By Shannon Hazlitt Harts
The last Sunday in January kicks off National Meat Week! To celebrate, why not treat yourself to the best cut of your favorite meat?
To do this while supporting a local, family-run business and hardworking Finger Lakes farmers, check out Schrader Farms Meat Market in Romulus. Keith and Sue Schrader own Schrader Farms Meat Market, which opened in 2012. Their older daughter is a head cutter for the meat market and has become known for training other employees in specialty cuts. Sue and Keith’s younger daughter runs the meat wrapping room.
“We do specialty cuts that you might not find in a grocery store,” Sue Schrader said.
These include a Vegas Strip Steak and a Coulotte, which is a tender cut from the sirloin.
The impetus to start the meat market came around 2011 when a USDA plant said it didn’t have room to process the beef Keith raised locally. Knowing he couldn’t “tell the beef to stop growing” he started his own meat processing business, Sue said.
Today, about half of their business is retail and the other half is processing meat from local farmers to sell at farmer’s markets and other regional locations.
While Keith naturally raises much of the beef that Schrader Farms sells, they also purchase and process beef from other Finger Lakes farmers in Lodi and Dundee. Farmers in Trumansburg and Penn Yan supply pork that Schrader Farms processes and has made into award-winning bacon.
Sue Schrader retired from her teaching job in June and said she has felt grateful to work with local farmers and those who purchase their meat from Schrader Farms, which include farm-to-table chefs such as Samantha Buyskes.
“I just really enjoy building relationships with our customers,” she said. She added, “I have just been gratified to feel like this service is important to people who want to know where their meat comes from.”
You can find Schrader Farms meats at many locations around the Finger Lakes, including Boundary Breaks winery in Lodi, Muranda Cheese in Waterloo, Sunset View Creamery in Odessa, and Hector Wine Company’s specialty market.
To learn more visit schrader-farms-meat-market.com.
Made in the FLX is a weekly column highlighting the small scale food producers of the Finger Lakes. Each week we will feature a locally made food product that is distributed widely throughout the region and beyond, showcasing the strength and quality of our local resources.
