Since we took steers to the butcher yesterday, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to explain the reasoning behind a question we’re often asked: “Do you butcher your own meat at the farm?”
The answer is no, and here’s why…
In Ohio, any meat that is sold for human consumption must be processed under state or federal inspection. This means that a meat inspector from either the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) or the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) must be on-site during the butchering process for the meat to be legally sold.
If you’ve ever noticed a small, Ohio-shaped image on a meat label, this legend is the “stamp of approval” that lets you know that the product was processed under inspection.
To take it a step further, any meat that was processed under state inspection only (i.e. ODA) cannot legally be sold outside the state of Ohio. To sell meat across state lines, the meat would have to be processed under USDA inspection.
So, to make a long story short, we don’t butcher or process any of our own meat. Not only would we not be allowed to sell the meat, raising the animal is already enough work so we’re just fine with leaving the butchering to the professionals!
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