The motortruck and laggard are hooked up , two pigs are loaded and you ’re about to draw out out of the driveway to head to theprocessingfacility . You retrieve that mayhap you should give them a call to let them know you ’re coming , right ? Actually , you should have made that call calendar month ago — pretty much the day you knew you ’d have pigs for processing — because diminished - scale farm animal processing plant are booked self-colored for much of the yr . After the tension of a drive with the truck and trailer , you ’d plausibly be wrench aside if you did n’t make an appointment onward of meter .
Understanding scheduling , transportation and reaching , and cut of gist are all necessary elements to completing the liveliness cycle of center brute on your farm , and your understanding of these will make your human relationship with your C.P.U. a good one . When you convey meat animate being onto your farm , make a call to CPU in your area to obtain the one you ’d like to play with . You ’ll learn about policies and subroutine and witness someone whose management stylus meet yours .
Get To Know Your Meat Processor
It ’s great to find oneself a C.P.U. that can give you personal service , even if you are not bestow them a shipment of animals on a regular foundation . The more your central processor knows about your farm , the better they ’ll be able to offer inspection and repair and noesis .
“ For a new husbandman , a full plant tour and a model - down with the plant life director sounds fair , and even carry , but from a mainframe ’s point of eyeshot , this is sentence - consuming and logistically unimaginable to do for everyone that requests it , ” says Casey McKissick , owner of Foothills Deli and Butchery in Black Mountain , N.C. McKissick is also a member of theNiche Meat Processor Assistance Networkadvisory board and program director for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Center of Ecological Farming System ’s NC Choices , which promotes the local , niche and grazing land - based meats in the state .
However , some central processor , like Mike Smucker of Smucker ’s Meats in Mount Joy , Pa. , are still are able to make the personal crusade .
“ We typically care to get together with multitude , especially first - time customers , ” Smucker sound out . “ When we ’re starting out with someone , we wish to get to eff them , what their business is , how the animals were raise , things like that . ”
As the need for little - exfoliation processing keep on to increase and processors get busier all the metre , this personal service becomes less uncouth , but it does still be .
Schedule A Processing Time In Advance
The idea of eating seasonally get sense when think about fresh produce , because in many part of the state , tomato plant wo n’t grow in February and kale is difficult to follow by in August . substance is seasonal , too , though — especially lea - raised meat — so the season for meat processing is a busy one .
Smucker says client need to make an designation with him one to two month in advance of time during the summer and declivity , but during wintertime and early saltation , he might be able to fit in a small processing purchase order in two to three weeks . Depending on processor and manufacturer demands in your area , you could have to make an appointment as early on as nine calendar month ahead of your anticipated processing date .
In your initial dealings with the processor , you ’ll memorize scheduling insurance and procedures . Many have tough - and - fast schedules and ask you to abide by them or observe a novel mainframe . Some , like Smucker ’s Meats , are less rigid , offer a cancellation tilt so they can work in a few order at the last minute — though they ’d of course of instruction prefer that you keep the appointment you set . Smucker says this aid keep their labor requirement steady and provides some flexibility for their customers .
Carrie Cizauskas/Flickr
With a processing date on the calendar , be sure you empathise the hours open for fall - off , the precise drop - off locating and who you involve to speak with when you arrive .
A challenge for small - scale farmer who work on just a few animals each month or each year is accurately predicting when their livestock will be quick for harvest .
“ A very important part of growing animal for marrow is understanding each species ’ living cycle and nutritional need , and having a pretty good musical theme of when the animal is ready to go to market , ” McKissick enjoin . “ Unfortunately , sometimes newfangled Farmer are prostrate to growing and finishing the animals before have a solid selling design . This lead to in high spirits than needed / expect costs and strain on the part of the farmer to have the animal serve earlier or later than await . ”
Carrie Cizauskas/Flickr
Know What Meat Cuts You Want
Upon choose a processing date , you should be offered a cut plane , which is moderately much a menu your central processor use to delineate your option for breaking down and packaging your farm animal intomeat cut .
“ A husbandman needs to have a good - than - elemental discernment of what their beast look like inside and how they burst down , as well as what type of cut , portions , packaging and land products their client are probable to buy [ or the Fannie Farmer would care to keep for himself ] , ” McKissick says . “ Of course , the farmer also need to know what services and packaging the processor offers , as well as how much it ’s going to be . It ’s the CPU ’s responsibility to communicate this effectively . ”
Smucker caution that unlike processors use different public figure for the same cut of meat — for example , a rib eye is also bang as a Delmonico steak or a market steak — so it ’s significant to identify which cut amount from which brawn . Ask questions until you are comfortable with understanding all that ’s being discuss . Once excision of sum are taken , you ca n’t put them back together .
cut options for all stock could let in :
You also need to specify whether you want to pick up the meat sweet or frozen . Your choice will be dependent on whether you plan to take your meat for further processing elsewhere or at base , orders from your customers , and personal preference . A lot of confusion come in from farmers expecting to impart home more meat than their animal provides , and that often lead to processors getting accused of taking a farmer ’s meat .
Know Your Meat Pick-Up Time
Be certain you also have an sympathy of how long it will take for your meat to be ready to foot up , and pick it up on meter . central processing unit have limited ripening and freezer blank space , and they do n’t want to nurse products longer than necessary . Smucker say look on your order , it could take from one to six weeks for completion . Your processor will let you jazz what to expect ahead of time .
Throughout the whole experience of stock processing , “ communicating really is just huge , ” Smucker says .
There are a sight of variables to raising and processing meat animals , and a good partnership between you and your processor can remove some of the stress from at least part of them .
This article in the beginning seem in the November / December 2015 issue ofHobby Farms .
