Capricorn Hill Farm Phone: (607)732-4987 Board of Appeals LETTER OF INTENT TO OPEN A MEAT PROCESSING FACILITYWe are applying for a zoning variance to operate a Small Ruminant Meat Processing Facility at Capricorn Hill Farm, 369 Clark Hollow Road in Pine City. Our property is zoned agricultural, and while we can operate this facility for our own use without the variance, we are asking that we be allowed to lease the facility to area meat processors and producers (farmers) when we are not using it. We will be renovating an existing building, a former milk bottling plant, to house the facility. Attached is the copy of the grant proposal we submitted to SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) in early December for financial assistance with opening a Small Ruminant Meat Processing. As you can see, our grant proposal was approved and we will receive some funding for this project. Reviewing the proposal will give the information about our intentions for the processing facility and the hardships other small farmers, and we face when not being able to get their direct-marketed livestock processed. As noted in the proposal, Chris and I will be working closely with the USDA Inspectors Don Warden and George Carlyle on this project. We will also be working with our local Cornell Cooperative extension agent, Walter Nelson, and will be receiving advice and support from several Cornell University professors, the Empire State Meat Goat Producers Association, the Small Ruminant Marketing Advisory Board and the Chemung County Farm Bureau. We have toured Leona Meats in and they have offered us advice and assistance, as has John Zack, a custom meat producer in Millerton Pennsylvania (both have processed many of our goats). Help has also be offered by Greg Gleason, partner and meat cutter of Keck’s Meats in Millerton, PA, and Jim DeNunzio, owner and meat processor of DeNunzio’s Sausage in Elmira. We also hope to become involved with the Southport Business Association in the near future to both seek and offer assistance. We want to make it very clear that the facility will only be processing small ruminants (goats, sheep and deer), home-grown poultry and rabbits (poultry and rabbits were not part of the grant proposal). We will not be processing cattle, hogs or any large livestock. (Such equipment for the size of those animals is beyond what we will undertake. The whole premise of designing a small ruminant plant is to keep the equipment sized for those animals allowing for efficient and profitable processing.) Business hours will not be limited to the traditional "business day". Most of the people with whom we will be dealing may find it necessary to use this facility in the evening and on weekends, including ourselves. While the processing facility is being designed for our farm use, we intend to lease it to area farmers and meat cutters on a "by-the-day" basis when it is standing idle. We have no intention of having this run as a full-time plant, nor does our research indicate that there is a need for such a full-time facility. (We will not have a full or part-time meat cutter employed, they will be contracted by the "job".) It is important to note that even if we did intend to run the facility full-time, Inspector Carlyle estimated that the cooler will only hang 20-25 small ruminant carcasses. We have been informed that one meat cutter and a helper can prepare no more than 25 carcasses per day for cutting and wrapping the next day. Therefore, our facility is limited to processing no more than 75 small ruminants per week. In order to make these numbers more visual for those who are not involved with livestock or meat processing, the average goat is taken for processing at about 40-80 pounds (about half to a third of adult size). Generally 40-50% of that weight ends up in the offal buckets (waste) at the time of slaughter. At this point, consumers want the carcass whole, quartered or cut and wrapped in meal-sized packaging. If cut and wrapped without bone, there may be as little as 10 pounds of actual meat available. (This ratio of live weight to packaged meat is true with most livestock. The goal is to obtain at least 25% usable meat from a live animal.) Therefore, bringing in 25 head of goats would mean 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of live animals, yielding 500 to 1,000 pounds "hanging weight" with 250-500 pounds of actual meat. (One large steer weighs in at about 1,200 lbs.) No large trucking will be necessary as 25 goats easily fit into a two-horse trailer. The resulting wrapped meat fits into the back of a SUV. We personally don’t have much experience with sheep, but are told that slaughter weight for lambs is approximately 100 to 125 pounds, and follows the same ratios. Deer, except farm grown fallow deer (about the size of goats), will already be at least field dressed before coming to our facility and will be brought in by the individual hunter as previously contracted with a meat cutter having leased the facility during deer season. We will contract for offal and waste disposal of the small ruminants off the property. We will comply with safe water and environmental regulations as appropriate to our project. We will comply with all sanitation and health regulations and reasonable suggestions. We will comply with the DEC regulations, especially regarding vermin control. We will comply with the USDA regulations and recommendations as we intend this to become a certified USDA inspected plant within 3 years. This meat processing facility is being developed as a cost containment opportunity for the small livestock producer. The conversion of an abandoned bottling plant into a meat processing facility will be used as a model throughout the northeast, and perhaps the nation, as a possible solution for what has been a dilemma for the small farmer. Our leasing fees will cover management, upkeep, meeting with regulations, cleaning and sanitation, waste disposal, utilities, insurance, taxes, renovation materials and the like, but need not include mortgage overhead as the building is already included as part of our farm. Personally, we want to assure the Town of Southport and our neighbors that because this building is directly across the driveway from our home and right outside our front door, we have certain expectations. We love our farm and are slowly bringing it back to life. We do not want, nor will we allow, unsightly waste or undesirable smells coming from this facility or as a result of processing. We will not allow producers or meat processors to allow such to occur. We are not interested in significantly increasing the traffic on Clark Hollow Road. We do not want livestock loose due to careless handling and will design unloading areas and pens to prevent such from happening. We do not want any animal to be treated with cruelty and will create procedures prohibiting such treatment in alignment with Animal Rights Regulations. Because of the nature of this facility, we will have the ability to "pick and choose" to work with the meat cutters and livestock producers who will enhance our farm and prohibit those who might endanger or cause harm to our community. We will certainly make mistakes, though taking precautionary measures not to, and will make every effort to correct them as quickly as possible. Thank you for the time and effort you have given to the consideration of the zoning variance. Sincerely, Colleen Parsons |