Dan's Country Meats

Dan's Country Meats, doing business as Bavarian Smoke Haus, is a very small USDA-inspected establishment at 3622 Mill St. in New Melle, Missouri, in St. Charles County. It operates under establishment numbers M8681 and P8681, with a grant of inspection on file dated March 25, 2013. FSIS lists the plant for meat slaughter, meat processing, and poultry processing.

The plant reports slaughtering cattle and hogs under federal inspection, with an FSIS slaughter volume category of 1, meaning fewer than 1,000 head per year. It also reports custom-exempt slaughter, in which animals owned by the customer are processed and the packages are marked Not for Sale, and it reports retail-exempt sales.

No website is on file for this establishment. Secondary listings describe it as a butcher shop and meat processor in New Melle, and a Facebook page exists under the Dan's Country Meats name, but details beyond the federal record, including hours, pricing, booking practices, and product lists, are not yet on file. Contact numbers differ between sources: the FSIS record lists (626) 828-5266, while a business directory listing shows a (636) area code number.

The federal record shows cattle and hog slaughter under inspection at a volume of fewer than 1,000 head per year, plus custom-exempt slaughter in which the customer's own animals are processed and returned in packages marked Not for Sale. Farmers who want inspected carcasses they can sell by the cut, as well as those wanting custom work for their own freezer, should find both pathways listed. Booking procedures, scheduling lead times, minimums, kill day schedules, and cut and wrap fees are not stated in any source on file, so contact the plant directly to confirm what it is accepting.

Dan's Country Meats 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 establishment reports retail-exempt sales to FSIS, and secondary directory listings categorize it as a butcher shop, which suggests over the counter purchasing. However, no website, product list, bundle offering, or delivery and shipping information is on file, so households should contact the plant to confirm what is available for direct purchase.

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.