Commercial farm animals available due to COVID closures

[Gypsylion]

Hey all,

I work in food systems, and as many of you have probably seen, we're hitting the point in this crazy process where farms have animals that are ready for processing but many of the processing plants have closed to keep their workers safe; or the farm has had to send a lot of their staff home because of illnesses or risk for family members, etc. I thought this might be a good place to post news about farms that might have animals available so the community can reach out to possibly take some of them for processing or rehoming, etc. Whatever might be possible to help that potential food not just go to waste...

First up, Delmarva Poultry in Delaware/Maryland (near Baltimore) with meat chickens that are ready to be processed. This news article was from last week, so I don't know the current status (to be clear, I don't have any further info than what's in the article), but perhaps some folks who are in that region can weigh in...

Other's you've heard about? Or organizations that you know of that are working with these larger farms to get that potential food to a place where it can be processed, or for food animals with non-lethal methods like layers or milking animals to get to other farms where they can continue doing what they do?

Perhaps with our powers combined... <3

 

[BlueBaby]

I'm glad that you posted this and I hope that some member's here will be able to help if they are near to those places!

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

If some of you are unaware our president made an executive order last night that ALL processing plants remain open amid the pandemic. Kinda redundant in my opinion because they are an essential business. Why they shut down in the first place is mindblowing and more than likely political. Either way I was fully prepared to go around to local farms and buy a whole cow off of them if I had to but it seems that that will not be necessary.

 

[Gypsylion]

If some of you are unaware our president made an executive order last night that ALL processing plants remain open amid the pandemic. Kinda redundant in my opinion because they are an essential business. Why they shut down in the first place is mindblowing and more than likely political. Either way I was fully prepared to go around to local farms and buy a whole cow off of them if I had to but it seems that that will not be necessary.

I believe that at least some of the farms and processing plants are experiencing labor shortages because their workers are getting sick, so even though they may technically remain open and somewhat functional, they may still opt to limit the volume, or cut their herds/flocks so they can keep their inventory/costs of feeding and staffing/production levels balanced. So stay tuned... I suspect you may still be able to find yourself with a freezer full of cow.

 

[littledog]

Tonight I saw an ad on Craigslist, where a farmer in my area (WA state) was in touch with a hog farmer friend in the midwest who normally would have sold hogs to one of the meat processing plants - who are closed due to the workers getting covid in droves, way too many of them dying, due to how those plants are set up.
Now, the midwest hog farmer has no market to sell these hogs - many farmers have had to slaughter them for nothing, even as food banks in other areas have miles-long lines and grocery stores have meat shortages.
So this WA farmer is trying to do the right thing by bypassing the covid-affected processing plants, skipping the normal multi-national corporate-determined Supply-chain logistics networks, and shipping as many of their friend's midwest-raised hogs here as he or she can, and offering them for sale for $180 per hog, or $170 if you can buy 10 or more, even more negotiable if you buy a trailer full.
I really hope they get a lot of customers. The whole meat supply-chain is full of cruelty for the animals as well as for the people who have to work there. We need a meat supply-chain that's more local, less cruel for people as well as animals, more sustainable, more tied to farming instead of foreign-owned factories.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Tonight I saw an ad on Craigslist, where a farmer in my area (WA state) was in touch with a hog farmer friend in the midwest who normally would have sold hogs to one of the meat processing plants - who are closed due to the workers getting covid in droves, way too many of them dying, due to how those plants are set up.
Now, the midwest hog farmer has no market to sell these hogs - many farmers have had to slaughter them for nothing, even as food banks in other areas have miles-long lines and grocery stores have meat shortages.
So this WA farmer is trying to do the right thing by bypassing the covid-affected processing plants, skipping the normal multi-national corporate-determined Supply-chain logistics networks, and shipping as many of their friend's midwest-raised hogs here as he or she can, and offering them for sale for $180 per hog, or $170 if you can buy 10 or more, even more negotiable if you buy a trailer full.
I really hope they get a lot of customers. The whole meat supply-chain is full of cruelty for the animals as well as for the people who have to work there. We need a meat supply-chain that's more local, less cruel for people as well as animals, more sustainable, more tied to farming instead of foreign-owned factories.

There are hog farmers in our area doing the same thing. I guess it has to do with USDA compliance but I dont understand why the farmers dont just do it the old fashioned way and harvest the animals themselves. It might even make some sense to sell the hog "live" and charge a "processing" fee. I know some states are different but I know my state allows this for rabbits at least. Why not pork?

 

[Gypsylion]

There are hog farmers in our area doing the same thing. I guess it has to do with USDA compliance but I dont understand why the farmers dont just do it the old fashioned way and harvest the animals themselves. It might even make some sense to sell the hog "live" and charge a "processing" fee. I know some states are different but I know my state allows this for rabbits at least. Why not pork?

I'm not sure what the difference is with rabbits, other than drastic differences in size and everything that goes along with that, but I believe you can't sell meat for consumption unless it has been processed in an approved facility - this has to do with having sterile areas that are easy to clean, plus the documented procedures in place for how things are cleaned and how often, plus workers trained in food safety and safe processing procedures, PLUS and this may be the big one for many farms - you need cold storage once the animal has been killed. Not to mention the equipment/supplies to package the resulting meat... There's so much that goes into the process and the fact that our system has supported increasing specialization for decades is, I think, EXACTLY the problem (i.e. the farm is only set up to raise the meat, the slaughterhouse is set up to humanely kill and to process the carcass, the distributor is set up to provide cold rooms for storage and shipping for the packaged product, etc).

 

[Gypsylion]

Here's a recent article in Vox that addresses the issue, including some history for how we got here...

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I'm not sure what the difference is with rabbits, other than drastic differences in size and everything that goes along with that, but I believe you can't sell meat for consumption unless it has been processed in an approved facility - this has to do with having sterile areas that are easy to clean, plus the documented procedures in place for how things are cleaned and how often, plus workers trained in food safety and safe processing procedures, PLUS and this may be the big one for many farms - you need cold storage once the animal has been killed. Not to mention the equipment/supplies to package the resulting meat... There's so much that goes into the process and the fact that our system has supported increasing specialization for decades is, I think, EXACTLY the problem (i.e. the farm is only set up to raise the meat, the slaughterhouse is set up to humanely kill and to process the carcass, the distributor is set up to provide cold rooms for storage and shipping for the packaged product, etc).

Exactly. "You cant sell meat for consumption unless it has been processed in an approved facility" thats why you sell the pig and charge a processing fee. You're not selling the meat...you're selling the animal. Then you sell "processing", which is not selling meat. As long as you label it "not for human consumption" you are not selling meat. However you could always rent out a USDA certified kitchen and include that as a processing fee. Granted, I'm not a lawyer but I think that would snake around some of the red tape

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Home Raised Exception
A person may slaughter and process
his/her own livestock or poultry that he/
she has raised. The owner of the animal
must use the meat products exclusively
in his/her household. The owner may
use them for his/her nonpaying guests
and employees, but may not transfer
(i.e., sell, donate, give) any product to
another person. IC 15-17-5-11, 345 IAC
9-2.1-1, 9 CFR 303.1(a)(1).
This is indiana law. You will have to check with your own state regarding this.