Custom On-Farm Slaughter Service

Custom On-Farm Slaughter Service TRUCKS Conversions Lee Boyles travels to farms to provide his custom slaughter and processing His on-farm service eliminates stress on the animal and its meat It also eliminates the need for small farmers to hire out transport “Animals get stressed when loaded and trucked to a slaughter plant ” says Boyles “I go to the pasture and take the animal with no added stress They are looking at me as happy as can be ” A few minutes after Boyles shoots the animal he lifts the carcass into the air with his crane-equipped truck As it bleeds out he removes the hide disembowels the animal and places it in a former stainless steel bulk milk tank also on the truck The customer can also request removal of the offal and hide “I have a 3 500-lb crane and a 600-gal bulk tank ” says Boyles “I can pick up an entire carcass and put it in the tank without quartering it The stainless steel tank gets cleaned and disinfected after every use ” Boyles started doing on-farm slaughter by accident while doing custom metal fabrication A local butcher asked him to build a trailer to use for mobile slaughter “He had a few animals get away from him and asked me to come and dispatch them ” says Boyles “Before I knew it I was doing the dispatching and halving and quartering the animals He still took care of the processing After six years I bought his butcher shop ” With the purchase Boyles has little time for metal fabrication In addition to selling a wide variety of federally inspected cuts of fresh meat at The Meat Smyth shop Boyles and his wife Ellen also provide full custom processing of beef hogs goats sheep bear and other wild game The on-farm slaughter business exploded as COVID-19 hit “In previous years I would do four to six beef animals a month ” says Boyles “Last summer I was doing that many each week ” Boyles thinks enhanced meat quality plays a role in business growth “I am 36 and even I remember when beef tasted better ” he says “I think a lot of people remember the flavor and are coming back for it ” Boyles has a license from the state of Wis that lets him do on-farm slaughter His normal service area is within an hour or so of his shop but he has gone farther “Recently I drove 2 1/2 hrs to slaughter an animal as there was no one offering the service in that area ” says Boyles “I charge a flat fee of $100 for a beef animal or $50 for a hog in our regular service area but add a mileage charge beyond it ” Boyles is limited to working only in Wis as other states have their own regulations Contact: FARM SHOW Followup The Meat Smyth 25321 Grain Ave Tomah Wis 54660 ph 608-372-6039; themeatshop21@gmail com; www facebook com/TheMeatSmythLLC

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