Packsaddle Meat Processing

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Packsaddle Meat Processing A custom exempt butcher shop specializing in slaughter and butchering of cattle, hogs, lamb and exotic livestock. We do not process wild game.
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On this page we also provide education and entertainment related to butchering.

10/12/2026

It can be very helpful to study animal behavior in this job.

Herd behavior is different with cows compared to sheep, or horses and goats. Understanding what causes the animal stress will make your job a lot easier if you can manipulate the environment, or even change your own behavior, to keep them calm.

When curiosity overcomes a desire for their herd it’s a perfect opportunity for the shot.

Curiosity will only arise when the animal feels an element of safety.

It may seem cruel, doing what you can to help an animal feel safe in order to get a clean kill. However, I’d argue it’s better than using force and causing an animal stress because they know they’re in danger.

What are your thoughts?

10/09/2026

We take pride in our work.

Amazing cows make it even better. Shoutout to the local families who do an amazing job raising amazing beef for the community 👏🏼🙌🏼

10/08/2026

Did you know a dead cow can still kick even 10 minutes after death?

How? It’s called Adenosine Triphosphate - ATP for short.

It is the primary molecule our cells use to store and transfer chemical energy to power muscle contractions.

Without the brain online to pump the brakes and determine how much is utilized for various movements, when the animal goes brain dead ATP is essentially dumped into the muscles with every bit of stimulation.

Kind of like a water bottle with the cap off being kicked around. Every kick dumps more water on the ground.

The more intense the stimulation (like kicking the hoof versus cutting through the hock) the more violent the reaction until all of the ATP is depleted.

It’s common to still see muscles twitching even when the carcass is hanging with no head, no guts, and an hour has passed.

If you’re going to get near the hooves within ten minutes after death, stand in a safe position.

Don’t let carelessness and laziness turn your situation into a circus.

10/07/2026

Dropping one cow in a herd that’s bunched together isn’t easy.

It’s not about distance. It’s about movement.

A twitch of an ear, a shake of the head from a fly, a swing to get an itch, a raise of the nose to smell the air.

Every movement can impact the precision of a head shot.

Not just from the target steer, but from those around him.

Cows communicate through body language. If one cow startles, it impacts the whole herd.

If one cow snorts and paws at the ground, the others will respond with their own body language: a duck of the head, walking away, turning, hiding, etc.

Patience and being in a state of rest is critical to accuracy.

It’s not enough to get the steer in the ground. Our goal 100% of the time is one shot, one kill.

When we’re not positive it’s a kill shot, they get another bullet.

Not out of cruelty, but to end whatever suffering they might be experiencing as quickly as possible.

If you’re dropping a cow or steer in a herd, make sure you take the extra time to read the herd and observe the body language of all before pulling the trigger.

Better to have five missed opportunities and one clean kill, than to pull the trigger too soon and cause unnecessary suffering to the animal.

For those wondering, we bled him out immediately after the second shot.

How would you have handled this differently? How come? Leave a comment below.

10/05/2026

Need a fun fall or holiday craft? Make your own tallow with the hardest part already done!

Rendered beef tallow from local beef. Personally harvested, sorted, rendered and packaged by your local butcher.

Ready to add the carrier oil, essential oils, beeswax, or whatever your heart desires for whatever craft comes to mind. Or keep it as it is!

Just $6 per pound AND we can ship.

Contact Samantha for more information and to place your order! 509-496-1641

10/04/2026

We spent the last few days putting final touches on the cut room, hanging cooler and wrap room.

While our inspector chicken AL was never in any of those locations, she made a point to be everywhere else in the shop waiting for us.

I’ve never been so entertained by a chicken.

10/03/2026

You’re never too old for this. It’s a cheap date that was a LOT of fun and definitely something we’re going to do again.

Dates don’t have to be expensive.

You don’t have to dress up.

You don’t have to make it extravagant.

Brian was still in clothes he’d been wearing all day using a skill saw - covered in wood shavings and FRP dust. He’d washed his hands and his face and that was good enough for me!

I still had my paint stained jeans and dirty hat from gluing seams and washing the ceiling. I put on a clean over shirt and washed up as well.

It was a night where work was put aside and we talked face to face, and we played games side by side.

Dating your spouse can be whatever you want it to be as long as you’re intentional about connecting with the heart and mind of the other person.

He opened doors for me, and I let him.

He paid for dinner. It doesn’t matter that we share bank accounts; he pulled the cash from his wallet.

We held hands and flirted.

We sat close at a 3-person table.

Little things add up.

Don’t let the crazy busy stop you from dating your spouse. Who cares that you don’t have time to shower?

The thing we want to see on each other the most at the end of a long day?

A smile, and eyes that still light up for one another.

10/02/2026

It’s the question every customer has, but doesn’t want to be so rude to ask. Except it’s your beef! You should know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re getting your beef back after you’ve trusted it to us for several weeks.

We keep it pretty simple.

Since we paper wrap, all of our cuts, every customer is assigned a color, a freezer, and shelves within that freezer.

If two different customers share the same cow and freezer, they get different colors and different shelves.

This has helped us make sure we never mix up beef, and that every cut is accounted for.

10/01/2026

We wanted to bring you along for an evaluation of a future customers beef and pen set up.

We decided to come take a look sooner than kill day because we knew these beef were going to be very large and they did not have a tractor big enough to load them into the trailer for us.

In previous years, we’ve always only done two beef, but with three, we had to get creative about how we were going to get them in the trailer.

Our 12,000 pound winch loses up to 80% of its strength as the angle of the pull increases.

Each of these cows is about 1500 pounds live weight. However, once they’re in the trailer if the next cow ends up pushing on the cow in the trailer as it comes in, it increases resistance and weakens the winch that much more.

Additionally, the kill pen sits at an uphill angle to the trailer which increases the vertical angle and weakens the winch a bit more.

We have an idea of how we’re going to pull this off in a few weeks, but we’d be very interested in your input!

How would you get three 1500 pound cows into a 7 x 14’ trailer? The tractor the customer has is able to drag the cows, but not able to lift them.

leave your suggestions and questions in the comments below! I’ll show a video of how we pulling it off in the next few weeks.

09/30/2026

Once in a while we do a two-man kill day.

As mobile butchers we go to the location of the livestock owner and know nothing about the animals we’re hired to dispatch.

We scheduled three heifers at once. A secondary shooter can speed up the dispatch process and reduce the risk of cortisol, the stress hormone, being dumped in the animal’s system and compromising the meat.

When using a second shooter it’s important to wait until the startle response of the animal has passed before taking a shot.

The animal’s reaction to a gunshot will often be faster than your bullet, and a fraction of a miss can be the difference between dead and alive.

To reduce the risk of suffering, wait until the animal settles enough for a clean shot.

Thankfully Brian is an excellent shot at a moving target and the heifer had no more than five seconds of pain before it was over.

This worked because we talked about possibilities beforehand and went with the plan when those possibilities became reality.

You won’t always have the perfect shot, but you can always have a solid plan.

Address

Athol, ID
83801

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+12088196051

Website

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