Meat&Poultry - January 2013 - 78

SMALL BUSINESS OUTLOOK
“There are large
struggles for
small processors
and small
businesses in
general.”
identifed and verifi ed meats that our
customers are demanding. They want
it to come from small, local farmers.”
He says local herdsmen have to
transport animals nearly 100 miles
to get them slaughtered and processed
under USDA inspection, but the market
for these products has justifi ed the
new direction he’s taken.
Bringhurst reduced his workforce
from 28 to 20 employees when he gave
up federal inspection and identifi es
worker benefi ts as something he has
to modify.
“We’ve paid 100 percent of the
costs of medical insurance, but this
year saw a 23 percent increase in the
rates,” he adds. “This means we’ve
got to pass on some of those costs
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78 • Meat&Poultry • January 2013 • www.MeatPoultry.com
to the employees. There are large
struggles for small processors, and
all small businesses, in general. But we
see strong growth in retail because of
our emphasis on locally raised meats.
Throwing off the yoke of more and
more testing, paperwork and the unknowns
of future regulations under
inspection has allowed us to concentrate
on what we do best. We could
not continue to realize our business
vision under a tougher and tougher
inspection system.”
Ralph’s Packing Company in Per-
kins, Okla., made a decision in July
to no longer slaughter. It was a tough
one, but manager Wes Beane feels it
helped streamline the entire operation.
“The decision was based on over-
whelming regulatory issues,” he says,
“but one that gave us the opportunity
to expand in the value-added area.
Areas of the plant used for the kill
fl oor, hide room and chilling cooler are
being converted into zones for sausage
stuffi ng and a truck-wash station.”
Beane feels the decision eliminat-
ed many of the cross-contamination
issues the plant had to deal with and
allowed an expansion for further processing
that did not have to start from
the ground up.
Ralph’s was able to retain nearly
all of its 40-plus employees and put
them to work in value-added areas of
production. The fi rm was also able
to institute a product-tracking system
that helped meet requirements of
third-party auditors for customers like
Walmart, which sells the company’s
jerky products.
Beane, who is also secretary of the
Oklahoma-Texas Meat Processors Association,
says Ralph’s has been hard
hit by rising beef prices and diminishing
numbers of livestock because
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