Sustainable Meat Production and Processing

Pictures

Pictures from my upcoming book
‘Sustainable Meat Production and Processing'

Part 2: New rules – solutions from across the Channel

Chapter 4: Regulated down to the second

Sigel’s animals stay year round on grass

A licensed hunter will shoot the animal within the herd

To transport the dead animal a simple ‘slaughter box’ with a lid is sufficient

Chapter 5: A good life and death within the herd

Springtime at Hofgut Rengoldshausen

Stork looking for a nesting place

Simba, the bull on calf care duty while the moms graze

Who are these people standing there?

After looking up briefly, the cows continue grazing

Coming in for milking and to see the calves

Low stress stockman ship makes bringing the herd in easy for humans and animals

The cows are beautiful and are very different in temperament

First stop in the barn is the kindergarden

Mum is back

This patient mum had not just her calves but two others suckling

Super mum

Contentment

Low stress stockman ship means working with the animals

Mechthild Knösel explains the yoke panel used for slaughter

The upper part of the yoke panel

The yoke panel is not set in concrete and can be fully opened

Knösel with one of the bolt guns she uses

The slaughter box Knösel had designed and constructed at the cost of €30,000

The team managed to stun the animal, lift it into the slaughter box and close the door in 58 seconds. The regulation that an animal stunned in a barn can only be bled out inside an MSU has now been dropped.

Beef on board

Chapter 6: When small abattoirs work best

The Legau abattoir

The pigs are sprayed with water which ensures that the electric tongues for stunning will work well

The stunned pig is lifted up....

... the artery is cut...

... and the animal is bled out

There will be blood

It took just minutes for all the pigs to be slaughtered

Dehairing with hot water

Work in the abattoir is physically demanding

Any remaining hairs are singed off with a blow torch

The pigs had their tails docked. Not a good sign.

Next step: gutting

The organs are removed in one piece

Heart, liver and lungs ready for inspection by the vet

The rest is slaughter waste even though the gut could be used

The carcass is split in half with a saw

The halves are almost ready to go into the cooler

While Thomas Kling is gutting the last pig, the two other butchers clean up before the cow and the calves arrive for slaughter

Farmer and butcher lead the blindfolded cow into the abattoir

An eight year old dairy cow is huge

The animal is bled out....

... and placed on a sledge for dehiding

The carcass is split in half

Saying good-bye

Vet Jenny Härle inspects the inner organs...

... and filling out the paperwork. All done before breakfast.

Health and safety

In the butchery work starts at 6am

Thomas Kling and his colleagues are back from the abattoir

Klaus Steinhaus portioning meat

Burger patties in the making

Making ‚Leberkäs‘

Charcutrie

Sausage making

Freshly cured

Pre ordered and ready for pick up

Next door...

...at the shop....

... customers are spoilt for choice.

Germans do take sausages seriously.

If it hadn’t been for Frieda...

.... and her piglets....

... we would not have learnt about the Konrad butcher’s and abattoir

A family business with dedicated, long time staff...

...and a zen vibe?

Gero Konrad shows us the newly built abattoir

The facility cost €4 million to build

Konrad’s mum supports the decision to build the facility...

... and works in the shop full time

Custom slaughter for local farmers will be 60% of the business

Brand new sausage making equipment doesn’t come cheap either..

... nor do cookers and smokers.

Living the good life

In autumn there will be fruit to be enjoyed

Nanny duties

Private accommodation

No escaping hungry youngsters

All welcome

In winter the spacious huts have a PVC curtain to keep out the cold

Rooting....

... taking a mud bath...

... going nose to nose...

... and enjoying being a pig.

Judith Wolfarth with one of the boars

The journey to the abattoir is about 200 yards

The state of the art facility cost 1 million Euros

Getting out of the trailer

The pig will be stunned with electric tongues at the entrance to the abattoir

Maisie is reluctant, she does not like to walk across the paved area...

... but she’s fine once it’s been covered

Butcher Ralf Wendle also teaches at a local college

Before and after scalding

Degutting

No fitness studio needed...

... this takes precision, muscle power and lots of skill

The vet does the inspection..

... and is happy with what he sees.

In the cooler. Note the intact tails.

The air here is cool, fragrant and briny

Chapter 7: Butcher training, humane slaughter and meat quality

Hygiene procedures become second nature

Welcome to the butchery training centre in Kehl, Germany

The butchery behind the classroom is fully equipped

Talking to a journalist makes for a welcome break

He hopes to run his own butcher business some day

Not all apprentices want to learn how to slaughter

A career in management is an option

For older apprentices with experience the apprenticeship is two years instead of three

Fabienne, the plaster cast cow with removable muscle groups and organs...

...located the stomachs yet?

Fabienne will not be replaced by high tech touch screens

Ralf Wendle is certain that all his students will pass their exams

The Lindner farm in Bavaria

The old grain silo is now a viewing platform

These animals will be slaughtered soon, the cow calf herd is on a distant pasture

The pigs are to the other side

There is a lot for visitors to do and see

For young tractor drivers

Staff parking

Lots of feed gets the animals used to the area where they will eventually be slaughtered

Who are these people?

Have I smelled you before?

Josef Straubinger explains where the animal is stunned and the carcass can be removed through a gate similar to a garage door

The MSU is used for bleeding out the beef cattle...

...and will be moved to the pasture to slaughter pigs.

Today, pigs were slaughtered

Last checks by the master butcher

Ready for processing

This will become a beautiful ham

Teaching the apprentice

More prep to be done...

... ripening to perfection

Sausage making..

.. for the farm shop and the restaurant

Ready for sale – in the shop or online

The work in the abattoir is done

Piglet youth gang

This is interesting

Shade and shelter

Group housing

A mud bath...

... is happiness

Part 3: Across the Atlantic: prairies and ‘niche meat’

Chapter 8: Prairies, Bison and the Dust Bowl

Prairie in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota

You can see the wind

The vegetation indicates where there is more or less water

The rocks provide shelter

Flash floods are common

The morning is cold and windy

Tell-tale signs...

...of the bison that escaped the yearly count

Suddenly the dust starts blowing

Within seconds everything disappears in the dust clouds

Then we see the bison

Where they are corralled the grass has completely gone

The dust cloud is as thick as fog

It’s hard to guess how many animals there are

It must have been stunning to see a herd of bison on the open prairie

The grasslands are beautiful...

... but as the sun sets....

... beauty turns to magic.

The rock formations no longer seem bleak

Even the Bighorn sheep seem to come out...

... to enjoy the view...

... and stay for a while.

Grasslands must be preserved

Chapter 9: MSUs and abattoirs: Big and sophisticated or small and simple

Mike Callicrate works with a custom built hangar that has a docking station for the reefer on one side

The entrance for the animals from the outside

They walk right into the chute where they are stunned immediately

The MSU sits in the hangar, the animals are bled out outside

The animal is gutted inside the MSU

The slaughter waste goes through a hatch and is collected outside

It takes skill to work in the limited space of the MSU

The carcass is split in half

All equipment can be stowed away safely

The animal halves and usable organs will be transported to the facility near Colorado Springs for processing

Bowden, North Dakota. Population 138

Everything is set for the Duck Fest...

... and the festivities at the community centre

The new Bowden Meat Processing facility on Main

The office is small but a central meeting place

BMP co-founder and chairman Cory Hart

Ground beef, ready for collection

The BPM sausages are very popular

There is always too little space in the cooler

The pigs have finally arrived

Rendering a pig unconscious with electric tongues is much safer

Here is why....

A company from Fergus Falls in Minnesota, picks up the slaughter waste every Thursday.

Lauren Monson is the office manager...

... and helps out where ever she is needed

Snoopy is too busy to leave the office

A farmer picks up his meat

The farmer specifies how the animal is to be butchered

Without the BMP there would be no shop in Bowden

Mike Flicks farms a few minutes drive from Bowden

The family farms 13,000 acres of arable land

Flick’s wife usually only drives a tractor at harvest time

The Flicks have millions invested in machinery and grain storage

Around 2,000 heads of cattle will be finished in feedlots in Nebraska..

... and sold to Tyson or JBS

There are 5,000 acres of permanent pasture

After living the good life....

...about 60 animals will be slaughtered at the Bowden facility

The Farmer’ Lawyer, Sarah Vogel, shows us Bismarck and the banks of the Missouri. Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804 near here.

The North Cascades Meat Producers Cooperative MSU stationed at Del Fox’ farm

The MSU needs water, electricity, the surface has to be concrete or paved.

The holding pens have been custom built

The head of the animal can be fixated in the clamp if a stun gun is used

Butcher Del Fox prefers to shoot the animals because they are likely dead and not just unconscious

The animal is dragged onto the forecourt and bled out

Next step: cleaning

The carcass is winched into the MSU

Space is tight in the MSU

Preparing to degut

The last of the hide comes off

The slaughter waste is collected outside

The body cavity is washed

Splitting the carcass

Ready for the cooler

The dressed beef halves stay in the cooler for 24 hrs or until they have a temperature between 5° and 7°C

Chapter 10: Making the most of it: processing meat efficiently and building a local food system

The Island Grown Farmers brand new cut and wrap facility on the outskirts of Burlington

The Island Grown logo prominently displayed on the outside...

...and the inside.

Shop for meat while you wait at reception

Here’s what’s on offer

David Stockstill’s office is small and cramped. The monitor allows quick communication with the shop floor.

The butchers have processed six lambs, 11 pigs and 300 pounds (136 kilos) of trim for three different farms today

The meat is portioned according to the specification on the cut sheet..

... and sliced if needed

Portions are vacuum packed...

...weighed, labelled...

... and ready to pack

Farmers need to pick up their meat within two weeks or be fined

Equipment needs not just to be clean but also easy to access

Sides of beef aging in the cooler

David and Emily share a tiny office

A quick glance at the monitor keeps everyone informed about who is where and where a batch of meat is in the process

Many of the workers come from the apple industry and have transferable skills

All information is available in English and Spanish

Value adding: sausage making at speed

Processing is only efficient if smokers and cookers are filled to capacity

Some of the workers have started out in the Visconti family restaurant

Spice mixes are not bought in but made fresh for each batch

David Zarling doesn’t care about the looks...

... when HACCP rules are involved

Making charcuterie...

... is a very special skill

Everyone earns at least a living wage

Weighing and packing

Time to mature

With good planning small, traceable batches of high value products can be made for a reasonable price

A sophisticated labelling machine is expensive...

... but essential to deliver shelf ready products

David Zarling, director at Cured and building a niche meat sector in the Pacific Northwest with NMPAN

Visconti family restaurant sausages

A Cured culatello ham

Cured own brand

Sampling the produce at the Pybus Public Market in Wenatchee

Jeff Roger’s two part MSU for sheep

The entrance to the abattoir trailer, the cooler unit is on the left

Inside the abattoir section

The hooks for the carcass move easily on wheels normally used for inline skating

The lambs come through a run on the side of the unit

The MSU is fitted with two AC units, a generator, a tank for potable water, a water heater and a pump.

The cooler unit is detachable and can be pulled with a station waggon

Rogers is the only breeder in the US...

...raising mules, crossed from Blue Face Leicester and Clun Forest sheep

Another day the smoke from numerous wildfires blocks out the sun

The Meating Place west of Portland, Oregon...

.... and the cafe opposite

The shop is huge

Pick your own..

... – cooler space in the centre

Cured meats

Blueberry breakfast sausage anyone?

Custom cutting at the Meating Place

Prime cuts

Dog chews...

... nothing goes to waste

Shop manager Marena Gray

More women are becoming butchers

Team work is needed

No one cuts you slack just because you are a woman

Portioning...

... and wrapping

When handling custom exempt meat hygiene regulations are less strict

Ready to go into the cooler

What’s not a steak or a roast...

...gets cubed...

...or becomes mince

Marena Gray explains the setup

Mixing meat and spices

Stuffing

The butchers can be observed from the shop

The endless sausage... neatly arranged...

... neatly arranged

... and hung...

...ready to be tied

Cooler space is particularly tight...

...because it’s hunting season

There’s a bear hanging amongst the beef

The new MSU

The slaughtered animals will be de-hided and gutted at the Meating Place

The sign posting definitely helps

Revel Meat in Canby, south of Portland

No glamour behind this door...

... but purple pigs fly

The door leading to the cutting floor in the tiny Revel Meat office

In need of a band aid

Ben Meyer, the vegan turned slaughterman and butcher

There is little space on the cutting floor...

... no chance to establish a proper line

The mood among employers is good

Because of lack of space...

... meat often has to go back into the cooler

Cooler and storage space are limited too

The lamb has to be wrapped...

...and packed

...before the sausages can be sorted...

...and packed

Lack of space means everything needs to be shifted numerous times

Aging beef

Humane slaughter is Meyer’s number one priority

Monday is not a slaughter day

The building is old but Revel Meat has invested a lot in new equipment

Meyer explains the chute

Cattle are used to being in a squeeze and a head yoke

Every three months Meyer reviews with employees how animals are to be stunned

Different bolt guns for animals of different size

Humane handling starts with unloading the animals

Chapter 11: Skills needed: meat cutting, management and marketing

Iowa is at the centre of America’s corn belt

Family farms like this one are getting rare in Iowa

Promoting grass-fed beef in Iowa and beyond

The few from the office

Promoting grass-fed beef is what Nick Wallace does

On a beautiful fall day....

... the cows are gleaning in what was a corn field

The calves will soon live through their first Midwest winter

A proud Angus

Will the neighbours take note?

The 99 Counties warehouse on the farm

Packed and ready to be sent out

Customers can order chicken too