Farmers in the North Olympic Peninsula hope to find a better way to get their meat to market.
Those include Barbara and Dennis Schulz of Port Townsend and Fred and Joanne Hatfield of Sequim’s Happy Valley.
One option on the table will be the subject of today’s meeting of the Chimacum Grange, which will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the grange hall on state Highway 19 at West Valley Road, across from the Chimacum School campus.
Perry Schermerhorn, president of the Puget Sound Meat Producers Cooperative, will discuss at the meeting, which is open to the public, how the organization’s mobile slaughter unit can better serve the North Olympic Peninsula.
“We are looking at extending service and more availability in that direction,” Schermerhorn said.
Among those interested are the Schulzes, who started a small farm in 1996 on acreage west of Port Townsend, where they grow kiwis and raise sheep.
They take the kiwis to market in Seattle and mail the fleece to MacAusland’s Woollen Mills in Kelowna, B.C., where it is made into blankets.
But getting the spring lambs to market is a whole different story.
Mobile slaughter unit
Schermerhorn said the Puget Sound Meat Producers Cooperative’s mobile slaughter unit can help.
“We have the trailer, we have the permit to operate under USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] inspection,” he said.
“Any increase will benefit the members and the region at large as far as the ability to have local meats.”
A USDA-approved facility and inspector are required to sell meat by the piece, which brings higher prices than selling live animals or locker lamb, meaning the whole animal.
But access has been a problem for farmers on the Olympic Peninsula, who have had to haul animals to a USDA slaughter facility in Oregon.
That means two round trips, Barbara Schulz said, because you have to return in a week or two to pick up the meat.
While it may pay for farmers who raise steer, it is economically unfeasible to make the trip to process lamb that may have a hanging weight of 20 to 45 pounds.
“And then you have to have a freezer storage,” she said.
The Puget Sound cooperative hoped to address the problem with a mobile unit, a 45-foot trailer that was purchased in 2009 by the Pierce County Conservation District and leased to the cooperative.
Initial plans to cover nine counties were scaled back, leaving Clallam and Jefferson counties out of the loop, something Schermerhorn said he plans to change.
The cooperative has a number of members on the Peninsula, he said.
Those include Julie and Chuck Boggs, who raise cattle in Chimacum, and Hatfield, who raises Suffolk-Hampshire sheep on his farm in Sequim’s Happy Valley.
Sequim farmer
Hatfield said he may be the only sheep farmer in the area who uses the cooperative’s mobile unit.
He goes to it. It doesn’t come to him.
“I take my animals to them whenever they are in the Bremerton area,” Hatfield said.
“They can take it directly to Minder Meats to be processed.”
Hatfield also invested in a freezer unit to transport the cut and wrapped meat, which he sells at the Port Angeles Farmers Market.
Being able to sell lamb by the piece means reaching a whole new customer base.
When he bought into the cooperative, Hatfield said, he was told that when the first mobile unit became profitable, a second unit would be purchased that would serve the Peninsula.
Widespread support
Having a meat-processing unit specifically for this area is an idea that has widespread support among farmers, according to Cyndie Stumbaugh, a Clallam County 4-H leader.
“I have two lambs, you have two lambs, you gather the animals at one of the farms,” she said.
“It could be cattle, pigs, whatever needs doing that day.
“People who have a small number of animals could get them done.”
But mobile units can’t go to any farm, Hatfield said, only those with USDA-approved handling areas, which includes a concrete pad and water.
The Puget Sound cooperative’s unit was at the Bekkevar farm in Blyn for a demonstration when it first went into operation, Trish Bekkevar said.
Earlier this month, it was used to slaughter 50 animals —sheep, cattle and pigs — raised by 4-H members and sold at auction.
The Bekkevar farm has the facility, she said, but only sells the locker beef, i.e., the whole animal, so it does not need a USDA inspector.
Permanent facility?
Having a permanent slaughter and meat-processing facility, either in Clallam or Jefferson County, is another option raised by farmers.
It would not only be convenient for small farmers, Dennis Schulz said, but also create jobs.
“If we had a fixed site, we could afford to take animals down at our own expense — one, two or three, or a whole trailer-load,” he said.
For more information about today’s meeting, phone Judi Stewart at 360-379-1103.
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Jennifer Jackson is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. To contact her, email jjackson@olypen.com.
