Rebecca Thistlethwaite

Humane Handling at the Processing Plant

A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar in collaboration with Animal Welfare Approved.         Please Note: This webinar is no longer available in video form; however, the presentation materials remain active.      Date: June 17, 2015 Duration: one hour Overview:   On this webinar, we learned about humane handling practices at the processing plant.  We discussed steps producers […]

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Finger Lakes Meat Project: The Meat Locker and Meat Suite

  A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar Date: November 18, 2015 Duration: one hour Overview:  The Finger Lakes Meat Project is a regional initiative in New York State to grow the freezer trade (sales of meat in bulk quantities such as whole, half and quarter animals) to benefit livestock farmers and consumers. The Project consists of educational efforts,

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Innovation in Practice: Employee Management at T&E Meats

Employee Management at T&E Meats:  We frequently hear from small-scale meat processors that finding, training and keeping good help can be a struggle. Joe Cloud, co-owner and manager of T&E Meats, shared with us his company’s approach to employee management, describes his apprenticeship program, and the T&E Meats Bonus Plan.  Click here to download the

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Plant in a Box: A Solution for USDA-Inspected Poultry Processing?

  A Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar Date: February 25, 2016 Duration: one hour Overview:  Small-scale poultry producers are well aware that finding USDA-inspected processing is a big challenge.  Very few inspected poultry plants do fee-for-service processing, far fewer than for red meat, largely because it is hard to be profitable.  David Schafer, owner and founder

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Testing The Idea: Using Existing Research to Assess Meat Processing Options

  Introduction Feasibility studies have become a standard way to assess whether a new processing facility is a good idea: does it meet an actual need? Will it have enough business to survive and thrive? Feasibility studies can also be very expensive in both money and time, not to mention all the time spent writing

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Sausage Formulation Spreadsheet

Processors who make small batches of sausage for independent meat producers often use commercial, pre-blended mixes. Mixing a producer’s own specialty sausage recipe is time consuming and can be a logistical headache: processors must keep unique ingredients separated and communicate numerous different recipes to staff with individual batch calculations, increasing the chance of error. Custom

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