Weaver meats is a family-owned slaughter and processing plant in afton, iowa

Weaver Meats LLC received a $200,000 Project Grant award from the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service under the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grants – Supplemental Funding program (CFDA 10.180). The grant funds will support facility and equipment upgrades at Weaver Meats' slaughter and processing plant in Afton, Iowa to help the company meet requirements for participation in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program. Specifically, the grant will fund the addition of 1,000 square feet to the slaughter floor to allow for more humane handling and increased throughput of up to 30 beef cattle and 30 hogs per week. Funds will also add a second skinning station, expand inedible cooler space, and purchase a modern food-safe grinder and larger 180 square foot cooked meats cooler. These upgrades aim to grow Weaver Meats' annual sales by $3M by improving production efficiency and capacity to provide market access for approximately 200 local farmers.

We are the only state inspected locker within 65 miles and there is no USDA locker for approximately 100 miles. We sell retail products and maintain small wholesale accounts. Our facility aims to grow sales by $3 million during this grant period thanks to equipment and facility upgrades that will help US be a participant in the cooperative interstate shipment program. However, to meet CIS requirements, our facility requires equipment and facility upgrades currently beyond our reach. With this grant, we first propose to add a 1,000 SQ. FT. Attachment to our slaughter floor to maintain humane handling and slaughter at a higher throughput. To meet fsis standards on workplace and food safety and to improve our efficiency, we will also add a second skinning station and additional inedible cooler space to handle the increase in animals and inedible waste. We expect this addition in combination with a modern, food safe grinder and expanded 180 SQ. FT. Cooked meats cooler to increase our output from 18 to 30 beef cattle per week and 16 to 30 hogs per week, which would give a new market access point to about 200 farmers. Aside from growing our throughput capacity, this cooler will help US meet fsis requirements on separation of products. This increase in output would also allow US to create 8 jobs thanks to around a 90 to 100 percent increase in our wholesale and retail sales.