On-Farm Meat Packing Catches On

On-Farm Meat Packing Catches On 27-5-7 When the nearest packinghouse is 200 miles away, there's not much point in trying to direct market your beef, lamb or pork. That's why farmers in northwest Washington jumped at a chance to set up their own meat processing facility. Unlike most packing plants, this one is mobile. Slaughtering is done on the farm. Island's Grown Farmers Cooperative has been in operation for about a year. It's already booked five to six months in advance. "We haven't had any trouble keeping it running five days a week," says Bruce Dunlop, a co-op officer and farmer from Lopez Island, Wash. The USDA-inspected packing plant slaughters beef, lambs, pigs and goats. It also chills and transports carcasses to a farmer-owned processor where meat is cut, wrapped and frozen. Offal is composted on the farm. Dunlop served as project manager, working with the Lopez Community Land Trust to get the co-op up and running. Part of that effort entailed working with the Featherlite Company to design and custom build a fifth wheel trailer. "This was a first for Featherlite," recalls Dunlop. "We went round and round on the design and specifications. We ended up with a totally self-contained unit." The gooseneck trailer is 33 ft. long, 8 1/2 ft. wide and 13 ft. tall. Pulled by an F-450 diesel flatbed, the trailer contains processing, refrigeration and storage sections. The truck and trailer cost the cooperative approximately $150,000. The mobile processing unit literally pulls into a field and goes to work immediately. An on-board 10 kW diesel generator provides power for everything including a cooler, while a tank holds 300 gal. of water. The cooler can hold up to 10 steers, 40 lambs or 20 hogs. Once in place, up to 20 lambs can be processed in a single day. The co-op has proven successful enough that a second group of farmers in Okanogan County, Wash., is looking to duplicate their success. One difficulty Dunlop's group faced was finding skilled butchers and meat cutters. "We were fortunate to find a butcher who is very good," he recalls. "I think the entire industry is suffering from a lack of not only butchers, but also skilled meat cutters who can break down a carcass." Contact FARMSHOW Followup Bruce Dunlop, 193 Cross Road, Lopez Island, Wash. 98261 (no phone calls please; email: bruce@lopezislandfarm.com).

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