A beef packing plant owned by a sixth-generation Iowa farm family will soon be processing beef for sale on site and beyond.

Located about 15 miles south of their farm in Andover, Iowa, the Naeve Family Beef processing operation in Camanche, Iowa, can handle 60 head per day, Andrew Naeve said. About 60% of the processing plant’s meat will come from the Naeve farm and 40% from custom kill orders for developing branded products, he said, adding that the processing operation can accommodate custom cuts and packaging.

Naeve Family Beef offers a wide range of services, from beef slaughter, fabricating, boxed primals, portion cutting or grinding, and packaging in patties or bricks (from 1-5 pounds).

The Camanche-based meat processing site allows easy access to major markets, with Chicago being about two-and-half hours away, Naeve said.

A retail store at the Camanche location (scheduled to open this spring) is a little under 1,000 square feet and will stock a variety of Naeve Family Beef branded meat products along with other products from local businesses, Naeve said.

“We go as much local as we can,” Naeve said.

The processing and retail operation will bring about 60 new jobs to the Camache location, Naeve said.

Naeve Family Beef raises more than 7,000 head of Black Angus cattle on their family farm in Andover, in east-central Iowa along the Mississippi River. The 4,000-acre farm, where the Naeve family has been farming and raising livestock for more than 125 years, also produces corn soybeans and wheat. About 70% of rations for Naeve Family Beef cattle is grown on the farm, Naeve said, with half of the farm’s overall crop production going to feed the farm’s herd.

Three generations of the Naeve family currently work on the farm, including Andrew and his brother, Adam Naeve; their father, Ray Naeve; and their grandfather, Allan Naeve.

Naeve Family Beef is a U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected plant and will have a USDA grader on site, allowing USDA Prime, Choice or Select (as graded by the grader) product sales across state lines.

The processing plant’s food safety efforts include scheduled third-party audits for Good Manufacturing Practices, trim testing, specified risk removal and animal welfare, while working toward BRC Global Standard for Food Safety certification in its first year.

The Naeve Family Beef processing expansion received support from the Iowa Economic Development Authority to help meet consumer demand for locally sourced beef and pork and bolster the state’s food processing supply chain and rural development.