Edgewood Locker Inc.

Edgewood Locker Inc. operates at 609 West Union Street in Edgewood, Iowa, in Clayton County, under USDA establishment numbers M1697 and P1697. The federal record lists meat slaughter, meat processing, and poultry processing, with a grant of inspection date on file of 2024-05-01. FSIS classifies the plant as small and places its slaughter volume in category 1, under 1,000 head per year. Species slaughtered under inspection, as reported to FSIS, are cattle, hogs, and sheep and lamb. The plant also reports custom-exempt slaughter, in which animals owned by the customer are processed and packaged marked Not for Sale, and reports retail-exempt sales.

The company website describes custom processing of beef, pork, lamb, goat, and deer, and calls itself an eastern Iowa headquarters for deer processing. Note that goat and deer are not among the species listed in the FSIS slaughter record, which covers cattle, hogs, and sheep and lamb. The beef processing page states over 55 years of experience custom processing beef, a recent expansion of the processing facility, and installation of a blast freezer in 2023 to rapidly freeze fresh cuts and ground beef after packaging. Fresh cuts and ground beef are sent out in cardboard trays and processed items in boxes or paper bags. Cutting instructions can be submitted online at any time or finalized by telephone.

A retail store in Edgewood was remodeled to double its square footage and carries fresh beef and pork cuts, bacon, brats, snack sticks, summer sausage, jerky, hot dogs, smoked hams, heat and serve items, cheese, meat rubs, sauces, seasonings, gift boxes, and wines from Eagles Landing Winery, Promise Land Winery, and Cedar Ridge Distillery. Products are also carried at other retail locations mapped on the website, and the plant ships nationally. A Facebook post reproduced on the site refers to the business as family owned and locally owned.

The plant reports custom-exempt slaughter to FSIS, meaning animals owned by the customer are processed and returned in packages marked Not for Sale, and it also holds federal grants for meat slaughter and processing. The website invites farmers to submit a slaughter date scheduling request through an online form and to download an animal info sheet to fill out with their customers' information before drop off, which the site says helps expedite intake. Cutting instructions may be placed by telephone with staff or submitted online at any time through the beef cutting instructions form. The site lists beef, pork, lamb, goat, and deer processing pages, plus processing sheets and product description sheets with pricing linked as PDFs, which are not reproduced here. The beef page cites more than 15 sausage and processed items available on custom beef, a blast freezer installed in 2023, and packaging of fresh cuts and ground beef in cardboard trays rather than customer coolers. Specific minimums, deposits, kill day schedules, and lead times are not stated in the material on file.

Edgewood Locker Inc. 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.

A retail store at the Edgewood plant sells fresh beef and pork cuts, bacon, brats, sticks, summer sausage, jerky, hot dogs, smoked and heat and serve items, cheese, seasonings, and wine, with a current retail price list linked on the site. Buyers can order online for store pickup or use the ship to home store, which lists bundles such as the Edgewood's Finest Brat Sampler at 91 dollars, Breakfast Box at 89 dollars, Bacon Lover's Box at 88 dollars, Brat Sampler at 127 dollars, Stick Sampler at 84 dollars, and a 30 dollar gift certificate. The site states that as a USDA inspected plant it can ship throughout the United States, usually by UPS Ground on Mondays in coolers with dry ice or ice packs, with shipping charged in addition to product cost, and asks customers in Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to call rather than order online. Products are also stocked at other retail locations shown on a map, with a recommendation to call ahead for hours and availability. Sales of halves and quarters are not described in the material 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.