Deer Lake family farm to open slaughterhouse
Farmer says local butchers too busy during moose season to handle other meat
A family run farm in Deer Lake is planning to grow its business by opening a slaughterhouse.
Terri Lynn Robbins co-owns Robbins Family Farm and Gardens in Deer Lake with her husband Bill, a company that's well known for its petting zoo.
People often come in to see their animals and ask if they can buy local meat there, said Robbins.
Right now, that's not an option, but it's something they're working on.
"Until we have our provincially inspected facility we have to tell them 'well sorry, we're not set up for that yet.'"
Lack of options
Robbins knows first hand that there's a gap in the agriculture community on the west coast of the island. A couple of years ago, she ran into a frustrating scenario.
"We had a couple of pigs and some lambs and we wanted to have them dealt with for the winter, and it was the wrong time of year because all of our local abattoirs were busy with moose hunting and some wild game."
The more she looked into it, the more she realized this is a common problem for most farmers in the area.
Ducks in a row
Since then the family has been looking to open its own abattoir to help fill that void, researching and planning behind the scenes.
"If we're going to continue providing our food for ourselves and our family, then we should probably look at how we could go about having our own abattoir."
Once the paperwork is finished, the dream will be a reality.
"It's not just a matter of saying we want to open up a facility and that's that. It's finishing off the business plan and making sure we have all of our T's crossed and I's dotted," said Robbins.
Robbins is aiming to have the slaughterhouse open by mid-2017. She said there's interest not just in the Humber Valley area, but all over the west coast.
"We personally have a very long list of potential customers".
Once opened, the abattoir will process red and white meat, including any type of poultry, ducks, pork, sheep and beef.