poultry proccessing options in Maine

[Ruth]

I am looking at getting some ducks for meat this year, do I have to proccess them myself, or are there local options? I live in the Old Town area. If I had extra, how hard would they be to sell? I'm trying to decide how many ducklings to order.

[Joe]

As far as I know, there are no inspected processors for water fowl. I may be wrong, but I haven't found one yet. Selling them is not a legal option unless you get them processed at an inspected facility.

[The Jacksons]

Greany's Turkey Farm in Mercer is the only humane poultry slaughter house in the state as far as I know. They are licensed and the whole 9 yards. Folks around here take their chickens, ducks, and turkeys there for processing and then sell their meat at farmers markets and such. We wouldn't take our birds anywhere else.

[Ruth]

Thank you, I looked up their web site and they are just what I was looking for!

[Melissa White Pillsbury, MOFGA's Organic Marketing Coordinator]

The Dept of Ag's Division of Quality Assurance & Regulations maintains a list of slaughter facilities in the state (USDA inspected, state inspected, and custom facilities). http://www.maine.gov/agriculture/qar/meatplants.html

For poultry, there are no USDA inspected facilities in Maine. There is one state-inspected facility (if you plan re-sale & don't want to process the birds yourself, this is your only option). There are several other custom facilities, including Greaney's. (Some of these may not want to do waterfowl, but the state inspected place will do them.) If you pre-sell your birds through a CSA or other arrangement, your customer can have their birds processed at a custom facility, and you can provide the service of transporting the birds to and from the facility...

At MOFGA's Small Farm Field Day in Unity (this year on May 30) we usually offer a poultry slaughtering workshop. Details of the day's events are forthcoming...

[Stotts Family]

HI ,
There is a farmers owned CO-OP for poultry processing in Maine.It is the ONLY state inspecting faclilty resale for poultry in Maine.They do chickens,turkeys,ducks geese and other feathered species .
To find out more information or to join contact Paula Stotts 345-9005