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Horse slaughter plant to open in late summer

A meat processing plant in Missouri that went out of business is being retrofitted for a humane horse processing operation.

Unified Equine Missouri has found a former meat processing plant in Rockville, in Western Missouri’s Bates County that it’s renovating and reequipping for horse processing. Sue Wallis is with Unified Equine, “Fortunately,” she says, “We were able to find a facility that is about the right size for what our experts determined is a good fit for the horse industry, especially an industry that kind of needs to reinvent itself after being — four or five years of being out of business.”

Wallis tells Brownfield Ag News the Rockville building was a USDA certified plant, in a rural area that needs jobs, and in proximity to the greatest numbers of horses to process. A feasibility study ruled out two other options in Missouri and Wallis says the Rockville plant is the right choice. She says it will begin operations by late summer. It will be the first horse slaughter plant to open since Congress lifted a federal ban on the practice late last year.

AUDIO: Sue Wallis (13:00 mp3)

  • UEM principles have to have thick skin, because the anti-slaughter brainwashed are attacking them like a swarm of fanatics (gee, maybe they are fanatics). The information UEM has put out regarding their plans and reasons is coherent and common sense, unlike the emotion-based hubris put out by the anti’s.

    This is research, common sense, and compassion: http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103685263837-126/Americans+Eat+Horses.pdf

  • The economy has dropped the sales on homes, cars, spending etc as turn for the worse, but all is not bad if you buy now while prices are cheap and that is what kill buyers, auctioneers and wana be third party buyers for the plant are doing and Wy elected official wants to be the mouth and investor in this poor trail.. To be sure they get the MOST for their investment they want Horse slaughter in America right in the center of Mo, Not because they care for horses but for their pocket books. Its plain and simple some people such as the AVMA and the AAEP dont get it..

    For years they ignored the usage of double deckers until just recently they supported a bill to ban D.D. Now if they would only realize that slaughter is NOT euthanisia and that slaughter is NOT nor will ever be humane.. Horse slaughter is merely a reward for irresponsible and crimnal intended people…

    There are NO pro slaughter advocates helping promoting or donating to horse rescues.. Horse resceus are needed to protect against abuse, neglect and slaughter… Answer stop breeding and regulate these people that do breed with a tax that goes to rescues.. A tax that could be included in the sales of Tack,Feed,Hay,Park Permits, Trailers, Vet Fees, Farrier fees, and sooo much more the amounts could be in the pennys per dollar but in volume we can assist more rescues..

    America is going down hill faster by letting a Wy official like Sue wallis give another state a stinch like Dallas Crown did in Kaufman, Tx, These people are fools in office and should be exposed and removed.

    As a horse owner and trainer there are no bad horses only bad people..Greed and more Greed..

    Call your elected officials tell them now to co/sponsor on HR 2966 and S1776.. This will put Sue Warrus back in her place with empty pockets..

    For more info visit http://www.kaufmanzoning.net.

  • The ban has been tried for 5 years and nothing has worked with it. Sorry thats the truth. And when you take away the floor price on a market well you know what happens. Some wanna say it’s the economy. But I watched the horse market decimated a whole year before the economy tanked. So that’s a invalid argument. It’s real simple stuff and the opening of this plant will help restore the base level and in turn help restore the horse market to where it was. which was a better situation then what it is now,

  • Sounds like to me that animal rights activist want to penalize horse owners with a tax to benefit their nonsense!!!!! I have seen more poor and neglected horses since the slaughter ban than I ever did before the ban. I would rather see the horses utilized through meat processing rather than standing in someones Dry Lot slowly starving and being neglected or injured with out proper care. At least through meat processing the horses are being utilized.

  • I am a Missouri resident,I will not speak for others,thats not right,but I am speaking for myself.This is needed ,what more should be said,wether its in Missouri or elsewhere,its needed. There are too many unwanted horses,rescues are overwhelmed and cant get the help needed,owners are stressed trying to maintane their equine business’s,and maintane their own stock,ther is no market value for horses. Jobs are desperatly needed,everywhere. The horse is a great benefit not just for its meat,blood is contained and used as an important by-product,joint fliud,heart valve,and more. The foreign owned slaughter plants let the welfare of the way horses where handled get too bad,lets not allow the foreign companies come back into our country and start back up the way they left off. Too many horses are being tortured and abused when crossing our borders to go to slaughter plants in Mexico and Canada. I am ready,and I do Support Unified Equine in the efforts to get a plant started in Missouri and maintane the standards that should have been maintaned befor. I really hope the community of Rockville gets this opprtunity to provide jobs that needed.

  • Apparently anti-horse slaughter advocates do not think that a 40-70% drop in foal production by the leading breed registries is significant. These registries are already seeing the results of this in the decreased number of young animals going into racing and the show ring. I am also curious as to how they plan to force people, both professional and back yard owners, to stop breeding their horses? How do they intend to pay for more rescues? Thomas Lee thinks that the answer to that is tax, tax & more tax. I would rather that my tax dollars go to USDA inspectors that are helping to send food to other countries rather than to support domestic horse rescues. Currently the American taxpayer is paying $75.7 million dollars a year just to fund the Bureau of Land Management for management of 87,000+ feral horses and 5,800 feral burros.

  • First, and foremost, I am a Missourian, and have been for most of my life. I was born, and live in southwest Missouri. I am a happy, horse owner of an Off The Track Thoroughbred, whom I purchased from a, “kill buyer” that actually pulled him out of the trailer, for I hadn’t had my number yet when he went through the auction block. I gave him $200, more than his original purchase price. This wonderful racehorse, also the great grandson of, Seattle Slew, was purchased right here in Greene County, Missouri. This wonderful horse would have also been on someone’s dinner table, somewhere in France, Japan, etc., would I not have been there.
    I do not want a horse-slaughter facility here in Missouri, or anywhere else, so far as I’m concerned. These people are talking about processing four hundred horses per day! Two hundred per shift!
    So far, I’ve heard NOTHING about where all the waste that comes with a facility such as this, will be going. I’ve heard NOTHING, on what methods they will be using to kill our horses…HUMANELY, for anyone who knows anything about horses also know that the methods that were once used here, and are still being used abroad, are absolutely NOT humane!
    Ms. Sue Wallis, and her company, have now chosen the little town of, Rockville, Missouri. Rockville, is in an economic nightmare, so of course there’s going to be many people that are for this. When asked, they know little, or nothing of how this process works, the devastating environmental impact it will have on their quaint, and peaceful little town, AND the social impact it will have as well. Yes, I have indeed spoken with some of the town’s residents, and when given the resources to do their own research, their response that I’ve personally received, was one of shock, and amazement. I’m finding that the people of Rockville, that I have talked with myself, DO NOT want this in their hometown!
    Perhaps we should focus more on the grave problem of this massive over-breeding that’s going on in our country, rather than focusing directly on slaughter. The over-population of horses will not stop unless we go directly to the root of this mess, which again is the over-breeding!

  • Canada has horse slaughter and our horses are fetching very little at auctions or private sales. Every day on Craiglist and Kijiji there are dozens, if not at least a hundred ads offering low cost $100 or free horses, which are usually perfectly healthy, young, trained or trainable. Slaughter has done nothing to create or raise a “floor” for Canadian horses, because the economy sucks as badly as in the US. We’ve been in a recession for four years now and we experience the same abandonment issues with horses. Maybe horse owners really don’t want to take their horses to a slaughterhouse?

  • There is no such thing as humane slaughter. Sue Wallis can paint a pretty picture of “processing” horses but the last 3 slaughterhouses in the U.S. all had environmental & animal abuse violations. The foreign-owned company backing Unified Equine Missouri won’t care about violations as long as they are making $$$. Greed is the real reason they are trying to bring back slaughter.
    The only humane way to continue to reduce the population of horses in America is to continue to educate breeders to slow down or stop breeding, support rescues & bring in new owners. Bringing back slaughter will only encourage irresponsible breeders to keep breeding dispensable horses. The only way to hold those that would abuse or neglect horses accountable is to increase penalties for offenders, not bring back a cruel industry like slaughter. Slaughter is a symptom, not a cure. The cause must be addressed to reduce the excess horses produced every year.

  • 400 horses per day = 2000 per week x 52 weeks = 104,000 horses per year. This means slaughtering 25 horses per hour. One horse slaughtered every 2.4 minutes? Presently Canada and Mexico slaughter 133,000 horses annually at several plants, correct? So now, one plant is going to take over the majority of the business??? I don’t think the Mexican cartels will like having their business stolen by Sue Wallis. Are the horses going to be certifiably drug-free as soon as late summer? Where are these horses coming from? Does she have Three Angels Farm and just about every other horse source in the USA guaranteeing that she gets all their horses? Who is designing the slaughter house? Has anyone asked Temple Grandin if she’s involved? Who else is capable of designing a humane slaughter plant? Humane???? Have the plant’s plans been approved? Environmental impact statement been completed and approved? Are the plans available for inspection by citizens, etc. of the town? Who is building the facility? Has an environmental impact statement been done? Who owns the land, the plant, the business? Where is the money coming from? Where are the horses coming from? Where are the employees coming from? Is the owner European or domestic? Is there a tax incentive? Where are the USDA inspectors coming from? Too many unanswered questions… Sue Wallis will have answers if she actually does have this going forward. I cannot see how all this can be accomplished by late summer.

  • Why would a state want any thing to do with a horse slaughter house? To do so will only black ball them in the eyes of the American people. The fact are there is no way to humanely slaughter horses..horses are to head shy to use a bolt gun effectively. The fact is people like Sue Wallis are just looking for a way to fill their pocket while taxes payers fork out their hard earn money for USDA inspection on meat we don’t eat in the USA , meat that has been proven to have toxic drugs in it. They don’t care if property values drop around a slaughter house or the environmental damage done. Sue Wallis does not care that the EU has already ban US horse meat from being imported into the UK due to toxic drugs found in it. Causing kill buyers to dump load after load of horses rejected from one of the slaughter houses in Mexico or Canada. She see nothing wrong with slaughtering horses for meat and selling it to make a buck knowing that most of horses are given toxic drugs through out their life.

    What kills me is why the people we elect like Sue Wallis writes and passes bills/laws under the table without putting it before the American people to vote and decided on. After all it is our taxes dollars that will be used to open and keep these horse slaughter plants going just so Sue Wallis and her friends can get rich by selling toxic meat to humans…… The fact is that 80 to 95% of the American people do not eat or want horses slaughter. 95% would rather pay our tax dollars to have horses euthanized then to be sent to slaughter. But then we would be able to see just who are causing the problem of so many unwanted horses. But then there is no money in that for people like Sue Wallis…

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