Cooper Farms Processing

Cooper Farms Processing operates at 1 Cooper Farms Drive in St. Henry, Mercer County, Ohio, under establishment numbers M2130 and P2130. The federal record lists the plant for meat processing, poultry processing, and poultry slaughter, with poultry as the only species slaughtered under inspection. FSIS classes the establishment as large, with a slaughter volume category of 4.0, and the grant of inspection date on file is June 17, 2020. No custom-exempt activity is reported to FSIS, meaning the plant is not listed as doing custom slaughter or processing for individual animal owners.

The plant is part of Cooper Farms Inc., a diversified farm and food company in Northwest Ohio with a corporate office at 22348 Rd 140, Oakwood, Ohio. The company website describes itself as a producer of quality private-label products and states that the company was built more than 85 years ago. Company news items reference an 85th anniversary in 2023 and an 85th Thanksgiving in 2023. According to the company's site, St. Henry is where turkeys are sent to be harvested for further processing, with more than 24,000 birds processed in a single day as described in that page's text.

Product lines named by the company include deli meat, sliced meats, turkey burgers, commodity meats, eggs, and pet food products. The website routes buyers through a contact sales form organized by those product categories rather than a retail storefront. Details such as retail hours, freezer sales to households, or custom processing terms are not stated in the material on file.

The federal record reports no custom-exempt activity at this establishment, and nothing in the material on file describes custom slaughter, drop-off booking, kill fees, or cut and wrap for individual livestock owners. The company works with contract growers instead: its website features hog and turkey grower families and offers a grower interest form, while stating that it is not currently expanding within any division and inviting growers in Northwest Ohio or nearby areas who raise poultry or hogs to submit a questionnaire for future expansion opportunities. Farmers seeking custom processing of their own animals would need to confirm directly whether any such service exists, since it is not listed.

Cooper Farms Processing operates under a federal grant of inspection, so product from this plant can be sold anywhere in the United States, which matters if you sell online or across a state line. FSIS does not list a custom-exempt activity for this plant.

The material on file does not describe a retail counter, freezer bundles, halves or quarters, online ordering, or shipping to households. Cooper Farms presents itself as a private-label and commodity supplier, with a sales contact form covering deli meats, sliced meats, turkey burgers, commodity meats, eggs, and pet food. The site also publishes recipes using pork, turkey, and eggs. Household buyers would most likely encounter the company's products through retail or foodservice channels rather than direct purchase at the St. Henry plant.

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.