A Meaty Problem
As a small-scale, artisanal pork producer I work hard to raise a quality product for my customers. From start to finish it takes almost a year for me to raise pork to the quality I like to offer.
This often means coaxing piglets through February frosts, seeing to their comfort on a scorching July day, and picking tons of apples for them in the Autumn so they can be finished on apples and barley.
With all of the care and attention I spend on creating a product which is both quality and affordable to my customers, and is profitable to me I want my pigs to have as good a death as they had a life. Calm, non-stressful, quick and clean.
To me this means the pigs must be slaughtered on the farm. They are in the comfort of their pasture up until the minute they cease to live and become meat. I am fortunate to live in an area where on farm slaughter has an active history and is currently growing in status. However, this is both a blessing and a curse.
The business model I use to sell my pork is to sell the animals to my customers live1, I help them arrange to have a custom slaughter company come to the farm, slaughter the animals and then take the carcasses away to their shop for hanging, cutting and wrapping. Because each customer owns the animal before it dies, it is theirs and their meat comes from it. This means the custom slaughter company does not have to have a USDA inspector at the point of slaughter. It also means that the meat coming from the transaction cannot be sold to restaurants or into the retail market. This helps keep the cost down and works well for those people wanting a whole, half, or quarter animal to stock their freezer with.
There is currently another option for on-farm slaughter which does allow for retail, Farmers’ Market and restaurant sales of locally produced, artisanal meats–the mobile slaughter unit. This is a USDA licensed and inspected slaughterhouse on wheels. It rolls on to the farm with a USDA inspector to supervise the slaughter and assure quality standards are maintained through the butchery process. The carcasses are then taken back to a USDA licensed facility for hanging, cutting and wrapping. I am fortunate to live in the San Juan Islands where the first of these units was developed and the idea is gaining in popularity around the country.
The only problem with this second on-farm slaughter option is it has been a victim of it’s own success. The Island Grown Farmer’s Cooperative–the closest of these units to me–has been full for years and has been turning away new memberships. You must be a member to use the mobile unit’s services. Additionally, the memberships as it stands now keeps the mobile unit running at capacity and there has been trouble getting slaughter dates. This is great for the business model, bad for farmers and customers crying out for their services.
From my perspective, there are two additional problems with the unit, both of which are related. The original Mobile Slaughter unit was developed to be able to travel out to the San Juan Islands. To keep the cost of bringing the unit on the ferries, the size was kept down. This, however, means that the capacity is also lower than ideal to keep the Unit cost-effective. Quite often farmers in the islands have to pool their slaughter dates and transport animals around the islands to other farms to be able to take advantage of the unit’s availability, and to keep the unit operating at maximum efficiency. Hardly maintaining the ideal of on-farm slaughter.
There is also the issue of cost. Because of the size of the Unit and the associated ferry fares, and the USDA inspector, having meats processed by the Mobile Slaughter unit cost almost 40% more than using a non-inspected Custom Slaughter business. This is fine if you can then charge a premium for your meats and pass the cost on to the retail market by selling individual cuts at the Farmers’ Market or a restaurant. For those of us who sell by the whole, half or quarter it really pushes the margins to use the Unit. For me, keeping my quality meat affordable for everyone is paramount. I am already charging more than commodity pork prices, to then add an additional $2.40 per pound would alienate my core customer base causing me to search further a field for buyers and costing me more of my profits in the long run. At the moment I have a waiting list for my pork which is growing year by year, I would hate to loose that momentum.
Such is the problem of living on an island. If I were on the mainland I would have more of an option of either trucking my livestock to a slaughterhouse close by, using one of the other Mobile Slaughter Units which as cropped up in recent years, or use the Custom Slaughter company which just informed me they are no longer going to serve the islands. And there is the crux of the matter. As local meats gain popularity and as more people invest in raising some animals of their own the Custom Slaughter companies are no longer looking for work. The business I have been most happy with–after trying and rejecting several over the years–is also working at capacity, so much so that coming to the island for 7 pigs once a year isn’t worth the trouble for him. Usually there are other farms on the island who need to slaughter around the same time and the custom slaughter truck can make several stops, this allows the farms to share the cost of the ferry trip, making it more affordable for everyone. But the point is the good butcher shops are in demand on the mainland and they know it. They can afford to be a bit more choosy leaving the rest of us in the lurch.
When I got the news last night that my preferred butcher was no longer going to serve the islands I was dumbfounded. I had called him early enough to assure a November slaughter date–one of the Custom Slaughter shop’s busiest times. Now it is getting late in the game to go calling around. I googled butchers in the area and came up with several, unfortunately not all of them serve the islands, not all of them offer custom slaughter, the list is incomplete and I have already rejected several of the companies due to quality, or lack of, issues or cost. For the moment this has me stymied. I feel like the carpet has been pulled from under my feet. I am sure if I pick up the phone I can get two different companies to come, they always seem to have time and that is the problem….I don’t care for their quality, operating procedures or costs. It would be a compromise of my values, but the deadline is looming and my customers are going to want their meat soon.
No doubt I will come up with a solution, and I will of course share it with you. But for the moment I am left scrambling and wonder about the future sustainability of raising affordable meats on my farm if I have such troubles getting to my customers in an acceptable way.
Technorati Tags: butcher, custom slaughter, on-farm slaughter, artisanal pork, meat, livestock, farming, agriculture, pigs, mobile slaughter unit
- or in the case of a large animal, sell it in shares of half or quarter to several people [↩]
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This totally sucks! I remember when that mobile slaughter unit was being set up, we were both rooting for you and wishing it was us. I know all the business reasons the slaughter folks don’t want to come, but part of the whole point here is to think beyond just the money. Good luck! (on the upside, your tweet about this made me call the farm in next valley and reserve half a pig.
Neal, I’m sorry to hear about this dilemma especially as I know how important it is for you to offer artisan quality pork to your customers and this can’t be done without low stress slaughter and top quality butchering/cutting.
It strikes me that your butcher isn’t such a smart business person, leaving a devoted customer in the lurch. While some might think that pork or beef grows on trees, available whenever one has the desire to eat it, a butcher would be acutely aware of the fact that there is a particular time for harvest and missing it isn’t an option. Okay, I’m just commiserating with you here, off the soap box.
Perhaps the upside to your story is that the increased demand from people wanting to buy their meat more directly from an artisan producer will justify the investment in slaughter plants that can serve those consumers and producers. The presence of the custom & USDA mobile units and (some stationary ones) in the Pacific Northwest is one of the key reasons I’m spending time in the area, this is the place to prove an a new meat model can work. The road to a decentralized, transparent, community-based food system sure seems to have a lot of bumps along the way, striving for artisan quality makes it even harder.
None of this helps you, though, and having tasted the pork you raise - absolutely delicious and with a tangy apple finish - I am sad for both you and your customers. I’m quite sure you’ll solve this dilemma but if there is anything I can do to help, please do let me know.
[...] And there is the crux of the matter. As local meats gain popularity and as more people invest in raising some animals of their own the Custom Slaughter companies are no longer looking for work. The business I have been most happy with–after trying and rejecting several over the years–is also working at capacity, so much so that coming to the island for 7 pigs once a year isn’t worth the trouble for him. Usually there are other farms on the island who need to slaughter around the same time and the custom slaughter truck can make several stops, this allows the farms to share the cost of the ferry trip, making it more affordable for everyone. But the point is the good butcher shops are in demand on the mainland and they know it. They can afford to be a bit more choosy leaving the rest of us in the lurch. Read more. [...]
Bravo, bravo, bravo to you for raising meat the right way. As a consumer, humane handling–including quick, humane, on site slaughter–is the deal-breaker. I’m glad to pay more this peace of mind.
I’m dismayed that your butcher left you in the lurch.
Here in New York my farmer used a mobile slaughter unit until their own farm, Sap Bush Hollow, was certified as a USDA slaughter house. Now local farmers come to them for processing. Here’s their site: http://www.sapbush.com/
I know this isn’t a solution for you this fall–can only hope and pray you find another resource.
I’ve passed this post to everyone I can think of who can either get the word out to find options or who possible have connections to people with solutions.
I know this is unimaginably frustrating for you, but I agree with Carrie, the upside is a greater demand for artisanal meat and that’s definitely a good thing. Hopefully, this uptick will spur would-be butchery entrepreneurs to step forward to meet the demand.
I know many people will be watching your blog closely to discover any and all solutions you may offer in future posts that may help solve their own dilemmas.
Sorry to hear that you too have been hit by butcher woes. This is a major problem that ultimately means bad news for consumers as they lose the local choice. The slaughter and butchering problem is big, perhaps the biggest issue threatening our farming, of getting our pork to your fork. Unfortunately the mobile slaughter units are very restricted. You need to have an accessible area with a large turn off, sufficient water and power for them. In the winter you wouldn’t want to drive those trucks on most roads where farms are. Mud season is even worse. Mobile slaughter is part of the solution which will help take the pressure off the slots at the few remaining processors but it won’t work for some of us at all. Our solution is forming up, literally.