December 2013
Holiday Greetings,
We're the members of the Steering Committee for the Greater Palouse Meat Producers and we want to share the accomplishments of the past many months along with our future plans for the coming year. We've gathered a tremendous amount of information in an effort to determine whether we could realistically be able to establish a USDA-inspected slaughter plant in this area. After much study, we've concluded that it is indeed very doable. We’re writing this email to you because we know that the support of local producers will be crucial if we're to make this undertaking a success.
Here's the gist of our findings and plans:
Organizational Structure:
Our Steering Committee currently consists of six people who have been with our group from the beginning of 2013. We've held nine meetings since we started in January of this year. We've adopted the name, Greater Palouse Meat Producers (GPMP) and established a vision statement. There are many legal issues in establishing a slaughter plant. Legal costs would likely add up to a prohibitive amount of money. In lieu of that, it's the consensus of the group to pursue joining the Cattle Producers of Washington (CPOW) group. This organization has recently established its own slaughter plant in Odessa and has already worked through many of the organizational issues involved.
Establishing a Local Plant:
Survey information from Darrin Saul of the University of Idaho shows that 1236 to 2120 head of cattle could be committed to a USDA-inspected facility plus about 542 swine and 563 sheep/goats. That works out to be 4.9 to 8.3 head of cattle per day, about 2.1 head of swine (0.7 cattle equivalent) and 2.2 head of sheep/'goats (0.4 cattle equivalent). (This is based on 254 available slaughter days per year.) The group consensus is that these data support establishing a small facility of perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 square feet. Though we feel that we could eventually expand a great deal on this, we intend to establish a very solid financial footing and proceed with caution. To understand what this means in terms of the size of the basic facility we would be targeting, the facility size of the LCPA plant in Odessa, WA can process a maximum of 40 head of cattle a day or the equivalent in their 7,000 square foot plant. We need only to target 1 or 2 slaughter days a week. For comparison, the LCPA plant consists of over 7,000 square feet. There are other USDA-inspected plants in the greater region that are much smaller facilities that are run privately with much success.
Work Needed:
Our current goal is to establish a written business plan and proposal for a small USDA-inspected facility to be established in the Palouse area. We will be developing a detailed business plan, identifying a plant site, drafting a plant design, establishing financial support and identifying additional marketing opportunities, and connecting with local producers. We have already identified some grants and loan sources that we may be able to utilize. We need help from local producers like you to make this happen. We hope you will support us in these endeavors in the next year.
Yours truly,
Ann
GPMP
We're the members of the Steering Committee for the Greater Palouse Meat Producers and we want to share the accomplishments of the past many months along with our future plans for the coming year. We've gathered a tremendous amount of information in an effort to determine whether we could realistically be able to establish a USDA-inspected slaughter plant in this area. After much study, we've concluded that it is indeed very doable. We’re writing this email to you because we know that the support of local producers will be crucial if we're to make this undertaking a success.
Here's the gist of our findings and plans:
Organizational Structure:
Our Steering Committee currently consists of six people who have been with our group from the beginning of 2013. We've held nine meetings since we started in January of this year. We've adopted the name, Greater Palouse Meat Producers (GPMP) and established a vision statement. There are many legal issues in establishing a slaughter plant. Legal costs would likely add up to a prohibitive amount of money. In lieu of that, it's the consensus of the group to pursue joining the Cattle Producers of Washington (CPOW) group. This organization has recently established its own slaughter plant in Odessa and has already worked through many of the organizational issues involved.
Establishing a Local Plant:
Survey information from Darrin Saul of the University of Idaho shows that 1236 to 2120 head of cattle could be committed to a USDA-inspected facility plus about 542 swine and 563 sheep/goats. That works out to be 4.9 to 8.3 head of cattle per day, about 2.1 head of swine (0.7 cattle equivalent) and 2.2 head of sheep/'goats (0.4 cattle equivalent). (This is based on 254 available slaughter days per year.) The group consensus is that these data support establishing a small facility of perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 square feet. Though we feel that we could eventually expand a great deal on this, we intend to establish a very solid financial footing and proceed with caution. To understand what this means in terms of the size of the basic facility we would be targeting, the facility size of the LCPA plant in Odessa, WA can process a maximum of 40 head of cattle a day or the equivalent in their 7,000 square foot plant. We need only to target 1 or 2 slaughter days a week. For comparison, the LCPA plant consists of over 7,000 square feet. There are other USDA-inspected plants in the greater region that are much smaller facilities that are run privately with much success.
Work Needed:
Our current goal is to establish a written business plan and proposal for a small USDA-inspected facility to be established in the Palouse area. We will be developing a detailed business plan, identifying a plant site, drafting a plant design, establishing financial support and identifying additional marketing opportunities, and connecting with local producers. We have already identified some grants and loan sources that we may be able to utilize. We need help from local producers like you to make this happen. We hope you will support us in these endeavors in the next year.
Yours truly,
Ann
GPMP