North Fork Packing

North Fork Packing We are a family owned and operated WSDA licensed custom exempt beef, pork, sheep, and wild game processing facility located in Oso, WA.
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With hunting season here, this is something I explain to disappointed callers multiple times a day. Also, no, we are not...
08/30/2026

With hunting season here, this is something I explain to disappointed callers multiple times a day.
Also, no, we are not allowed to by law give it away either.

When we first started this business, I was not familiar with the CFRs and gave away fat and bones just to help the community out and get rid of them.
This triggered a USDA inspection and red taping of my freezer, (triggered by a neighbor’s complaint), and now that I know, I am not willing to ever go down that road again.

We are subject to random USDA FSIS inspectors who check our freezers for product that isn’t tracible back to the original owner.
There, I do not have a freezer full of fat to distribute, even though we process these animals.

This is routinely very disappointing to people who call and honestly frustrating for us in the custom exempt industry.

Even though we are left with the byproducts, we are not allowed to do anything with them by law.
The only way to do anything with our byproducts by laws to becoming a licensed renderer. Currently, I only know of one in the entire state.

If there was only one regulatory change in the custom exempt vs inspected world that would benefit us and our local consumers, I think it should be that if a customer declines keeping byproducts such as the fat, organs, and bones, they are now in our possession and thus are ours to distribute or give away.
That is a policy / processing relaxation that could benefit our local industry, distribution, community, and byproduct disposal choke point.

However, because we do not have a federal inspector on site when we slaughter, we are not allowed to retain or distribute the byproducts.

Therefore, answer is NO ….
I do not sell or give away fat. 

Would I like to? Yes.
Are my hands tied by the USDA? Yes.

I have one more thought about imported beef, cheap ground beef made from imported trim, tariffs and subsidies on importe...
08/30/2026

I have one more thought about imported beef, cheap ground beef made from imported trim, tariffs and subsidies on imported beef, the big packing monopolies, foreign owned meat packers, a potential change in processing regulations in the future, etc, that have all been in the news the last week.

Truthfully, the main problem is for consumers it has become easier and cheaper to go to a corporate store and buy meat as needed. Those big packers only have had the ability to consolidate and take all the control and power because consumers continue to demand and buy their product.

However there is nothing stopping anyone from being the solution right now and simply buying farm direct beef and getting it locally and custom exempt processed.
We don’t need the federal government to tweet about it or allow it: it already is, and always has been, right here.

I spent the morning yesterday having a lovely chat with a man who ran a large local cut and wrap and cold storage facility in the 1970s-1990s.
It made me really understand that ‘back in the day’ consumers only bought local beef.

It made me yearn for the time of that being the cultural norm. I spend a lot of time talking about our industry online so new consumers can get back to the way things used to be and always buy their meat farm direct.

I think the last week has been great for our industry; all of this publicity is really helping this generation of consumers understand why local farmers are so important and why they need to be patronized over corporations.

Anyhow, to summarize the last week of talking about this topic online: please don’t put much faith in the federal government to keep you safe or feed you.
Bureaucrats sitting at desks 3000 miles away making policies and trying to get re-elected, are not going to feed you healthy food: the family farm down the road is. 

Dear consumers of meat: take the matter into your own hands: support local food chains and local farms, buy high-quality meat farm direct. Problem solved. No federal intervention needed.
No need to import beef, break up corporate and foreign owned meatpackers, change federal policy, or take away tariffs on imported beef if people don’t buy their product.

This right here is the real reason we don’t do retail: I don’t want to sell boxed meat that comes from a corporate owned feed lot or processed at a big corporate processing plant, even though it is very lucrative.
I stand behind local farmers and their product alone, and until / if custom exempt vs inspected processing laws change (which is why that tweet last week caught me eye) and we can more easily distribute and sell local and farm direct meat, I won’t do it.

08/30/2026

My parent’s farm has been moving to a cow/calf model, so today my dad took off the kill floor a cadaver heifers anatomy to practice his pregnancy diagnosis abilities.

I have watched this video back several times and learned something each time.

Dad: North Fork Packing should offer preg checking clinics.

Well I don’t know about that, but I hope this video is potentially informative to another farmer on a similar path as ours.

😳Let’s play a game.What do you think the carcass weight was of a 2.5 year old Brangus steer whose processed oxtail weigh...
08/29/2026

😳

Let’s play a game.

What do you think the carcass weight was of a 2.5 year old Brangus steer whose processed oxtail weighed 4.7 lbs.

08/29/2026

Checking in on our “stockyard” this evening.
Each producer’s beef in their own pen, hanging out for tomorrow’s big day.

15 beautiful beef ready to go to market, with seven more coming in tomorrow.

Hyped for busy season and filling freezers.

I have had a lot of people ask me what I think of this. Truthfully, unless he means a complete change to federal policy ...
08/29/2026

I have had a lot of people ask me what I think of this.

Truthfully, unless he means a complete change to federal policy (as well as state policy) and then custom exempt beef can be sold by the cut without USDA inspection, it doesn’t mean anything to me.

I am dubious at best; time will tell, I suppose.

If you don’t already have a Fall 2026 slaughter date, your options are limited.Our mobile slaughter truck was fully insp...
08/28/2026

If you don’t already have a Fall 2026 slaughter date, your options are limited.

Our mobile slaughter truck was fully inspected and repaired by a heavy mechanic this summer, but still needs DOT licensing, tires, and a deep clean. We weren’t able to finish it this summer, so our own mobile slaughter won’t be available until 2027.

Gus Tararan / Macello Mobile Slaughter is booked until mid November.

Zach and Jason Marshall Mobile Slaughter are booked until January.

This is why we put in so much infrastructure for our on site kill floor.
It is clean, efficient, humane, and easy to unload. We still have a few 2026 slaughter dates available, although most dates through early November are filling up.

If you need a slaughter date, make sure you have a trailer lined up, handle and train your animals a bit for loading ease the day of, and give us a call to schedule a haul in / drop off slaughter date.

Today was an exciting one! A lot of our summer projects culminated today with an intense concrete pour.Here the footings...
08/28/2026

Today was an exciting one!
A lot of our summer projects culminated today with an intense concrete pour.

Here the footings for the two refrigerated containers went in.
We are finding ourselves needing a third drip cooler (for example we have 40 animals coming in this Saturday), so the containers will enable us to take in even more animals.

The pad for our generator was poured, as well as a kill floor expansion.

Some large and exciting infrastructure went in for my parent’s farm as well.

The vision is coming to life.

My personal favorite combo =ground beef + ground pork.I don’t know what’s for dinner yet, but I know it is going to be a...
08/26/2026

My personal favorite combo =
ground beef + ground pork.

I don’t know what’s for dinner yet, but I know it is going to be amazing.

I am sure you have all seen the news that earlier this year China rejected a 22-ton shipment of Argentine beef after tes...
08/26/2026

I am sure you have all seen the news that earlier this year China rejected a 22-ton shipment of Argentine beef after testing detected a prohibited antibiotic.

As far as I can research (which who the heck knows if we have access to real information online or not) there is no evidence that this exact shipment is going to end up in the U.S.

However, this situation is a good reminder of why knowing where your beef comes from really matters.

Buying local and farm direct means you can actually know the source, the farmer, how the cattle were raised, and the processor ... rather than trusting a long international supply chain.

Address

25575 Whitman Road
Arlington, WA
98223

Telephone

+13606311531

Website

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