Slaughterhouse to aid farmers

A large man with a kind smile, Clayton Blake is the sort of person who instills trust. In his business this trait is important. Blake has been running a humane practice custom slaughtering house, Blake's Slaughtering and Custom Cut Meats, in Alexander since 2002 and has just received a Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) food processing grant of $123,000 to expand his facility. His custom processing will continue to meet the needs of wild game hunters and backyard livestock raisers who have the meat processed for their own consumption; there is no resale involved. But the grant will allow Blake and his business to move into the realm of meat processing for livestock producers and farmers who do resell meat and value‑added meat products not only in the state but potentially across state lines and over the Internet. Such facilities must satisfy rigorous and costly state and federal requirements.
The Maine Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources lists eight state-inspected, five U.S. Department of Agriculture inspected, and 12 custom exempt only slaughtering houses. Most of the facilities are in southern and central Maine. Custom is not for resale, state inspected is only for sale within Maine and USDA inspected can be shipped interstate and sold over the Internet, an important way for producers to expand their businesses.
"I owe a whole lot of thanks to Elizabeth Sprague, Department of Agriculture, Slow Money -- I couldn't name them all," Blake says. Down East Business Alliance Small Business Coordinator Elizabeth Sprague helped to write the FAME grant application.
The expansion of Blake's facility is "central to agriculture. This is not just a singular operation, this has an effect on all the veggie and livestock producers," says Sprague. She explains that the project has economic development and job growth ripple effects, along with increased food security for the county.
Sprague adds, "This will have a major impact for Washington County and southern Aroostook County. There are quite a lot of livestock and poultry folks here who are holding back" production because of the cost involved in having meat processed for resale. Currently livestock producers who sell their meat must transport their cows, sheep, goats, chickens and other animals at least three hours or more one way, which stresses the animal. The farmer then has to lose another day's work in order to return to pick up the processed meat. All that time adds to the cost of locally‑produced meat, but, perhaps even more important to small local producers, it causes unnecessary stress on the animal. "I've talked to different farmers; most all of them want something a lot closer," says Blake.
The grant will allow Blake to double the space of his 1,000-square-foot facility. "We're able to accomplish a lot," says Sprague, "because the facility is already here and the reputation -- reputation is everything. It would have cost $750,000 to $1 million if we had to start from scratch."
Construction work has already begun, and Blake and his business partner and wife Catherine expect to be finished by September. About five full‑time employees will be added to the roster. "I have some guys right now that are outstanding -- old school." Blake has trained younger people, including his adult children, in the methods and attitude necessary to humanely slaughter an animal. "You treat that animal as humane and decent. You maintain respect for it and how it was taken care of and the people who raised it." He notes that in the past most families in rural and even some urban areas raised their own livestock and poultry for home use. Understanding slaughtering was a part of most families' skill set. Blake grew up in such a family and killed his first deer when he was 13. Part of the education his father gave him was requiring that he dress the deer himself. That early hunting experience has carried forward. Blake is now a registered Maine Master Guide and also runs a company, Breakneck Mountain Guiding Service.
In another year Blake hopes to have the second phase of his expansion plans under way, a separate 1,000-square-foot poultry processing building with at least two to three more people employed. But this phase, he says, with a smile at Sprague, will depend on a mixed source of funding, which the two of them are hard at work on.
Blake and Sprague participated in a Slow Money Maine discussion in Belfast back in the fall of 2010. The forum provided small business people an opportunity to discuss their projects and their need for capital. While the organization is not a source of funding, individuals attend who are interested in local business efforts that support local food development and food security. Out of this presentation came an anonymous donor to help with Blake's expansion plans. Sprague says of the organization, "There are some very interesting, just genius things happening with food and soil, and a lot of those people are involved in Slow Money."
The expansion does not mean that Blake will cut back on the custom work. "You still need to help the people who want to grow animals" for their own consumption. He notes that while visiting the dentist he was asked by an employee what he did for a living. When she heard about his custom slaughtering work she took his number down, explaining that she and her husband were raising two pigs in their backyard for home meat production.
While his business is "not something most people want to get into," mentoring others in the art of humane slaughtering is important to Blake. He explains that a branch of the University of Maine used to have a meat-cutting division. Sprague adds that slaughtering is coming full circle, as are so many areas of interest in re‑introducing the skills needed to produce food locally. And down the road when Blake is ready to retire, he hopes to have mentored many young people in the trade. "I'd love to encourage people to learn the skill."