By Brian Shane

Staff Writer

A Worcester County cattle famer was granted permission to slaughter cows for butchering on his own property instead of having to outsource the job.

Call it the Ewell Rule. It was farmer Bob Ewell of Newark who successfully petitioned Worcester County officials earlier this year to tweak the county code, making in-house livestock slaughtering a permitted use in agriculturally zoned areas – but only when zoning officials give the OK as a special exception.

Ewell did just that, appearing Nov. 14 before the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). The board unanimously approved his special exception because he met the requirements. Now he’ll be able to sell beef he butchered himself at his Fresh Cut Butcher Shop, located off Route 113 at Croppers Island Road.

For personal use, one can cull as many cattle as they want, and the law doesn’t interfere. But in order to sell butchered beef at market, cows have to be processed under USDA supervision. Ewell did this by having his cattle slaughtered out-of state, at an annual cost of about $34,000, he told the BZA.

In a new slaughterhouse he’ll construct on his farmland, Ewell said he plans to process up to three cows a week, based on demand. A cattle farmer for 36 years, Ewell said he keeps about 75 head of cattle on his pasture and feed lot.

Cattle will be processed one day a week, from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., alongside two employees and joined by a USDA inspector. He won’t be receiving cattle from any other source, because the only cattle allowed to be harvested will be ones raised on his property.

The slaughterhouse rule stipulates that a processing facility must be located on a minimum 140-acre farm where livestock is already raised, can’t be any bigger than 600 square feet, and must maintain a 400-foot setback from roads or homes.

Ewell’s attorney Mark Cropper told the BZA his client will meet the setback requirements.

“You’re not going to hear it and you’re not going to smell it,” he said. “This use is so far away from all of the residences on Croppers Island Road – let’s just say I would be stunned and amazed if anybody even knows this is occurring. There’s no way you would ever see this.”

When the matter came before the Worcester County Board of Commissioners in April, opponents had a beef of their own – raising concerns about negative impacts to groundwater from cattle processing, as well as with traffic on Croppers Island Road.

Ewell’s attorney told BZA members he’d commissioned a traffic study that concluded there would be little to no impact on vehicular traffic.

He also said there will be no on-site disposal of waste from the slaughtering process. Bone, hide, offal, and other solids will be sorted into bins, while separately, an in-ground catch tank will collect liquids for removal. Solids and liquids will be removed by different vendors and shipped to separate processing facilities in Maryland and Virginia.