<\/p>\n
A rancher with operations near Mancos and in Arizona has proposed building a small meat-processing facility south of Mancos to bring locally raised beef from pasture to table.<\/p>\n
Daniel Mominee said he originally envisioned the facility as meeting the needs of his herd in Mancos.<\/p>\n
But as word got around about his proposal, small operators with 10 to 20 head of cattle have expressed interest in using the facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to sell your beef to restaurants or grocery stores, you need a USDA-certified facility, and that\u2019s something that\u2019s lacking in our area,\u201d he said. \u201cFor smaller operators, getting scheduled at a USDA facility is difficult. We want to create our own USDA facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mominee\u2019s plan has received a recommendation for approval by the Montezuma County Planning and Zoning Board, and he wants to open the meat-processing plant in April 2020. He plans to process about 10 head a week based on the availability of traveling U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors.<\/p>\n
The facility would be on his 654-acre ranch on County Road 39 several miles south of Mancos. Eleven building-enclosed holding pens would be attached to the slaughterhouse in a 60-by-60-foot facility on a parcel of about 13 acres.<\/p>\n
Ryan Lowe, owner and general manager of the Ore House<\/a> in Durango, was excited to hear about plans to open a small USDA-approved facility.<\/p>\n \u201cWe, like ranchers, have been constrained by a lack of a USDA processing facility in the area,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re bringing in animals less broken down than we\u2019d like and doing butchery in-house. But we don\u2019t have the layout or the staff to do it efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n Sunnyside Meats<\/a>, Durango\u2019s single USDA meat-processing facility, he said, is often busy, and adding a regional slaughterhouse would help local restaurants obtain a more-consistent supply of locally raised meats.<\/p>\n \u201cWe work with local ranchers, but we run into a wall because they haven\u2019t been able to get scheduled at a facility. I think many restaurants would benefit,\u201d Lowe said.<\/p>\n What\u2019s particularly hard, Lowe said, is divvying up the entire animal once it\u2019s slaughtered, but he said by supplying multiple customers from Durango, Mancos, Cortez and possibly Telluride, the operation might be able to supply him with steaks while more casual restaurants could get ground beef and roasts.<\/p>\n Southwest Colorado, a prime ranching locale, would seemingly be a natural for easy establishment of a local supply of beef and pork, but Lowe said that\u2019s not necessarily the case.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have plenty of beef around \u2013 that\u2019s obvious \u2013 but we don\u2019t know how much ends up being served locally. I\u2019m not saying anything against Sunnyside. We use them, but they are so busy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n An added meat-processing facility, he added, should aid locals running cattle.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal ranches and farms need support from a sustainability standpoint, and having local restaurants working with them is an important part of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n