Environmentally friendly slaughter service studied

Churchill County economic development officials want to build an abattoir to capitalize on the nationwide trend toward consumption of natural foods in particular, grass-fed beef and brand its product nationwide.

"It's not really a trend, it's a realization that consumers want something that is healthy, tastes good and is good for you," said Juliette Taylor, executive director of the Churchill Economic Development Authority in Fallon.

Even giant retailers are responding to the trend, some encouraged by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s decision to as much as double its natural food offerings.

"There is a demand for organic alternatives in our stores. We've always sold them but people don't often think of Wal-Mart as a place to buy them," said Karen A. Burk, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart. "They often go to specialty stores to find organic foods and if they can find these alternatives at Wal-Mart at a value then it helps them save time and fuel and that's very important in this economic climate."

Wal-Mart currently does not sell 100 percent grass-fed beef, but Burk said it will do so if there's a demand.

The Churchill County Economic Development Authority has requested $214,678 from the Nevada Economic Development Fund to determine whether a USDA-certified or inspected abattoir makes economic sense.

An abattoir, the French word for slaughterhouse, is an environmentally sensitive custom facility that processes beef that has been raised naturally without chemicals or growth hormones.

Abattoir services, which also allow cattlemen to have personal control over their herd, are so limited in the area that Nevada and northern Nevada cattle ranchers, including Niman Ranch, send their grass-fed herds to Utah.

Nationally, Taylor's research shows, upscale restaurants and hotels featuring grass-fed beef on their menus are paying premium prices for existing supplies. Many Nevada restaurants, casinos and food stores that feature grass-fed beef in Nevada purchase their supplies outside the state because there are so few local suppliers.

"Why can't that same quality of beef be in the supermarket here? The demand is already there for naturally raised beef," said Laura James, executive administrative assistant at the Churchill economic authority.

Taylor said the scarcity of Nevada grass-fed beef is related to a lack of facilities.

"We have huge feedlots across the country but don't have enough USDA-certified or inspected abattoirs," Taylor said, "So restaurants, casinos and food chains buy it from out-of-state suppliers."

Grass-fed beef producers in Northern Nevada either pre-sell the cattle on the hoof to local customers or at auction. The closing of a northern California abattoir to make way for housing spurred the idea in Churchill County.

"We decided we needed to address this need. When we began researching the problem, we discovered it was a national crisis. The abattoir will let us service our own communities in northern Nevada and north California and Washington," Taylor said.

The proposed facility would handle 20 to 200 head of cattle a month, Taylor said, drawing livestock from a 400-mile radius.