Sunday, July 9, 2023
The Banner Press
Volume 157, Number 81
Serving Washington County Since 1866
Poultry processing facility preparing to open in Burton
By Lucas Banda
lucas@brenhambanner.com
A “state-of-the-art” poultry processing facility is coming to Burton.
DRR Processing, titled an agricultural venture by its owners, is preparing to launch an advanced poultry processing operation with hopes to help the area food system thrive. According to Matt Milliron, CEO of DRR Processing, the facility aims to provide USDA-inspected poultry processing services.
He said a processing facility is crucial to meet the growing demand for such services within the community and surrounding areas.
“Whether it’s whole chickens for farmers markets or stores or individual cuts like chicken breasts, thighs and wings, we ensure that the entire process is taken care of. Our role is to prepare the meat for market on behalf of the farmers. ... We’re providing that service of preparing the meat for market for them, and then they take it from there on to whatever their own distribution channels are.”
–Matt Milliron, DRR Processing
“What we were looking to do here from a production standpoint was to have different types of livestock like sheep, meat chickens and egg-laying chickens,” Matt said. “But soon after we arrived, we found out that the main poultry processing facility that serviced this area and the one that we actually worked with from our original farm in Dripping Springs decided to call it quits after 30 years.”
He said the closure affected the couple’s plans because it was the only USDA poultry processing facility for hundreds of miles.
“The one that closed was the one really servicing most of the small farms and ranchers in this region,” he said. “After they closed, it put a hitch on a lot of the farms in the area, especially ours.”
Matt said he then had to wait getting his meat chicken program going because “if you don’t have nearby reliable processing, it makes it much more difficult to do that job.”
“We have relationships with a lot of the nearby farmers in the area who we bought meat and products from over the years, and we started getting messages from them,” he said.
Matt said the farmers reaching out said they were going to have a hard time fulfilling poultry and chicken orders because they “don’t have easy access” or “it made it a lot more difficult for them.”
“We had wanted down the line to do a processing facility for our own work here,” he said. “But when we showed up and found out that there wasn’t anyone to provide any kind of service to the farms in the area, we decided we need-ed to move that forward a little bit quicker.”
Matt said his meticulous process involves transforming chickens into products ready for sale within the community.
“Whether it’s whole chick-ens for farmers markets or stores or individual cuts like chicken breasts, thighs and wings, we ensure that the entire process is taken care of,” he said. “Our role is to prepare the meat for market on behalf of the farmers; we are not going to be selling for the farmers. We’re providing that service of preparing the meat for market for them, and then they take it from there on to whatever their own distribution channels are.”
By offering the much-need-ed poultry processing services, DRR Processing aims to enhance production capacity and efficiency for farmers, enabling it to better serve their communities and meet consumer needs, Matt said.
“We’re looking at opening up by the end of the year at this point,” he said. “We’re in the process right now of building out the facility that will do all the processing. We will have the facilities in place by October, and I’m hoping to be able to start processing in November at this point in time.”
Milliron said it’s crucial for farmers to plan ahead, ensuring they can purchase chicks in time and align everything perfectly.
“That’s a really important piece and why we’re giving the notice so early,” Matt said. “Part of this process for the farms is preparing their own development timeline for their product. It takes typically about eight weeks from the time they are chicks to be ready for processing. There’s a lot of steps that go into it for the farmers, so we just want to make sure they can get all of that going now.
“I’ve got a good list of farms in the area,” he said. “A number of them have already reached out excited about the opportunity to have someone more local. We are working to be a USDA-inspected processing facility. That allows the farms much more flexibility in where they can sell their products.”
Milliron said being USDA certified allows farmers to sell across state lines.
In the future, DRR Process-ing hopes to begin to process other animals, including turkeys. “We do have some interest in doing ducks in the future as well,” Matt said. “As we start to build this out, and as we figure out what the needs of the community are, we will decide how we need to expand and what options we will have available.
“If we fill up all of our processing with chicken throughout most of the year, then that’s what’s needed in the area. So we want to make sure we’re there for the community and what’s possible with what they need, right now.
“We want to make it very simple for the farmers. As they come in, they can just drive right in, do a drop-off or pick-up and then move on out,” Matt said.
DRR Processing is situated on the “picturesque grounds” of its sister organization “Deeply Rooted Ranch,” which is operated by Matt’s wife, Amy.
Deeply Rooted Ranch is actively involved in raising livestock, cultivating honey, managing a market garden and serving as an educational center for regenerative agricultural practices.
Amy said building relationships is the “crucial component” happening right now, along with putting interested people on the waiting list.
“There’s a lot of steps that go into it for the farmers, so we just want to make sure that they can get all of that going now,” she said. “Everything that we have is by reservation, they have to reach out to Matt in advance so that they can get a date on the calendar.”
DRR Processing is located onsite at Deeply Rooted Ranch at 5255 Ganske Road in Burton. The business also has plans to launch a podcast that will dive into topics such as community building and regenerative agriculture.
To stay up to date with the business, visit drrprocessing.com, contact Matt at 979-353-2507 or email info@drrprocessing.com.
For more information on Deeply Rooted Ranch, visit deeplyrootedranch.com.