Martin Brings Local Processing
Published: Friday, June 12, 2026
ELM Custom Processing, located north of Wakarusa on C.R. 36, has joined a growing list of local butchers that have sprung up in Michiana over the last few years. Opened in 2022, the family-owned business processes cattle, hogs, lambs, goats and deer for customers.
Owner Eugene L. Martin—his initials form the company's name—formerly worked in construction and decided to pursue a different career, "because I wanted to work at home with the family," he said.
Martin's house is located just a stone's throw away from the processing facility.
With eight children, he and wife Lydiann have a full plate. Eugene oversees the daily processing of beef, hogs, sheep, goats and deer, while Lydiann has a large garden and supervises the kids – the oldest of whom is 12.
The children help out with small jobs but are not yet old enough to work with knives and saws. That task is handled by Martin and a team of part-time workers.
Martin comes from a family of barbecue fanatics. At family outings, his grandfather was always roasting something on the barbecue. Martin picked up that tradition and did his own butchering at home. His learning curve hasn't been as steep as one might expect for someone getting into the meat-cutting business.
"The home butchering—I enjoyed that," he said.
Before getting into the custom processing business, he studied the market and visited another local butcher to observe his set-up and procedures.
"They taught me a lot of tricks," he said.
Once Martin made a significant investment to start his own plant, he learned how to work with customers and satisfy state inspection standards.
Martin said his business tends to be seasonal. It's slow in the spring and then picks up in mid-summer.
"Fairs are coming," he said. "That's kind of the main thing in July. That's when it really picks up."
He added that he processes livestock from at least two area fairs, St. Joseph County (Ind.) and Elkhart County.
His busy season continues into fall, especially when hunters start bringing in their deer harvests. Last year, hunters dropped off dozens of deer on the first day of hunting season.
Most of the butchering takes place in the processing room. All the beef, pork, lamb and goats are rolled into the room in large sections—half of a beef, for example—with the carcass hanging from a hook. Then, it is trimmed and broken down into parts: steaks, chops, bacon, hams and various cuts.
"Then, once that half is on the table, everybody helps debone everything until it's finished," Martin said. "The next guy brings out the next one, and we start over."
Martin also has a grinding machine to make ground beef and pork, along with a hydraulic stuffer for hot dogs, baloney and brats.
If the customer wants the meat to be smoked, Martin has a special room for that. Popular items include summer sausage, jerky, snack sticks, bacon and ham.
Once the meat has been cut, it is then packaged according to the customer's preference.
Off to the side are two large coolers. The larger one is where the carcasses are kept until they are processed, and the smaller cooler is where Martin stores items like brats, baloney and summer sausages.
All the packaged products are kept in freezers located on the north side of the building.
In the kill room, a team of three people can process as many as eight cattle and eight hogs per day.
Martin said the facility is licensed with the state of Indiana. Inspectors come at least twice a year to make sure the butchering operation complies with state standards.
ELM Custom Processing doesn't offer retail sales but specializes in the butchering of livestock brought in by customers. During this time of year, the business is booked out only a few days. Customers can call and arrange to have their hogs or steers butchered within the week.
"When it gets into August, September, October, November, December and January, then they've got to plan ahead a little bit. But right now, it's not a problem."
For those who don't have livestock to bring in, Martin said he works with local farmers who can supply beef, hogs, goats or lambs for them. The minimum quantities are half a hog or quarter of beef.
Sometimes Martin and his team of workers receive large orders that require them to work 16-hour days. In a recent week, they processed 30 beef steers and 33 goats for one customer.
Last fall, hunters dropped off 75 deer on the opening weekend of hunting season. The hunters filled out cards with their names and phone numbers and attached them to their respective kills. When Martin came to work the following day, he was surprised to find all those deer carcasses placed inside his facility, ready to be processed.
"During deer season, we probably have one guy running the saw, five or six guys deboning, and four or five girls every day taking care of the meat orders," he said. "There was a bunch of small batches that we had to keep running through. I run the smoker. Sometimes the smoker is running all day and all night, six days a week."
When asked about beef prices, Martin said he's not sure how long prices will remain high. He estimates 60% of the beef coming through his shop are traditional beef breeds, while the other 40% are dairy beef animals.
If beef prices continue rising, he believes many consumers may switch to less expensive protein options, like poultry or pork.
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