MONTPELIER, Vt.—A mobile slaughterhouse due to be crossing the state by this spring should give small poultry producers more access to retail markets.
Processing poultry in the 32-foot trailer will ensure the products offered by small and mid-size farmers meet state approval.
"The plan right now is to have it operational by spring time," said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts.
The goal is to give smaller producers access to the "Buy Local" movement.
The $80,000 slaughterhouse includes a killing room, scalding pot and processing area. It will have the capacity to process about 200 birds a day.
It's needed because it's too expensive for most farmers to truck live poultry to the nearest USDA facility in southern Vermont.
And uninspected birds can't be sold legally in cooperatives and other retail outlets.
The mobile slaughterhouse will provide state inspection stickers.
"The key part is inspection, so it opens up every market you can imagine," said Tebbetts. "(Poultry) could be sold at schools, restaurants, hospitals, back to the state government. That's sort of where we're heading with this."
It's unclear how many small poultry farmers there are in Vermont.
"The initial plan is to run 8,000 birds through the unit in the first year, but we really don't know how many folks are out there," Tebbetts said.
John Clark of Applecheek Farm in Hyde Park said the mobile slaughterhouse would expand his business.
"In my situation, it'll be really helpful because I'll be able to sell in more markets and not be limited by the 1,000-bird limit," he said. "Right now you can't sell to a co-op unless you bring it to a USDA facility, which is really limiting for small-scale farmers."
An independent operation will lease, buy or rent the mobile slaughterhouse.
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Information from: The Times Argus, http://www.timesargus.com/
