Whole Animal Butcher / PT or FT

Company description We are a diversified Livestock Farm, Tree Nursery, and Butcher Shop. We graze cattle, chickens, turkeys, and pigs! We graft fruit trees in the Spring and dig them in Fall! Our Butcher Shop produces a spread of beautiful cuts, grinds, fresh sausages, smoked meats, pates, broths, cooking fats, and dry cured meats. We direct market our products locally through farmers markets and our farm store. 2027 will be our 14th year in production! The farm is near Lake Champlain in the eastern Adirondacks, in the AuSable Valley. There is a shop team and a farm team here - some people work in both worlds, some specialize in one. Occasionally the teams help each other out when more hands are needed. A home-cooked team lunch is offered midday. Job description Join our Team in 2027! We are looking for someone interested in being part of farm work as well as butcher shop work. Below is a detailed description of shop work, and vague description of farm work due to space limitations, but if you're interested we will answer all your questions! Butcher Shop Work; We work with the animals raised here at Mace Chasm Farm. The quality of the food we prepare and the connection to the farm in this small, vertically integrated operation make our products outstanding. Typically there are 3-4 Butchers at work in the shop Tuesday through Friday. On chicken harvest days (every other Tuesday from June through October - 10 to 12 days total) there are 5 of us. The start of the week is steady breaking of whole carcasses, while later in the week we transition to the multitasking work of the finish processing of our many products. We work a 9 hour day typically, including a 45 minute lunch break (home-cooked team lunch is offered Tues-Fri). We operate year-round, though we schedule breaks during the quieter winter months to accommodate seasonal rest and travel. Our busiest months are June-September. Our minimum commitment for this job is May through December. A typical week in the shop looks like: Monday the rail is loaded up by the farm team! Maybe a steer and 4-5 pigs. The shop team is off on Mondays. Shop team starts breaking on Tuesday morning! Often pigs first, so that the curing and sausage or salami making can begin as the beef is being broken. Wednesday is also a breaking day! When pigs are done, some of us move on to breaking beef and some to further processing of the pork and packing of cuts. On Thursday we may be finishing up any last subprimals, rubbing bacon and hams, weighing sausage trim, making spice kits, harvesting herbs for sausages, brining pastrami, preparing everything needed for various grinds, getting a broth going, and setting up meats to braise overnight. On Fridays we smoke bacon and ham, chop fresh herbs for sausages, get everything ground, and spend most of the afternoon linking sausages to pack, along with cuts and grinds. Everything goes to market tomorrow! Equipment gets a nice end-of-the-week cleaning. Court heads to market with all of this great stuff on Saturday morning! One or two butchers are in the shop slicing/packing smoked meats, jarring broth, cleaning equipment, and putting the shop to sleep for the weekend. Sunday Asa heads to market with more of this great food! The shop team is off. Much food has been sold. It all begins again on Tuesday! What we are looking for Strong work ethic & ability to multitask and hustle. Enthusiasm for Butchery & Small Ag Easy communication & problem solving skills. Attention to detail in all aspects of this work - from cutting and handling to seasoning, packaging, cleaning, food safety standards, personal safety, and organization within the shop. Comfort in a fast-paced work environment Inclination to make improvements where you see a need Willingness to offer occasional customer service. There is a small Farm Store connected to our processing space, which we keep nicely stocked. It's a self-serve store, but we check in with customers to help them find what they're looking for, as needed. Ability to lift 60 lb lugs, move heavier carcasses with a teammate, and ask for help when needed! Skills If you are skilled in the arts of meat processing, that is wonderful! You will appreciate the quality of meat on the rail here, and the opportunity to plan and create an amazing spread of products each week. If you have only basic knife skills but know that you like this work and want to further these skills, we are willing to train you. You would learn from us as we work together, at a speed determined by your grasp on each process, as we move at a production pace. Happy to talk with you about what you could expect, and our experiences with training folks here. Butchers who… also grow trees? Yes - it's true - we grow wholesale, bareroot tree nursery stock! The butcher shop team joins this effort a couple of times during the year - planting week in the spring and harvest week in the fall. Farm Work: This role has you out in the fields in all the glorious weather, doing the variety of work associated with caring for livestock - building fence, checking water, moving animals, organizing tools, etc. This work is often solitary, but you're coordinating as needed with Asa and/or other co-workers for tasks that are best done with more hands. Happy to answer your questions about this job and workplace! Just email us. Thanks for your interest! Compensation this position is: hourly, $20/hr +