By NATE KING
Salina Post
An Abilene custom meat processing and craft butcher shop held an open house event on Wednesday, June 12, to showcase its innovative mobile animal harvesting unit.
Midwest Meats, 610 S. Buckeye Ave. Abilene, Kan., is a family-owned and operated business specializing in custom-processing beef, bison, hog, lamb, goat, and elk.
"We just really believe the more local you can get your food supply- first of all, the healthier it is and second of all, the healthier economy," said Midwest Meats owner Troy Leith. "If we were gonna do that in Dickinson County we needed to be in Abilene — the economic center to get that done."
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Rooted in traditional methods of animal harvesting, Midwest Meats' mobile harvesting unit aims to make meat processing more accessible for small and medium-sized ranch operations. Unveiled in March of last year, the mobile unit is capable of processing up to 20 head of livestock per week.
The unit offers onsite slaughter services intended to reduce the stress associated with transporting animals to traditional slaughter facilities. According to Midwest Meats, this approach aims to improve animal welfare and enhance the quality of meat products.
"Abilene, like many small towns, zoned out for slaughter in town. So we ended up with the trailer," Leith said. "We're currently working on getting an inspector to come to the farm with us. It's new and innovative, people say, but how many of you remember when on the farm this was the way it was done."
The unit is designed to enhance flexibility and efficiency in livestock processing, particularly for less domesticated specialty breeds such as Bison and farm-raised Elk, which pose challenges in terms of loading and transportation.
Matthew Steele, CEO and executive director of the Kansas Cattleman Association, attended the event on Wednesday.
"As Troy is working through the regulatory side of it showcasing and perfecting the equipment, it opens up the local market for everyone across the state and the nation," Steele said. "Working so that way both producers and consumers benefit as they get the regulatory things worked out that increases the reach of the product."
Midwest Meats is in the process of working with state and federal regulators like the Kansas Department of Agriculture and USDA to get the stamp of approval.
"Troy has worked really hard on it [the mobile unit]," Steele said. "It's good to know that we've got one in place. It's working, and is being accepted and supported by the industry, the producer, Troy and his family and the consumer. It's just a matter of time."
With many counties zoning out slaughter and packing faccilties, Troy said Midwest Meats was presented with a unique opportunity.
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"Lots of small towns and even counties have zoned out slaughter. I believe it happened because everybody saw the big packinghouses going in and said, 'I wouldn't want that in my backyard.' So let's zone it out," Leith said. "I'm not even saying it's a bad call for a community to do that, but they forgot about the small guy downtown."
Troy continued, "If we can get the whole inspection system to come alongside us and figure this out, we can reach out to all the small producers or medium-sized producers. We can put in a local source craft butcher shop in any town because we're not dealing with zoning and being able to kill. Whether it's a static location on multiple farms or how we do that."
Currently Midwest Meats transports locally sourced animals to a state-inspected facility for slaughter.
"We're still getting over that hump of an inspected kill on the farm," Troy said. "Our building here, we're all under inspection and license; the only thing we're lacking ourselves is what we would call the stamp carcus. Currently, we're hauling locally sourced animals to a state-inspected facility, having them killed, and then picking them up with our trailer."
Midwest Meats is a family operation. Troy's wife, Wendy, and their children, Bryan and Morgan, all work at the store in various roles.
"Bryan is our main meat cutter and butcher, he runs it," Troy said. "He has an older brother in Des Moines, and they have both been in the meat cutting room since they got out of high school."
Morgan and Bryan's girlfriend Kinsey both work in the retail space in the store, and Wendy manages human resources and employee assistance.
Along with providing consumers with high-quality custom meat cuts and helping ranchers get their animals to market, Troy said he hopes to see Midwest Meats handed down to the next generation.
"We expect once we get everything done, it should last two, three or more generations and past that with luck," Troy said. "The family-size farm or ranch needs all the help it can get, and part of our mission is to fill that gap."