Horse Slaughter May Soon Operate in the U.S.</

Mar 01, 2013

USDA May Approve Horse Slaughter Plant in New Mexico, First Time Since 2007

Within the next two months, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be making a decision on whether or not to approve a horse slaughter plant in New Mexico. While this decision is likely to go through, this will be the first time since 2007 that the U.S. would be allowing horse meat for human consumption to be produced in the United States.

A number of companies have been putting pressure on the agriculture department to re-establish inspection of horses for slaughter. The pending approval comes in the midst of the horse meat scandal that’s impacted 14 countries. If this proposal goes through, this will be the first time in six years that horse slaughter will operate in the U.S. The last plant that slaughtered horsemeat for human consumption shut its doors in 2007, after Congress approved an appropriations bill that included a rider forbidding the USDA from financing the inspection of horsemeat. This rider was renewed a number of times until 2001, when Congress removed it from the spending act.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.