LPCA ready for full production

The CPoW-LPCA annual business meeting and banquet held last Friday evening in Odessa at the community center was well attended by members of the Cattle Producers of Washington (CPoW) and of the Livestock Producers Cooperative Association (LPCA), who worked so diligently to make the livestock processing facility at the Odessa Industrial Park a reality. Staff members from the plant were also present.

Darren Summers, plant manager, introduced the other staff members: Sue Nichols, office manager; Brian Gunning (not present at the dinner) and Tyler Shaw, who harvest and prepare carcasses in the abbatoir; Kendrain Summers, meat wrapper; Stan Mustard, meat cutter; Mike Osborn, safety manager; Cathy White, meat wrapper; Mark Anderson, processing room supervisor.

Summers also said that the plant has faced many challenges during its startup phase, including a three-week period in which no livestock was processed due to replacement of the floors and drains in several processing rooms. Garco Construction made the repairs at no cost under its warranty agreement, but the plant nevertheless lost three weeks worth of income. The time was put to use for staff training purposes, so management endeavored to make good use of employee time while the plant was unable to process livestock.

Over the past two months, Summers said, the plant has been running efficiently and nearly at capacity. He said he hopes to see area members and non-members alike supporting the plant and keeping the crew busy. According to a flyer issued by the cooperative, non-members are welcome to use the plant at any time, although members receive a discount and have priority in the scheduling process.

The business meeting held Friday evening mainly dealt with the election of three new board members. Running for three-year terms on the board were Lucia Udlinek, who has a custom Moses Lake cattle operation; Julie Dashiell, who grew up on a cattle ranch; Jim Zagelow, a former Odessa resident and currently a small-scale beefalo provider in the Yakima area; Edward Stahl, a Hutterian who vowed to bring common sense to the position; and Fred Brown, a successful businessman. Dashiell, Udlinek and Brown were elected to new positions on the board.

Current LPCA board president Willard Wolf lauded those who had served on the board up to now, saying that each had devoted time to the enterprise that was worth between $15 and $20 thousand. He said the association currently has 88 members, and he encouraged them all to utilize the plant whenever possible and to make sure that news of its availability is spread as far and wide as possible. The startup difficulties are behind them, he said, and the plant is ready to fulfill its potential. The board was also planning to devote more of its resources to advertising and marketing of the plant and its products.

At the same time, Wolf apologized to members for what some members felt was a lack of communication by the board. He said board members had been working very hard to deal with all of the difficulties and challenges of getting the plant built and operating. But he vowed to provide members with more information and promised to have a website created and the existing Facebook page updated as soon as possible.

The dinner itself comprised meat supplied and cooked by association members themselves and side dishes prepared by members of the Future Business Leaders of America chapter at Odessa High School and their parents. Hors d'ouevres of goat meatballs with a yogurt/cucumber side dish and lamb kabobs were also provided by members who raise goats and sheep. The main dishes were charcoal grilled tri-tip sirloin cuts of beef and roast pork loin. Sides were mashed seasoned potatoes, baked beans, rolls and spinach salad with fruit, nuts and bacon. Dessert was a choice between cheesecake or chocolate layer cake.