Recently the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center presented the Blue-Collar Small Business 2025 award to 3F’s Poultry and Rabbit Processing, the only state-inspected facility for non-commercial poultry and rabbit processing in the Checotah area. By working closely with Oklahoma SBDC advisors who help small business owners and entrepreneurs with one-on-one management advice, 3F’s Poultry and Rabbit Processing has been able to strengthen their business plan and facility operations to support long-term growth.
3F’s Poultry and Rabbit Processing, LLC is a small business that is operated by four generations of Oklahoma women and owned by Shelley Lynch McBride. It is an Oklahoma State Inspected Facility that processes and packages poultry and rabbits. 3F’s is vertically integrated, which is a business strategy that keeps all aspects of the supply chain under the control of 3F’s.
“When it comes to the poultry and rabbits, we provide our animals with a peaceful, healthy life, and we are also committed to offering them a humane and dignified death when processing them,” McBride said. “We take full responsibility for raising, slaughtering and processing, and also our order fulfillment on our 3F’s farm. We also provide jobs for our community and work to ensure that we can do business according to our values.”
3F’s Poultry and Rabbit Processing is one of very few farms in the United States that have a poultry and rabbit processing facility on site.
“We have a commitment to regenerative agriculture. We understand we aren’t the only farm selling humane and regenerative poultry, but we do want you to understand how the dollars you spend with us on our farm impact the world you live in – your local area. At 3F’s we open our processing facility to the public by appointment only. Our facility is on a farm and is an Oklahoma stateinspected processing facility. We are also an organic certified processing facility. We truly strive to give our customers an excellent product and experience and no matter what size your flock, we will process them for you. We pride ourselves on our clean facility and great products.”
The facility processes the customer’s poultry and rabbits in the same way they handle their own product. An Oklahoma State Meat Inspector oversees all slaughtering and processing operations. This continuous inspection allows meat products to be consumed by the owner and sold to the public in wholesale and retail outlets.
Retail – making sales of tangible personal property or services in this state directly to customers.
Wholesale – making sales of tangible personal property in this state and selling to retailers who hold sales tax permits for resale.
“We follow a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point program to provide safe, unadulterated products. Our strict sanitation program ensures a clean and sanitary environment. Our experienced staff is trained in treating all animals with respect and in how to manage animals humanely. Our small-scale, one-on-one slaughter methods ensure that each animal experiences a minimum of stress and pain when processed.
“Our Facility also processes year-round. We do not have a minimum number of animals to make an appointment. We do have a maximum number, and that number is decided on a case-by-case situation. We schedule smaller batches together on scheduled Saturdays. We schedule larger numbers on scheduled private days. Because we are a small business we have limited availability for processing appointments, so we strongly recommend you to contact us several weeks to even a month before you need our services.”
“We are proud that 3F’s Poultry and Rabbit Processing, LLC is a family owned and locally operated establishment and that we open our services up to the public to provide a complete service of taking a live animal to a finished meat product. Because all processing operations are overseen by an Oklahoma State Meat Inspector our meat products can be consumed by the owner or sold to the public in wholesale and retail outlets like farmers markets, restaurants, supermarkets and farm stands. Our services extend to backyard growers, county fairs, 4-H members, APA members, FFA members and more. We seek to serve with the highest customer satisfaction in processing and cutting specialized orders.
Contact us to schedule an appointment – Phone: Voice or Text (918) 843-0232 3F’s Feathers-n-Fur Farm journey
In November of 2011, the McBride family established 3F’s Feathersn- Fur Farm. The farm was and still is a small scale, sustainable, diversified livestock farm devoted to raising happy and healthy poultry and livestock in a sustainable manner that benefits the land, the animals and the people.
The farm would raise cattle, poultry, eggs, rabbits and fresh vegetables. Then the farm was able to market its beef, eggs and vegetables. However, the farm was unable to market their poultry and rabbit meat because the law required that the meat be processed in an Oklahoma State Inspected facility but there was no facility in Oklahoma.
The 3F’s Feathers-n-Fur Farm had a need for an Oklahoma State Inspected Poultry and Rabbit Slaughter and Processing Establishment. This need developed into a dream to build their own. The need and the dream pushed them to form a plan.
In September of 2015, they formed a plan to diversify their farm operation by establishing a poultry and rabbit processing facility – a brand new facility that would turn live poultry and rabbits into meat that would be inspected by an Oklahoma State Meat Inspector. This meat and poultry products that passed inspection could then be sold to consumers, restaurants, retailers, and wholesalers throughout the state of Oklahoma.
In November of 2015 they broke ground on the new facility.
In May of 2017 the facility was completed and they opened their doors as an Oklahoma Custom Exempt Facility for Poultry and Rabbit Processing.
On October 6, 2018, 3F’s Poultry and Rabbit Processing, LLC facility began operation as Oklahoma’s only State-Inspected Facility.
3F’s Poultry and Rabbit Processing, LLC gave 3F’s Feathers-n-Fur Farm the ability to open an on-farm store 3F’s From Farm to Fork. It took 3F’s Feathers-n-Fur Farm almost three years to accomplish the dream of reaching vertical integration of their products but if you ask the McBride family, it was worth it.
