Photo by Deb Gau Kipp Stender, owner of the Country Butcher in Dawson, greets a customer at his business. Stender bought the Country Butcher when the previous owners were looking to retire. According to a recent report on small meat processors in Minnesota, trouble finding new generations of owners is part of a “bottleneck” limiting access to processing facilities around the state.

DAWSON — Kipp Stender says his business is about more than running a butcher shop and meat processing facility. It’s about connecting livestock farmers and customers looking for locally-sourced meat.

“I was like, ‘I want to provide that service for people,’ “ said Stender.

A year ago, he bought the Country Butcher in Dawson, when former owners John and Jill Storlien were looking to retire.

Small meat processors like Stender play an important role for Minnesota livestock producers. In July, a report supported by the Minnesota Farmers Union, the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture said producers are facing a “bottleneck” limiting access to meat processing facilities. As small meat processors close down, the ones left have a hard time meeting demand, the report said.

“It’s vital to rural communities to have a number of small meat processors,” said Paul Sobocinski, one of the report’s authors. Small meat processors allow livestock farmers to market their products directly, which is more profitable, he said.

The report’s authors spoke to 57 small and medium-size meat processors across Minnesota. The list included processors in several different communities in southwest Minnesota, including Canby, Wabasso, Dawson, and Ruthton.

Transitioning to the next generation of meat processors in Minnesota is a challenge facing many lockers in the state, Sobocinski said. The report said a third of the processors interviewed had not starting planning for the future sale of their business. Many didn’t know where to find help for ownership transitions. Successful transitions had generally involved family members or employees who were trained internally, the report said.

For Stender, buying the Country Butcher was something of a career change, from being a teacher, principal and coach in Madison. However, he had plenty of past knowledge and interest in processing meat.

“I grew up on a dairy farm, so local butchers processed our animals for us as a family,” Stender said.

As an adult, he also raised red Angus cattle, and experienced firsthand how challenging it could be to get animals slaughtered and processed.

Stender said buying the Country Butcher was a way to keep a local business open, and support area livestock farmers and customers. The Storliens had owned the Country Butcher since 1994.

“The opportunity was there,” he said. “They were looking to retire and sell or get out of the business.”

Stender officially bought the business in October 2021.

“I love it. I enjoyed it from day one,” he said of the work. Local butchers and meat processors help farmers get products directly to buyers, and buyers can trust they know where their meat comes from, he said. “There are people who want that, to know the quality of it,” he said.

Finding and training employees is another challenge facing small meat processors. Part of the difficulty came from a lack of meat-cutting training and education opportunities. Sobocinski said of the 20 meat processors he interviewed for the report, more than half were graduates of a meat-cutting course at what is now Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Pipestone. That program no longer exists.

The report also found that Latinos and other people of color were willing to work in the meat processing industry, but they faced some unique barriers. The challenges included language barriers and lack of access to capital, the report said.

Stender said language barriers were a challenge he had experienced in trying to hire and train employees, too.

Sobocinski said some of the report’s recommendations to address the need for more meat processors have been noticed by the state legislature. The Minnesota House of Representatives introduced a bill that would provide funding for a “navigator” position to help meat and poultry processors get certification. Another House bill would provide grant funding for meat processor training.

“Another recommendation we hope lands in the Legislature is something for cultural navigation,” Sobocinski said. In order to help encourage meat processors of different cultures, “We need to be able to meet people where they’re at,” he said.

Sobocinski said the response to the meat processing report has been encouraging.

“Our report is about creating awareness, but also saying there’s opportunity,” he said.

Since stepping in as the new owner at the Country Butcher, Stender said he has been learning how to improve efficiency and profitability at the business. There are a lot of factors to balance, like the ideal number of employees to have and animals to process, he said. Currently, Stender said he has three employees, and processes an average of around 5 cattle a week. The Country Butcher has also been doing some pork processing, he said.

Another challenge is having enough space for both retail and meat processing. Stender said he hopes to be able to move his retail space into a former cafe building next door, which would both provide a more accessible shop space for customers, and free up more room in the current Country Butcher building for meat cutting and processing.

“I think it’s been positive,” Stender said of the response to his buying the Country Butcher. “A lot of people are happy that we’re keeping a local business open.”