Critics don’t understand the cultural, economic reasons behind local ‘slaughterhouse’
It is unfortunate the new Mobile Livestock Slaughter Unit (MLSU) project has come to be referred to as a “slaughterhouse.” It is also unfortunate people are saying it will “reek,” as noted in a recent published letter. It does not, and it will not.
The MLSU, as it was titled when originally funded by the New Mexico Legislature in 2005, was the product of years of discussion by Taos County Economic Development Corporation (TCEDC) and Northern New Mexico rural economic development professionals, myself included. It addressed a serious problem faced by local farmers and ranchers — how to make a living by raising livestock far from legal slaughter services in Colorado and Texas.
For 40 years, TCEDC has been dedicated to cultivating, serving and promoting those who make a living from the land, food and culture of the region. Its business park and small business development programs are evidence of this commitment. The MLSU is only one of its innovative programs.
Unbeknownst to those recent “anti-slaughterhouse” residents, whose wealth derives from non-farming industries (often relocated here from far-off urban centers) farming and ranching are traditional and important components of the local economy. This is true of the role of farming and ranching in the New Mexico economy as a whole (see the New Mexico Department of Agriculture 2023 Report).
Moreover, it is unfortunate the MLSU project — though repeatedly funded by the state’s agriculture department, analyzed as a model by federal USDA specialists and refunded again in 2022 — is now being branded as insufficiently considered.
The project is not a “slaughterhouse” in the conventional sense of centralized commercial, urban operations. It is a de-centralized, rural, site-specific operation. An 18-wheel Mobile Livestock Slaughter Unit (MLSU) drives to the farm or ranch to slaughter livestock on site. The farmer/rancher has the option to keep all or part of the results of his/her slaughtered on site. The offal is disposed of in a regulated process.
Taos may symbolize a “semi-desert” paradise to those who have moved here from somewhere else. But for those born and raised here, it is a way of life with deep roots in the land, food and culture. Raising food from the land is part of that heritage, including raising and slaughtering livestock. It is easy for recent residents to condemn what they don’t understand.
The MLSU project will be a boon to local farmers and ranchers, who now will not have to haul their animals 200 miles and pay urban prices for legal slaughter services. It isn’t a threat to most residents — it only threatens the idea some recent residents have of Taos as a paradisal getaway from urban culture.