In just three days, Echuca Meats went through 1000kg of mince and sausages, while Moama Quality Meats is selling about 300kg of mince a day.
Both butchers had to close on Wednesday to re-stock to keep up with demand.
“I've never seen anything like it,” Echuca Meats owner Kieran Hinck said.
“It's just ridiculous. We've had to put a 2kg limit on mince, sausages and chicken fillets.”
Kieran said he sold 220kg of mince over the counter on Monday.
“We normally do about 25kg,” he said.
“On Tuesday, we did about 180kg but we had to cut it because we didn't know what we were going to get from our suppliers due to demand.
“We had to close on Wednesday to re-stock, and today (Thursday) has been our busiest day so far.
“It's been a massive few days. We have been getting about 300 customers every day for three days. On a busy day, we usually do about 120.
“And people aren't buying one or two products, they're buying five to seven.
“Some people didn't want to be panic-buying and were getting what they normally do for the week but when the word got out, more people started doing it and products are running short.
“It's a big chain effect. Customers are panic-buying, so we started panic-buying and the wholesalers started panic-buying but the farmers can't put enough through to keep up with the demand.
“Things are good at the moment but we don't know how long that will go on for.”
Moama Quality Meats resorted to hiring a security guard on Thursday so the store did not become too crowded.
“It's been pretty hectic here and we wanted to make sure the elderly and our loyal customers were safe,” a staff member said.
She said the butcher shop had been 10 times busier than normal, with more than 800 customers through the doors in three days.
“We have been going through 300kg of mince a day and 150kg of snags,” she said.
Mackrells Elite Meats was also contacted for comment.
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