Mobile slaughterhouse opens on Big Isle
COURTESY PHOTO
An image of cattle. Hawaii Island Meat Cooperative, which slaughters livestock for Big Island ranchers, opened the state’s first mobile slaughterhouse last month.
HILO, Hawaii >> A business that slaughters livestock for Hawaii ranchers has opened a mobile slaughterhouse.
The slaughterhouse opened April 20, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. It is operated by the Hawaii Island Meat Cooperative, which slaughters livestock for Hawaii ranchers.
The mobile business is an important part of the long-term goal to achieve food stability on the Big Island, said Teresa Young, Kohala Center business development specialist. It will increase the amount of meat produced on the island and will specifically benefit smaller family farms, she said.
The unit can process cattle, sheep, goat and pig. It is currently based at Hokukano Ranch in Kealakekua and has a processing backlog of about four weeks.
There are two existing slaughterhouses on the Big Island, but their production is oriented toward larger farms.
“It shows the versatility of a unit like this: We can actually do things that other processing facilities on the island simply can’t,” cooperative president Mike Amado said.
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The mobile unit is one of about 25 in the country. It is the first in Hawaii.
“The idea is really to develop (a market) on the Big Island, and see if that works, and then start moving to the other islands,” Young said.
