Cypress Valley Meat Company

Cypress Valley Meat Company operates a small USDA-inspected plant at 5951 US Highway 64 E in Pottsville, Pope County, Arkansas, under establishment numbers M46139, P46139, and V46139. The federal record lists meat and poultry slaughter and processing, identification activities for meat and poultry, and voluntary slaughter and processing for meat, poultry, and rabbit. The grant of inspection on file dates to August 19, 2021. Species reported slaughtered under inspection are cattle, hogs, and sheep and lamb. The plant also reports custom-exempt slaughter, in which animals owned by the customer are processed and the packages are marked Not for Sale. FSIS places its slaughter volume in category 2.0.

The company website describes full-service butchery for farmers and food brands, including scheduling and order walkthrough, humane harvest, dressing and butchering into primals and retail cuts, USDA inspection and certification when required, vacuum-sealed BPA-free packaging with customizable labeling, and value-add items. It states that the business began in wild game processing nearly two decades ago and has since expanded to multiple locations, and it describes itself as Arkansas' first 100 percent employee-owned meat processor. The site lists the Pottsville location as USDA inspected for beef, hogs, goats, and buffalo, while the federal record names cattle, hogs, and sheep and lamb as the species slaughtered under inspection.

Cypress Valley operates several Arkansas sites according to its website, including custom-exempt plants in Clinton and Mt. Vernon, a seasonal wild game location in Vilonia, headquarters in Vilonia, and Natural State Processing in Clinton, a USDA-inspected poultry plant described as a joint venture with Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative, serving Arkansas since 2016. This registry record covers the Pottsville establishment. The website also describes an institutional buying program with schools and distribution support for LTL and FTL shipments.

The website invites producers of beef, poultry, hogs, buffalo, and beefalo to schedule processing, and describes a detailed order walkthrough, logistics coordination with farm and transport teams, and orders ranging from single animals to large harvests. USDA inspection and certification are offered when required, and packaging can carry the farm's own labeling. The Pottsville plant is USDA inspected; the company's Clinton and Mt. Vernon locations are described as custom exempt with no USDA inspection, which matters for producers who intend to sell cuts. Poultry work is handled at Natural State Processing in Clinton, where the site publishes per head fees, a 1 to 50 bird minimum charge, condemned bird and feed withdrawal fees, coop wash charges, and detailed hauling and crate loading recommendations for hot, cold, and wet weather. Fees for beef, hog, and small ruminant processing at Pottsville are not stated in the sources. Appointment scheduling is described on the site as a Set Appointment process.

Cypress Valley Meat Company reports custom-exempt slaughter to FSIS, which means it can process an animal a customer already owns (a whole, half, or share bought before slaughter) and return it in packages marked Not for Sale. Most small farms have one or two plants they book with, and the plant's calendar decides the delivery date.

The sources describe a business built around farmers, food brands, and institutional buyers rather than a retail meat counter. No retail storefront, halves and quarters program, bundle boxes, online ordering, shipping, or delivery to households is stated in the sources. The website does mention serving families along with specialty businesses and farmers, and it notes an institutional buying program supplying local meat blends to schools and institutions. Households interested in buying should contact the plant directly, since retail availability is not on file.

If you are buying a half or quarter animal, the plant is where the animal is processed; the farm sells you the animal. Read how to buy a half cow for the sequence and the math.