CCE Livestock Program Workteam
News, Updates & Recent Publications
My Feed Dust is Moving!? Grain Mites and How to Manage Them
Every summer, I get calls from folks wondering why there are nearly microscopic bugs covering the walls and floors of their feed storage areas and their feed buckets. Looking for a cause, many easily trace it back to their bags of grain. The dust on the exterior of the affected bags appears as if it's moving in a gentle breeze, and there may be a thick layer of dust coating the inside of the feed bags. On closer inspection, it's apparent that the dust is actually hundreds of thousands of nearly microscopic grey-brown looking mites. These are grain mites.
Understanding Cut Sheets
The page linked here from a butcher in VA offers concise descriptions of what’s possible on lambs, pigs, and cattle, along with sample cut sheets.
Meat Processing in a 20-C Kitchen
For farmers seeking to regain some control over butchering their animals, there is a middle option between being at the whim of slaughterhouse schedules and opening your own slaughterhouse.
Creative Slaughterhouse Workarounds
In this interactive discussion, we aim to help you regain some sense of control over how, when and where you get your livestock processed, and how you sell meat to customers.
Starting a Red Meat Slaughterhouse
Learn the primary considerations for opening a red meat slaughter and processing facility in NYS, from infrastructure to regulations and from labor to financing.
How to Better Communicate with Your Meat Processor
This webinar covers how to effectively work with your local meat processor, communicate cut instructions, and understand the difference between USDA and custom cutting. View Recording
Red Meat Processing in NYS: Bottleneck in the Local Food Economy
The livestock industry provides value to NYS by contributing approximately $893M in sales to the economy and supplies nutrient-dense food for local consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the weaknesses in the current NYS livestock supply chain, especially the bottleneck of meat processing.