Ind. farmer offers kill-it-yourself meat

Olu Egunyomi, center, and his aunt Emily Egunyomi, right, originally from Nigeria, pick out a goat Sept. 29. By Sam Riche, The Indianapolis Star

By Tim Evans, USA TODAY

HAZELWOOD, Ind. - The morning sun is only beginning to peek over the horizon, but Tom Prince's farm 20 miles west of Indianapolis is already abuzz.

Cars, pickups, minivans and taxicabs are parked next to a small metal-sided barn behind Prince's neatly kept farmhouse. Inside, the strains of a half-dozen languages echo in the background as a Muslim man kneels over a goat, says a brief prayer, then cuts the animal's throat. It's hard to imagine a greater cultural mishmash than the early morning gatherings that take place here every Friday and Saturday.

Since 1999, Prince has operated a self-service slaughterhouse that specializes in providing goat meat to the Indianapolis area's growing international community. His card reads "You Buy - You Kill - You Dress - You Take Home," and business is booming. Prince also sells lamb and sheep, but goats are the big seller.

Prince, 80, runs the facility from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Friday and Saturday, selling an average of about 50 goats per weekend. In the weeks before Muslim and other religious holidays, he says, sales often double.

Prince's slow Southern drawl stands out from the languages spoken by customers who have found their way to Central Indiana from Morocco, Yemen, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Mexico and other places around the globe where goat is a dietary staple.
"When I moved out here in 1969, I bought four or five goats just for myself," says Prince, who developed his taste for goat as a child growing up in rural Tennessee during the Depression. "Then an African fellow came out and asked me if I'd sell him some. I sold him two, and he said he'd be back next week for two more, and that's what really got me started."

Prince says his business continues to grow - even though he doesn't advertise or have a website - thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations.

The attraction for many is the freshness of the meat and the low price of $1.40 per pound live weight - the weight of the animal before it is butchered. The price includes the use of the facility. Prince said most of the goats weigh 50 to 70 pounds, so the price ranges from $70 to $98.

Goat meat sells in markets and on the Internet for prices ranging from $3 to more than $20 a pound, depending on the cut. Shanks are the cheapest; filets, the most expensive. Tropical Foods, an Indianapolis specialty market, sells 2-pound packages (mixed cuts) for $3.99 a pound. Grande Premium Meats in Del Norte, Colo., and Dancing Creek Farm in Cascade, Va., are among the companies that sell goat meat on the Web.

For some, butchering their own meat helps maintain a link to cultures they've left behind in Africa, Central America and the Middle East. Others, including the large number of Muslims who buy from Prince, prefer to kill and butcher the animals themselves to ensure food preparation standards of their faith are followed.

Prince said he doesn't know a lot about Islam, but he is savvy enough as a businessman to make sure the slaughterhouse meets their needs - including situating the killing table so it faces east toward Mecca.

Muslim customers such as Ahmed Awad, 37, of Indianapolis say they appreciate the nod to their faith. A native of Yemen, Awad has come to the slaughterhouse about once a month for the past year to get meat for his family.

"You can buy goat a lot of places," he says, "but I want to kill it myself."

Prince says he used to let customers butcher the animals in an old corn crib next to his barn. As more people came to buy goats, the increasing activity led to complaints. "A government inspector drove up one day and told me I couldn't kill any more goats here," says Prince, who didn't have a license to do business at the time.

Prince quit selling his goats, but former customers kept calling. The requests prompted him to get back into business and do it right. He built the do-it-yourself slaughterhouse that complied with state licensing, health and sanitation standards.

"It's interesting learning how people from the different cultures prepare and use all the parts of a goat," says John Hadley, 44, a middle school janitor who lives nearby and is one of seven part-time employees that help out at the slaughterhouse on Saturdays.
"We get a lot of fathers out here teaching their sons things they learned from their fathers and grandfathers," Hadley says. "It's really neat to see all these people keeping their family and cultural traditions alive."

Tim Evans reports for The Indianapolis Star.