Meat Processing

307 Meats is a small processing facility that has the ability to think about ways to keep cattle from overheating. Many of the cattle come here from feedlots where it’s much harder to keep thousands of animals cool. Earlier this summer, over 2,000 cattle died from heat stress in Kansas feedlots due to soaring temperatures. Lots of Wyoming ranchers take their cattle to D&D Feedlot in eastern Colorado. On a tour, black and white cows stop their chewing to watch the truck pass. Cattle handler Chelsea Deering says, as a team, they take pride in practicing low-stress animal handling like talking quietly to them.

The first meat science degree in Wyoming is officially launching this fall at Central Wyoming College. The degree program aims to train the next generation of local butchers and food scientists. Wyoming Public Radio's Taylar Stagner spoke with program director Amanda Winchester about the program and what she hopes the students will learn.

Central Wyoming College's program is one of only a handful of meat science programs in the nation and the first in Wyoming. The program teaches United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines, food safety, and how to responsibly butcher an animal.

A federal bill is proposing to change how cattle are sold to meatpackers, and although some Wyoming ranchers say the system is currently broken, they are skeptical that the bill could change the process.

A proposed federal bill would give cattle ranchers and feedlots in Wyoming more negotiating power at the market.The Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022 would require a minimum of cattle to be sold through negotiated cash deals. Right now, it is mostly formula based, which is a set price and that does not necessarily reflect the current economy.

Back in 2019, Valerie Murray's business, Murraymere Farms in Powell, was doing really well."We were able to send some of our beef over to a five star…

While there are a few smaller meat processors in central Wyoming, in Riverton a new processing plant looks to keep more and business in its own…

Panic buying has slowed down considerably since this spring, but one thing still lingering is higher demand for meat that's easier for people to cook...

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a problem that already existed in Wyoming—a lack of USDA meat processing facilities compared to the number of…

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a backlog in the meat processing industry. So Gov. Mark Gordon is directing $10 million in federal CARES Act funding…