25 Thank You for Your Trust & Time, Since 1999 Better Farming | January 2025 MOBILE BUTCHER PROFILES Karson Hennick provides mobile butchering services across southern Ontario through his business, Field to Fork Butchering, in Lambton County near Sarnia. He believes that mobile butchers can help farmers gain value out of animals that would typically be denied in abattoirs. “I worked in abattoirs and butcher shops for around three years and a lot of animals would be denied due to rules about shipping unfit animals,” says Karson, who has now been in the butchering industry for eight years. “Just because they couldn’t bear weight on all four legs doesn’t mean they were garbage animals meant for deadstock. The rules and regulations around animals that couldn’t be butchered was what got us into this business.” He points to how the reduced stress of on-farm slaughter improves meat quality. “It’s a lot more humane to do an on-farm slaughter than loading livestock onto a trailer and shipping them to an abattoir,” he explains. “When animals are frightened, it creates lactic acid, and that causes tough meat. When they are killed in their own environment, no lactic acid is released, and you didn’t force the animal to do anything it didn’t want to do. You get tender meat right off the bat.” After working at the abattoirs and butcher shops, Karson started his business just before the COVID-19 pandemic. He initially focussed on lambs due to their small size, but soon built an expanded facility. The business offers services for all livestock, with the exception of poultry, in addition to processing wild game like bears, moose, and deer. Regulations are in place to protect both animals and meat consumers. “Some people try to cheat the industry and make a dollar when they shouldn’t. All it takes is one bad apple, but now we have rules and regulations that make it more difficult for everyone else,” says Karson. “At the end of the day, the food industry is the easiest way to kill someone. People put food in their mouth with no hesitation, and it either tastes good and they feel good, or they feel lousy after.” He explains that learning these laws to provide butchering services was one of the first steps in creating his business. “The first process was learning the rules and regulations of performing on-farm slaughters, as well as the processing of wild game, and understanding what you’re allowed and not allowed to do,” says Karson. “One of the biggest hurdles was getting my name out there and coming up with funds to build equipment and a facility that meets regulations and can be sanitized. The facilities need to be able to stay refrigerated, and it needs to be easy to clean everything up and sanitize it. I also need equipment to euthanize animals humanely. It takes a skill set and facilities.” During his time in the industry, Karson has observed that the number of Ontario butcher shops has decreased. Labour shortages and industry competitiveness can make it difficult for small businesses to stay open. “At one point, there were thousands of butcher shops in Ontario, and now we’ve dwindled down to the hundreds,” he states. “People are forced to travel two to three hours to get animals butchered at an abattoir, and wait times are longer because of labour shortages.” Karson has found that the labour shortage has even affected his own business. “Another challenge is finding employees. It’s difficult to find people who want to work in a job where they get their hands dirty, let alone in a job in which an animal has to die to have meat,” says Karson. “We’ve been looking for a butcher trainee for the last two years, since the business took off, but it’s hard to find anyone. We advertised all over.” Mobile butchers can play a role in addressing an industry gap for farmers who were getting animals prepared for consumption in their own households, saving the stress of shipping and the hassle of finding space at abattoirs. Many people never consider butchery as a potential career path. “I was fortunate enough that when I was 13 years old, I got a dishwashing job for a small restaurant owner,” Karson shares about how he was introduced to the work. “He was more in touch with his roots than most people are. He would go twice a year to get a lamb, and we would process it out to cuts, and that’s what really got me interested in where meat comes from.” Over the next 10 years, Karson would like to see Field to Fork Butchering continue to grow. A second trailer would allow him to attend to more animals and help better serve the farming community. “Once the trailer is on-farm, I can’t touch another job until that job is over,” he explains. He would also like to bring his son and another trainee into the business. “I have one son who likes to help in deer season, and once he gets a bit older, I’d like to see him out helping on farms a bit more. We also have a baby boy on the way, and once he’s older and trained, I’d like to get him in the trailer and working with me, too.” Karson is passionate about the services he brings to farmers and plans to continue to share this passion. “One of my biggest enjoyments in this job is meeting all the farmers and helping them out and giving them an alternative option. It’s really rewarding helping people and providing a service that’s truly needed. “There is a lot of satisfaction from being told you did a good job and the farmer calling you back. There’s also satisfaction in giving back value to an animal that you’ve been told is worth zero dollars now.” BF The environmental footprint of printed magazines is far lower than of electronic devices. Paper is a renewable resource, is recycled more than any other material, and trees are regrown in managed forests. (Source: www.twosidesna.org) MAGAZINE SUSTAINABILITY
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