see why: a single cricket ball-sized stone can fetch anywhere between $20 and $20,000 per kilogram, depending on its quality. Despite their high price, gallstones are still a very rare commodity–one that requires an enormous amount of slaughter to produce.

According to one of the country’s leading dealers, Australian beef producers only manage to harvest about 200kg of gallstones every year. That’s a pittance, considering the vast amounts of money that these businesses make from the horns, hooves and blood on slaughtered animals.

But it’s not all doom and gloom for the abattoirs that harvest the gallstones: in fact, some of these businesses have started taking a more proactive approach to their collection. Gerard Murtagh, director of Sunshine Trading, the company that rakes in most of the Australian gallstone white market, says almost all major abattoirs now have cameras dotted above their gutting tables to prevent workers from pilfering the stones they collect.

Meanwhile, some of these same abattoirs are also investing in patent-design dropboxes, or Gallstone and Bile Retrieval Units: waist-high stainless steel vaults that secure the stones away from any sticky fingers.

The key to success is finding the right buyers: not just any gutties with a spare change lying about, but people who are prepared to invest the time and effort to sort through their collection and sell only the best specimens. This is especially true of dark and pitted rocks, which are worth considerably less than full-bodied, golden stones.

Safety

The ox gallstone, as the name suggests, is a byproduct of beef processing. It is a highly valuable ingredient in Chinese herbal medicine. It is also a good source of Vitamin D and iodine, which can be used to treat degenerative eye diseases and prevent cataracts. Hence it is not surprising that the industry is booming in China and other Asian countries.

Ox gallstones Austria are in short supply and can fetch prices well above US$ a kilogram. Thankfully, the Austrian government is taking steps to ensure a stable supply of this nutritional powerhouse. It has recently rolled out the country’s first national gallstone program.

The ox gallstone has been around for at least 200 years and is a natural byproduct of the beef industry. A small but dedicated team is responsible for sourcing these gems from around the globe. The product is then packaged and labelled. It is sold in a variety of shapes and sizes including cubes, pyramids and spheres. It is also available in pellets, in powder form and in a ready-to-cook (RMC) format.

Ox Gallstones Austria