Steps are being taken to try and lessen the impact of the disruption of the meat processing supply chain in the state. (
UW-Extension Meat Specialist Jeffrey Sindelar says business groups and farm agencies have been working around the clock to try and get more animals to market.
“Across the state of Wisconsin nearly all the small meat processors have been contacted to say, ‘hey, could you do you harvest a few more head?'”
He says the problem is one of scale, and that there’s thousands of thousands of surplus livestock that need to be harvested before they’re culled for other purposes.
“There’s lots of interest. It’s just that the ability to do a lot and really make a difference in the total number of animals that really need to be processed, that’s the greater challenge.”
“Every animal that is born and raised for food production, if it’s not being utilized for food production it’s a waste,” says Sindelar. “And that waste is something that is really driving all the people that are trying to find ways to not waste those animals.”
He says that the UW is even stepping up at its own processing facilities to try and handle the surplus.