Twin Pine Farms slaughter line shut down for ‘inhumane’ act

Dennis Ilyes sees it as the government’s word against his.

Federal inspectors said the slaughter line at his 66-year-old family farm had an “inhumane” kill at the end of April and shut it down for about three business days.

Ilyes said his Twin Pine Farms did absolutely nothing wrong.

The suspension came after an inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said he witnessed an “egregious situation” on April 18.

A beef steer forcefully blew, with its mouth puffing up and down, after being hit with a blunt force stun gun once and receiving its first cut, according to a USDA inspection report.

The inspector waved his hand near the steer’s left eye and the steer looked at his hand and tilted its head up toward the hand as if tracking the motion, according to federal inspection records.

Breathing was observed by the inspector, so he checked again. The steer followed his hand again, inspection records say.

“The employee then made a second cut, at which time the steer made a loud, clear vocalization and the forelimbs stiffened,” records say. “The instructor immediately instructed the stunner to give a second stun.”

At that time, the steer went limp, the noises stopped and no movement was observed, according to inspection records.

How it works: Captive bolt stunning means cattle go into a box where a rod delivers blunt force to the animal’s head to render it unconscious. The rod or might not penetrate the skull. Once the animal is unconscious, it is shackled and cut.

Ilyes said the animal seemed completely limp and dead after the first stun.

“There’s absolutely no way my guys could’ve ever known if it was alive because it wasn’t moving,” he said.

As for the noises the steer made, Ilyes said he’s heard that before in farming and it’s probably common in hunting too.

“It’s a nervous reaction,” he said. “It’s a last gasp. A lot of animals do this.”

“In (the inspector’s) opinion, it came back to life,” Ilyes said. “In our opinion, it did not.”

Ilyes said the slaughter line is taking corrective steps to ensure what happened with the beef steer doesn’t happen again. Twin Pine Farms, based in Seven Valleys, will now use a stun gun twice on beef cattle.

“We’re doing this the best way we can,” he said.

The USDA doesn’t allow the use of bullets because lead could contaminate the meat. Stun guns are safer for the consumer, Ilyes said.

Twin Pine Farms is under USDA inspection every day because it’s also a processing facility, producing and selling its wholesale bologna to Giant, Weis and others, he said.

Inspectors also monitor the slaughters every Wednesday when the cattle are stunned twice, shackled and cut.

Meat from the cattle is sold exclusively at their country store and in Eastern Market.

Since his father started the family business in 1952, Ilyes said, he’s never had a suspension for an inhumane kill.

April 18 marked the second time in two weeks that an “ineffective stun” took place on the Twin Pine slaughter line, which is why a suspension was recommended, the USDA said.

Twin Pine was temporarily suspended more than a decade ago because an employee shouted at an inspector, Ilyes said.

“We were never shut down for doing something illegal or dirty,” he said.

“People will read this and think we’re bad people, but I invite anyone to see the 175 beef cattle we’re raising and our calving, and tell me it’s inhumane,” Ilyes said. “Every animal we kill is born and raised on our farm, not brought in. We’re probably the only place in the area that does that.”