I’m Since 2016, Donahue's Livestock Farms has been selling beef, pork and lamb products to various wholesale, retail and private customers across the Adirondacks and the “North Country” in New York. We harvest and process our animals at a USDA-inspected processing facility in Croghan, NY - 100 miles away from our farm. Due to this distance and the fact that we make this trip once or twice weekly, depending on the week and time of year, it is expensive - especially since the fuel cost, wear-and-tear and time spent driving is on top of our substantial yearly processing costs.
Livestock processing was a challenge for producers long before the pandemic. The amount of cattle and livestock in the area exceeds the ability of the current processing facilities to accommodate the appointments that local producers rely on for the success of their businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the weaknesses in the current NYS livestock supply chain, especially the bottleneck of meat processing. It has brought to the forefront of our minds that our local producer-to-consumer market could and must be improved. The fact that the North Country is not food secure was made more apparent after the appearance of COVID-19. In a time where the food chain was disrupted by pandemic-related disruptions, local producers could have ensured our local market shelves weren't bare and that our region had the support that it needed. Instead, some producers were reduced to selling animals at auctions because there is a point where continuing to feed an animal becomes counterproductive and there weren’t processing spots available to them.
In the Spring of 2020, Cornell Cooperative Extension had 666 NYS livestock producers complete a survey, representing all regions of the state. The primary finding was that 86% of these farms reported increased consumer demand during the pandemic, and of these, 77% were unable to meet that demand primarily because of inability to get their animals slaughtered.
We are looking to build a new USDA and Custom meat processing facility on our farm in North Bangor. I've had conversations with dozens of Upstate producers who have all been very interested in the idea of another option for meat processing. The purpose of this form is not only to organize all of this information for use in planning, but also to be able to prove the interest of other local and/or North Country producers in the services we hope to offer when obtaining funding and grants. Try to be as realistic as you can to give us the best idea possible to gauge numbers. Thank you in advance for taking your time to complete this form. *Please note the results of this survey will be shared with various organizations for various reasons ranging from research to funding and grant proposals. Organizations including but not limited to: Cornell Cooperative Extension, Farm Credit East, Farm Service Agency, USDA, etc.
Listen, we know this isn't going to be fast - or easy! In fact, this project is proving to be very time-consuming, mentally exhausting and expensive..... *But everything that's worth it, ALWAYS IS!!*
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call, text or email me anytime. If you're able, please share this form with other farmers and producers you may know to give us the best understanding we can get on this project.
Katie Donahue
Donahue's Livestock Farms
(518)319-0700
donahueslivestockfarms@gmail.com www.DonahuesLivestockFarms.com