Matt Russick and Steven Demarest owners of “The Boys Meat Plant” stand near their newly installed sausage maker at the Valley Rd., Forest Lake meat plant.
BY STACI WILSON
After years of working in various aspects of the meat industry, twoSusquehannaCountymen decided to open their own custom butchering shop inForestLake.
Matt Russick and Steven Demarest have been busy since June readying “The Boys Meat Plant, onValley Rd., inForestLake, for its Nov. 19 opening – just in time for theNew Yorkdeer season.
Russick said, “People were complaining there was no where good to go.”
“A lot of other places are booked up with a two to three year waiting period,” Demarest added. “You have to book the butchering before you even raise the animal.”
“The Boys” will be offering custom butchering of beef, goats, pigs, lambs, along with deer processing.
“Pretty much anything you can raise, we’ll butcher for you,” Russick said.
And people are already lining up for the second week in December when they will start the custom cuts. Until then – Russick and Demarest are concentrating on deer and putting the finishing touches on their newly constructed facility.
The two also designed the plant themselves.
Russick said he had been in a lot of different plants through his years in the business.
“I took what I liked from each and made this how I want it to be,” he said.
The meat plant has a drop-off area; kill floor with a holding pen, cutting room, as well as the cooler – a 25’x20’ room with a 16-foot ceiling allowing “plenty of space,” Russick said.
Demarest, whose parents are owners of Wyalusing Livestock, said he opted to start butchering instead of going into livestock sales.
He sees a renewed interest in people who want to buy their meat locally.
“They can buy it all at once; they know where it came from and how it’s been treated,” he said.
Demarest also said that “The Boys” can also help find livestock to be butchered for people who do not raise the animals.
For the next few weeks though, the focus is on deer.
Both Russick and Demarest hunt, but neither will be this year as they prepare to handle their first orders in the new plant.
They are, however, holding a “Big Buck” contest with a $100 first prize including free butchering of the prize deer. Entries must be processed at the plant and are judged on spread and point count.
Cut deer are vacuum packed and frozen and can be caped out for mounting. Other deer cuts offered include: pork added to the deer meat; hot, sweet and breakfast sausages; minute steaks; cube steaks; kielbasa; salami; summer sausage; bologna; pepperoni; jerky, and venison imitation bacon; as well as other flavors and selections.
For more information about “The Boys Meat Plant,” call 553-1650 or find them on Facebook.
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