‘Semi-mobile’ meat processing facility in the works
Taos County is set to become home to a new, U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified, local meat processing facility, complete with corrals, refrigeration unit and freezer storage, according to Mercedes Rodruigez, executive director of the Taos County Economic Development Corporation. The facility is expected to open sometime in 2024.
“The capacity of the prefab cut and wrap and carcass cooler and everything else will be up to 50 carcasses a week, and then we will build capacity after it’s going,” Rodruigez said, noting that TCEDC’s Mobile Matanza meat processing unit is due to arrive back in Taos sometime this month after undergoing repairs in Washington state.
Last month, Taos County commissioners authorized Chair and District 4 Commissioner AnJanette Brush to sign off on a contract — the county is TCEDC’s fiscal agent for this particular phase of the project — for design and installation of the infrastructure necessary to get the permanent component of the Mobile Matanza facility underway. TCEDC, in cooperation with the local agricultural community and the town and county, has identified a piece of land owned by the Town of Taos and situated near the Taos Regional Landfill, where a contractor will install concrete foundations, a concrete pad, septic, drainage and electrical service, along with other necessary improvements in preparation for the prefab units.
Town of Taos Mayor Pascual Maestas, who also chairs the TCEDC board of directors said that, ultimately, “the goal is to become more food sustainable, and allow ranchers to share in some greater profits. There’s a backlog here, and a need.”
Currently, it’s not uncommon for Northern New Mexico ranchers to schedule livestock for butchering — out of state — months or even a year ahead of time. Like many North Central New Mexico ranchers, Taos Valley rancher John Adams said he travels to one of two facilities in southern Colorado: Salazar Natural Meats and Mel’s Custom Meat Processing.
“It’s been really tough for the last couple of years, since COVID,” Adams said. “The local meat processors have just been slammed. None of us were prepared for that. To give you an idea of how it worked, you rock along there, and you got a couple of steers that are gettin’ ready, and you call Mel and say: ‘Hey Mel, can I bring a couple of steers next week?’ And his answer is ‘John, I’m booked out for three months.’”
Adams was excited by the news that Lucas Salazar will be managing the processing facility.
“I heard rumors that Salazar, out of Colorado, was going to be taking it over,” Adams said. “Which would be absolutely awesome; he’s a great operator.”
Rancher Erminio Martinez hosted the original Mobile Matanza about 12-15 years ago on his property in Arroyo Seco. Until recently, he sat on the board of the TCEDC, but is now one of several ranchers and members of the local ag community who sit on a committee that is tasked with working out the details of the permanent — or “semi-mobile,” as Rodriuguez called it — processing facility.
“For southern Colorado to accommodate producers from Northern New Mexico, it’s almost impossible,” he said. “There’s not enough capacity. Here, we could have the [livestock] inventory to be producers and suppliers” of USDAcertified, grass-fed beef and other meats.
Martinez credited the new leadership of TCEDC, local ranchers, the county and town’s elected officials, along with community food activists like Micah Rosenberry and the Alianza Agri-Cultura de Taos for the recent momentum — to put down roots and expand capacity — that the Mobile Matanza meat processing project has gained. And, he said, the local community will benefit in a variety of ways from the new facility.
“Money is generated through this industry and has been for so many years,” he said. “The public is not fully aware of it; and we can promote economic growth.
“We want to sell USDA-inspected, locally-produced grass-fed beef to stores and restaurants,” Martinez added. “We’re just waiting for the unit to come in.”