Running a meat processing business is a lot more than just harvesting, processing, and selling meat. It’s a mix of planning, production, problem-solving, and people management. On any given day, owners and managers juggle these moving parts while keeping animals, employees, customers, equipment, and inspection requirements in order. Days rarely go exactly as planned, and success depends less on avoiding problems than on managing them well.
Although every meat processing business is different, the experiences shared here highlight the day-to-day challenges and responsibilities that operators have in common. These experiences come from Friesla clients and Technical Team members, including Celsie and Mac Sussex of Bear Mountain Beef; Byron Hill, co-owner of Del Fox Meats; and Chris DePalma and Jim Wieringa, who previously ran small USDA-inspected meat processing plants.
DAILY OPERATIONS IN A MEAT PROCESSING BUSINESS
At Bear Mountain Beef, days start between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m., and the team hits the ground running. “Mornings are crazy,” Celsie Sussex described. Much of what dictates that morning is the clock set with USDA. The approved USDA inspection schedule establishes when inspected operations can begin, and most plants structure their day around that start time. Typically, the owner-operator or manager arrives about an hour early to open, while employees usually arrive around 30 minutes before the USDA start time to set up.
“From there, the manager becomes a utility player—filling in on the floor if someone’s out, helping with livestock in the pens, being on call to fix equipment issues, and around at the end for customer questions, cleaning, and next-day preparation.”
Chris DePalma, Friesla Training & Technical Services
Before anything else, the manager has to get everyone what they need that day, prepare the USDA paperwork, handle livestock dropoff, and set up the inspector to examine animals and run pre-operation checks. From there, the manager becomes a utility player, said Chris DePalma—filling in on the floor if someone’s out, helping with livestock in the pens, being on call to fix equipment issues, and around at the end for customer questions, cleaning, and next-day preparation.
Byron Hill knows this range firsthand. He came to Del Fox Meats in 2018 with no butcher experience, took over the office, banking, and hiring, and now butchers five days a week while managing their USDA-inspected plant and retail store. Knowing every position means he can fill in where needed and “saves real money, since you can’t see many problems or spot broken equipment from behind a desk.” It also makes for a stronger team, Byron says—he’ll never ask an employee to do something he hasn’t done himself, from fixing equipment to scraping pens, which builds respect and camaraderie.
Byron’s day often starts with a 5-6 a.m. meeting with his co-owner, Pat Cairus, to set the schedule across their two locations. He then prints the day’s paperwork and walks his cut room with a flashlight, inspecting every saw blade, grinder wheel, and knife before the inspector arrives to maintain food safety and prevent noncompliance write-ups. Next, he’s ready to cue up their first animal for slaughter right at 7 a.m.
Some operations also run a Mobile Harvest Unit that can travel to different farms and ranches, like the USDA-inspected unit that Jim Wieringa operated for 22 years. They aimed for an eight-hour inspection day, Jim said, but factored in at least an hour on each end for travel and setup, and then to offload, clean, and restock once they returned. Eight- to twelve-hour days were common, often starting at 5 a.m. Whether operating a fixed plant or a mobile unit, every processor faces the same reality: no two days unfold exactly as planned.
MANAGING THE UNEXPECTED WHILE RUNNING A MEAT PROCESSING BUSINESS
On a normal day, Bear Mountain Beef slaughters five to eight head of beef and processes five to six head, targeting 3,000-plus pounds to maintain healthy cash flow. What customers rarely see is the time the process takes: a finished beef is roughly a three-week job by the time it’s harvested, chilled overnight, and dry-aged about two weeks.
Asked how they keep their days from getting hijacked by emergencies, their answer was blunt: “Some days that’s impossible,” because there are too many variables for a surefire plan. But “impossible to plan perfectly” doesn’t mean there’s “nothing you can do.”
Mac & Celsie Sussex, Owners of Bear Mountain Beef
Scheduling keeps these moving parts from holding each other up—and these same moving parts make structuring a daily plan challenging. Asked how they keep their days from getting hijacked by emergencies, Mac and Celsie Sussex’s answer was blunt: “Some days that’s impossible,” because there are too many variables for a surefire plan. But “impossible to plan perfectly” doesn’t mean there’s “nothing you can do.” Bear Mountain Beef has invested in backup equipment so one breakdown doesn’t stop the line, cross-trained staff so anyone can slot in, retrofitted their pens so livestock can be handled from outside, and has three EMTs on staff who can assist with injuries.
The unplannable stretches past the workday, too. Jim Wieringa cited refrigeration as a prime example: a freezer or cooler full of meat is a lot of money on the line, so weekend checks become routine—though an alarm system that calls you on a temperature drop or power failure (backed by good spoilage insurance) can take the place of driving in. Beyond that, off-hours are filled with small necessities: picking up parts, staying late on repairs that need to be done by morning, or reshuffling the roster when someone’s out sick.
In the end, running a meat processing business isn’t about eliminating surprises. It’s about building the people, equipment, and operating systems that keep production moving when those surprises inevitably come.
Staffing and equipment are the most predictable disruptions. People call in sick, so it pays to have a bench (a roster of part-timers or retired workers) to fill the gap. Equipment breaks, so having the staff and expertise to repair it quickly is equally important.
In the end, running a meat processing business isn’t about eliminating surprises. It’s about building the people, equipment, and operating systems that keep production moving when those surprises inevitably come. But handling the unexpected is only possible when employees have the skills to do the work well.
THE DISCIPLINE BEHIND QUALITY MEAT PROCESSING
Among all of the positions in a meat processing business, Jim Wieringa said harvesting (slaughtering) is the hardest to train for and the toughest to hand off. Butchers are working with live animals, learning to stun correctly while the USDA inspector observes, and keeping carcasses clean through skinning and evisceration to avoid E. coli contamination. The work demands patience, repetition, and consistently high standards from start to finish.
This level of discipline surprises many people. When asked about common misconceptions, Celsie Sussex pointed to cleanliness. “Most people expect a butcher shop to be gross and dirty,” she said, “when the reality is the opposite.”
Maintaining food safety extends well beyond the processing floor. Chris DePalma noted that managers oversee an entire compliance system, including HACCP Plan maintenance and annual reassessments, mandated record reviews, microbiological testing, sanitation programs, and pre-shipment reviews. A clean, compliant plant isn’t just good practice—it’s required.
RUNNING A MEAT PROCESSING BUSINESS IS MORE THAN MAKING PRODUCT
Successfully running a meat processing business means doing far more than making meat products. Building and sustaining the operation behind it is just as important. Assuming a great product sells itself is a common—and costly—mistake.
Chris DePalma said the administrative responsibilities are easy to underestimate: taxes, human resources, insurance, licenses, procurement, scale calibrations, employee training, vendor relationships, and regulatory paperwork all compete for a manager’s attention.
Successfully running a meat processing business means doing far more than making meat products. Building and sustaining the operation behind it is just as important.
Then there’s cash flow. Commercial accounts often pay on monthly billing cycles, meaning even a busy plant can feel financially tight while waiting on receivables. Long-term success depends on balancing all of these responsibilities, day after day.
FROM STARTUP TO LONG-TERM SUCCESS
As an operation grows, the business’s needs change with it. Bear Mountain Beef started with seven full-time employees processing 10-15 head per week. Today, it’s 15 full-timers plus one part-timer, with a weekly capacity of around 30 head, with small-animal processing days mixed in. They moved their booking from a Google calendar to a custom meat-management system that tracks each animal from harvest through processing and records cut instructions so there’s a paper trail recording every step.
Their advice for new processors standing at year zero:
- Learn as much as you can about the processes before you open.
- Expect a steep learning curve.
- Efficiency matters, but not at the expense of product quality. Train, repeat, and develop your team.
- Know that the one-to-three-year phase is tough, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
Growth also means adapting to changing markets. Bear Mountain Beef has experienced this firsthand. As cattle prices climbed and bookings softened, they diversified by adding small-animal processing days and serving customers from Wyoming and surrounding states. Like many successful processors, they’ve found that long-term resilience comes from more than just increasing capacity—it also comes from expanding the services they offer and the customers they serve.
WHAT SUCCESSFUL OPERATIONS HAVE IN COMMON
Throughout each day, owners or managers need to constantly balance production, people, compliance, scheduling, and the business itself. Their success depends on keeping all of these responsibilities working together.
“As an owner, you have to know every aspect of the business so you can jump in wherever you’re needed, especially in the earlier years.”
Byron Hill, Co-Owner of Del Fox Meats
Byron Hill captured this reality well: “As an owner, you have to know every aspect of the business so you can jump in wherever you’re needed, especially in the earlier years.” On any given day, you’ll see Byron slaughtering in the morning, pressure-washing pens later on, then heading to the office to enter carcass weights, call customers for cut instructions, and fill upcoming production slots. His days are spent balancing today’s production with tomorrow’s business.
Successful operators understand that long-term success isn’t built on any single skill. It comes from combining disciplined processes, sound business management, technical knowledge, and a willingness to keep improving.
As Mac and Celsie Sussex put it when asked what their future success looks like: fix processes that aren’t working, expand into new markets, keep growing steadily, and take care of their staff and customers along the way. “When they reach their goals, so do we.”
Thinking about opening a plant? Read our guide on How to Start a Meat Processing Business.