PAGE TWO
THE BEND BULLETIN. BEND, OREGON
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1949
Redmond Packing Plant Ships Horse Meat to Itelgium
Scarcity of Range
Factor in Roundup
Of Desert Ponies
iy
to Belgium in the past month
Irom Jack Chrlstensen's Red
mond packing plant. Regularly,
approximately 100,000 pounds are
shipped a week, to buyers in Pa
cific coast states.
To fill orders, from 30 to 40
horses are killed and dressed
each day. That makes about 1000
a month.
While only 55 per cent of a
horse is edible meat for human
consumption, nothing about him
is wasted.
'That Is one of the reasons I
consider the horse-packing bus
. Iness a good one," observed Chris
tensen. "Every by-product has a
ready market. Hides, just now.
are going in carload lots to a
tanning company in Chicago
maybe I'm walking around on a
horse I butchered. Entrails are
shipped to Portland, to fertilizer
and tallow plants. Bones are
ground and become part of dog
food.
All Parts Used
"Bet you I can name one part
of the horse you have no market
for," put in a visitor. "The tails!"
"Pay up," retorted Christensen.
"Manes and tails are in great de
mand. Their hair goes into paint
. brushes and tailored suits!" ,
Hooves, of course, can be pro
cessed into glue. The so-called
sundries heart, tongues, kidneys,-
and livers are sought by
retail horsemeat shops. Livers.
Just now, are feeding baby fish.
In the new hatchery out on the
Metolius. So when those trout
seem to kick up their fins at you
- and give, with the horse-laugh
.well, maybe there's a reason.
Christensen is a member of a
Tillamook packing family wide-
ly-known within the meat Indus
try. He studied at Oregon State
college majoring in education,
and minoring, he says with a grin
"in football."
- It was only last November that
the ,$150,000 plant officially
opened. Today, it covers six acres,
with dozens of corrals, several
buildings, much equipment. It
employs 15 persons, and has a
payroll of approximately $1,200
per week. Spotlessly clean and
without flies, it is under daily su
pervision of a U.S. government
man a graduate of veterinary
science from Colorado .Agricul
tural and Mechanical college-
Dr. David M. Strohauer, young,
alert, courteous.
Plant Is Modern
' " "This is perhaps one of the
most modern plants in the coun
try," he said. "I worked' in sev
eral eastern plants before com
ing to Oregon. Everything here is
Only the Best for the Belgians
srrTT'ni - (vOTJj ,4 SIS
Rollle Ephland does the buying, and supervises the feeding. Here he shows Jack Christensen pens
of range horses which will dress out to top quality meat for the big shipment abroad. They're fat
and frisky, and their coats shine with health. Visualizing the gusto with which war orphans will
attack plates of the tender, juicy food takes some of the regret out of the job of preparing the meat
for them, Christensen said. "I'm proud to have a part in undoing the ravages war wrought upon
innocent youngsters," he said.
done exactly as it is supposed
to be done: In federally-inspected
plants." '
We visited high-ceiled coolers
where meat quarters, deep yellow
of fat, deep red of flesh, stretched
to the ceiling. The smell is more
that of fish than meat. j
We saw the boning room,
where men with slender blades
separated the meat from the
large bones. And we saw the kill
ing room, where horses die ig
nominiously. A shot had rung out as we
entered the yards, and in the kill
ing room, the horse which had
been killed was being dressed.
The hide, which is removed only
with difficulty from the horse,
was being torn off. Cables hold
ing both carcass and hide were
being cinched tight, and slowly,
the separation was being ef
fected. .
Everywhere, cleanly, men were
hosing the floor, preparing the
room for the night.
"Tip" oh Job
. Outside, 'Tip' a springer with
captivating' charm,- repeatedly
dropped a beloved old glove at
the feet of - visitors, and be
seeched them to toss it. In a sec
ond building 25 feet away, tiny
overalls dried in the sunshine on
a closely-screened porch. There,
David. 2, does his playing with
in stone's throw of his father's
business office.
Does Jack Christensen mind
killing horses?
By the way he phrased his re
ply, he clearly shows that he
does. "I go along for perhaps' a
week before I remember what
I'm doing," he said.
However, he thinks the worst
of. the prejudice is overcome.
People realizet he thinks, that
clearing the range of useless
stock whether scrub cattle or
range horses has to be done to
preserve the grass for cattle.
Will Switch Over
"When the useless horses are
all killed off, and the ranges
around here are thick with cat
tle, I'll switch over," Christen
sen said. 'That has always been
my plan. Right now, the mar
ket's zero for oeef."
W hat's the best horse that ever
passed into company ownership?
"I'll let my horse-trader show
you," Christensen said, and he
turned us over to Rollie Ephland,
who 43 years ago at the age ol
7 bought his first 'horse for '$5,
doctored her and sold her In three
weeks for $15, and has been in
the business ever since,
"When Rollie gets In' a horse
he likes, he holds him back on
me," Christensen grinned. "I ask
him, 'W hat you goin' do with that
critter over there, Rollie?' He
says, 'Aw, thought I'd keep him
few days, see if somebody comes
long to want a horse like him.'
"ind nobody ever docs. . . .
Why, 1 killed the prettiest team
this morning! And 1 couldn't sell
a team for love or money. But
Rollie, he holds them out. just
the same. ,We got more star
ooaraers arouna nere.
Pet's Days Numbered
One of Rollie's pets, a black
mare, was munching hay in a
shady stall with a mule lor com
panionship. "You're gonna have
to go in the morning, old girl," 1
heard him whisper when he
thought nobody -could hear. Tim
idly she stole forward . . . licked
the grizzled old horse-traders
steel-sinewed Buck, a gor
geous buckskin, seoms to have
won iK-rmaitt'iitly his right to live,
"Bouyhl him (or meat at The
Dalles In a SUheaii lot," Rollie
told. "Paid about $30 for him.
Knew he was the best we'd ever
had, minute I laid eyes on him.
"But he was skin ami bones
and mean. 1 put him off to one
side, and fed lain. Jaek fussed a
little, like he always does, but two
weeks later, when Jack spotted
him a second time, I offeied to
buy him. 'Okeh.' says Jack.
"Two weeks more have gone by
and now, look at him. 1 know
durn well Jaek wouldn't sell him.
. . , Why, he's an iron horse!
You can ride him today hard
and Hgaln tomorrow. He was wild
s a broomtail turkey, but he's
gentlln, now. in wager lies hall
quarter-horse, . . . Under you, he
feels like a steam engine.
The saddest side to the whole
business, says Elizabeth tiuliek,
Is the colts. Truckers loud up
with "the stuff" as they call
stock going to market, Just as it
comes. Colts can't he left on the
range if they're nursing yet.
even in the loaUlnR, they are
likely to become separated from
their mothers.
In the pens they frolic like
children, she said pretty, leggy,
soft-eyed little sons and daugh
ters of a mare whose last thought
was perhaps of her little one.
Some are sold to folks who
want to raise a horse but that's
a long and expensive process,
even when the colt's exnct.'ng
dietary .needs are well-filled.
"You can buy a fullgrown,
green-broke horse for less, if you
want a horse," observed Nick
Chase, as he hustled a load into
one of Chrlstensen's pens.
Homes Not Wanted
But that's the trouble. Nobody
wants horses. Colts, or otherwise.
bo they follow their mothers.
"We don't want colts," Chris
tensen said. "We ask the driven
to leave them on the range, when
they can. But they can't always,
because the colts won't stay be
hind. They've always gone with
mama before, and they don't
want to bo left this time. They
they don't know where mama's
going.
Carloads for Belgium? Sure!
Jack Chrlstensen's right-hand mim In b woman Mrs. Elslo Hill,
who since November 2. 1!M8. when slaughtering begim, hns run
the business end of the enterprise, Culls come for him from all
over the United States, as buyers seek nient or by-products. East
ern Oregon bronco meut Is a treat to hungry Europeans, and dieti
cians approve It, They say horse meat is high In protein, (ho nutri
ent which will grow strong bones nncl muscles for umlelred young
sters anywhere. Here. Christensen winds up arrangements to ship
a big order to Belgium, while Mrs. Hill listens as tho works.
A HORSE ON HOSS
Indianapolis Uli Wccm Hoss
had an expensive fence erected
around his newly-seeded front
luwn. The fence was footed with
steel posts and had a luminous
top strand. That night a prank
ster removed the feneo, rolled It
up and placed it on Hoss' front
porch.
College Students
Like Range Steaks
Down In Portland, In a Nlmily
block on Uunliei t nil eel llm,. .
Nil ancient while collage diim
Ing helical h Crimson rmiililcm It
has been remuilolcd Into a lull
doen small Apartments, and it
i-oiif juts here and theie In calm
di.HieiMid or nrllNtry.
' Hoys In their loin teens anil
rnrly 20's come bicycling home
tu It aiound 11:13 p m. All tm
loaded with books, All are a llltltt
Hhahhy. hut they whlntle and lalk
about Plain's Republic - the
Marxian theory Van (iogli's
neurosis.
The lust one to arrive unload
groceries from his bicycle's ha,
kct. "1 got the steak, Lew," he
culls. "When will the gnlx get
here?"
Scene Held Typical
Tho scene U II typical one,
when Clary Snyder, Miimhiill Ko
lln, lw Welch, ami Carl Piou
Jan decide la have their girl
friends (or dinner, All are Reed
college Htudciil. living on Kline
strinii which must strvlch Irom
the Hummer when Ihey were
rarnrd, unlll the (ullowliic sum
mer. Thoite shoestrings are preity
thin, after Christmas. And thin
year, the boys have found a new
way to econoinle. Innlrud o(
(Continued on Page 6)
BOYHOOD BELL REGAINED
Worcester. Mass. Uli The bell
which called the Rev. Carl O. Bos
trom to worship when he was a 1
boy will be Installed in his new
church, Holden Lutheran church,
being constructed here. The Port
land, Conn., Lutheran parish, i
which replaced the 63-year-old '
bell- several years ago, gave the I
bell to their former member. A
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