A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 25, 2000
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Diversification, Old-Fashioned Way Key In Long-Term Family Business
MICHELLE RANCK
Lancaster Farming Staff
FREEBURG and MIDDLE
BURG (Snyder Co.) To
market, to market... The
Troutman family has been not
only traveling to but also sup
plying the market for meat
products for years.
Harry Troutman began not
only a slaughterhouse business
but also a retail store, operations
which are still in place today
and run by succeeding genera
tions of Troutmans.
A farmer before moving into
the meat-moving business,
Harry Troutman began the com
pany in 1917 on a small scale by
working out of the barn and
taking poultry to the nearby
Sunbury Market. Later he added
veal and then finally cattle.
“He used to go to Lancaster
Stockyards to buy cattle and
send them by rail,” said Harry’s
grandson Sidney Troutman,
who partners with his brother in
N.S. Troutman and Sons. “They
(Harry’s son Norman and
Harry’s brother Charlie) would
unload the cattle in Seiinsgrove
and drive them on foot to Free
burg, about five miles.”
In 1946 Harry built a
slaughterhouse, the same year
his sons, Norman and Chester,
took over the business and
changed the name to NS and
CH Troutman. The partnership
processed approximately 15-20
animals per week.
“We’ve always done custom
killing for farmers and whole
saled to local mom-and-pop
stores,” said Sidney. “He sold to
mom-and-pop stores and to
people that tended market. A lot
of people don’t have that any
more.”
The business delivers to retail
meat stores, restaurants, and bo
logna manufacturers.
In 1972 Lynn and Sidney
bought the enterprise from their
uncle Chester and went into
business with their father until
he retired in 1978.
“When my brother and I
stepped in in ’72, we were gung
ho. In the first five years we
were up to 60 head a week, then
we continued to grow to 80 to
100 cattle a week, which is what
we try to maintain now. That’s
about as big as we want it to get.
It’s a whole new ball game when
you get beyond 100 cattle a
week. The size we are at is nice.
We’re a big little guy.”
“We buy a lot of animals di
rectly from the farm,” said
Sidney, who also buys cattle
from cattle auctions.
As with all sectors of the agri
culture industry, changing times
mean a changing business and
new challenges. “In the begin
ning, my brother and I were sell
ing all our meat within a 20-mile
radius,” said Sidney. “Now
we’re reaching out and have ex
panded to a 100-mile radius to
do the same amount of business.
We find ourselves going further
and further. We’re also doing
more and more micromanaging
to make things work.
“From day one, the talk was
that ‘You’re never going to be
able to make it in the wholesale
business,’ so we figured out a
way to do it,” said Sidney.
“There’s a right way and a
wrong way to do everything. We
do a lot of finding out how to do
it the right way and sticking
with it.”
Diversification has been the
management key to for a
smaller company competing
against bigger businesses. “We
didn’t give up custom slaughter
ing, and that helped,” he said.
“We feel that it was important
for us that we hung onto custom
slaughtering.”
Sidney and Lynn also ex
panded the wholesale business
to handle lean bull boneless.
“We’re one of the few places left
to buy quality lean bull bone
less,” said Sidney. The boneless
bull beef is sold for hamburger
or bologna production. “There’s
a lot of bologna makers around
Pennsylvania.”
The brothers also lay claim to
being one of the few places to
sell swinging steer beef. “There
are people out there that still
like to buy beef and cut it down
themselves,” said Sidney.
The shialler stores which were
a mainstay of the business when
it was founded are still import
ant to the Troutmans.
Sidney is also proud of the
business’ track record with their
20 employees, some of who have
been with the business for many
years.
N.S. Troutmans is also certi
fied to kill organically, another
way to diversify and make their
own comer of a niche market.
As a certified business, the facil
ity must be inspected for clean
ing procedures and products.
Organic animals must be
slaughtered before the other
beef, kept on a separate rail, and
processed first. The meat can
then receive the special label.
He and his brother doubled
the size of the kill floor and more
than quadrupled the size of the
cooler for hanging beef when
they inherited the business.
The larger cooler allows for
another specialty item for the
Troutmans aged beef. The
beef is tagged and held three
weeks to a month for customers
who request it. “There’s a fair
amount of demand for it,” said
Sidney. “Most people don’t
know about the aging process
and the packers don’t have the
facilities for it.”
Selling boxed beef also has
helped diversification.
Custom killing, which ac
counts for 10 to IS percent of the
total slaughter, varies season
ally, with Thanksgiving being
busiest time.
Although modem refrigera
tion has taken care of the need
to slaughter at this time of the
year, tradition dies hard for
Sidney Troutman, partner in N.S. Troutman and Sons,
stands in front of one of the company’s trucks. The Trout
mans supply steer and lean boneless bull beef for custom
and wholesale markets.
farmers who aim to have their
cattle finished at Thanksgiving,
according to Sidney.
The Troutmans do their own
grading in-house. Two cattle
trucks and three meat trucks
transfer the live animals and fin
ished products.
Besides spending two days a
week at the auctions, Sidney
spends time farming. “I also
personally check each animal I
buy for yield and cost,” he said.
Lynn takes care of plant man
agement responsibilities.
“We’ve always farmed along
with this business,” said Sidney,
who handles the 120-acre farm.
Cora, oats, barley, and hay are
grown and sold for feed. “We
also hold slaughter cattle with