Midwest Meat Company

Midwest Meat Company operates at 1150 33 Road in Minden, Kearney County, Nebraska, and also does business as Franklin Locker. It holds federal establishment numbers M47928, P47928, and V47928, with a grant of inspection dated November 21, 2023. FSIS lists the plant under meat slaughter, meat processing, poultry slaughter, poultry processing, identification for meat and poultry, and voluntary slaughter for both meat and poultry. It is classed by FSIS as very small, reports cattle and hogs slaughtered under inspection, and falls in the lowest FSIS slaughter volume category, under 1,000 head per year.

The company's website states that the goal of Midwest Meat Company since the fall of 2013 has been to provide high quality, reliable results for clients, and describes the current facility as a USDA and FDA certified plant built in 2023 to accommodate large scale private label and co-manufacturing accounts. The site advertises co-manufacturing of a full line-up of USDA certified products as well as human grade pet food, and a private label program using formulations developed at the facility. Alongside that wholesale-oriented work, the plant handles custom processing of customer-owned beef and pork and runs an online store for pickup orders.

In addition to inspected work, the establishment reports custom-exempt slaughter, meaning it processes animals owned by the customer with packages marked Not for Sale, and it reports retail-exempt sales. Hours are not stated in the material on file. Details beyond the federal record and the company website, including prices, booking lead times, and capacity, are not yet on file.

The plant slaughters cattle and hogs under federal inspection and also reports custom-exempt slaughter, where the animal remains the customer's property and the resulting packages are marked Not for Sale. Cutting instructions for custom beef or pork are submitted through an online questionnaire that can be completed any time of day; the website states that instructions explain package sizes and any extra fees, and that they must be received the week before the animal arrives. Beef is dry aged 14 to 21 days before processing, packaging, labeling, and freezing, and specialty products requiring smoking can add a couple of days. Customers receive a text message when the order is complete. Orders are held up to one week from the notification date, after which a daily storage fee applies. Finished orders are brought out and placed in the customer's vehicle in heavy cardboard boxes tagged with the owner's name and contents such as burger, steaks, roasts, or specialty products. Specific fees, booking windows, and per-head minimums are not stated in the sources.

Midwest 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.

An online store is described for beef, pork, poultry, and seafood, with items chosen and paid for online and the customer notified when the order is ready for pickup. Delivery and shipping are not mentioned. A secondary directory listing describes the business as a retail locker, and the plant reports retail-exempt sales to FSIS. Retail counter hours, halves and quarters, and bundle offerings are not stated in the sources.

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.