SYLVANIA — Savannah River Farms, a vendor at the Hinesville Farmers Market, recently received approval by the USDA as an on-farm slaughter and processing facility.
“The main reason we built our facility was that we raise our animals caringly, and we wanted the end of their lives to be as humane as possible,” Kellie Deen, co-owner of Savannah River Farms, said. “Having USDA and AWA (Animal Welfare Approved) approval on-farm processing means that our animals only travel two to three minutes to our facility verses three to four hours on the highways like so many farms have to do. We are the only people who handle our animals from birth and throughout their lives.”
This USDA and AWA farm accreditation has led to other farmers in Georgia now utilizing Savannah River Farm’s processing instead of shipping their animals longer distances.
To maintain the on-farm USDA status, “a USDA inspector is at our facility at all times when we are processing our meats,” Deen said.
Savannah River Farms is a family owned and operated working farm offering pasture-raised poultry, pork,  beef and lamb and supplying their pastured meats to some of Savannah’s well-known restaurants, such as Alligator Soul, Blue Turtle Bistro,  Local 11ten and Savannah College of Art and Design’s (SCAD) cafeterias among others. They participate in the Forsyth,  Hinesville and Richmond Hill farmers markets.