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Mt. Pride Cooperative Inc.
Mt. Lake Park, MD
Co-op type: Founded in 1997, Mt. Pride is the home of USDA inspected rabbit, goat and lamb growers.
Service provided: With the help of local cooperative extension agents, members are especially developing rabbit production practices, experimenting with new products, and coordinating their efforts to supply over 1,500 pounds of rabbit fryers to major supermarket chains.
Production Coordinator: Paige Dopson, program assistant, Garrett County Cooperative Extension Service, Maryland, who also serves as treasurer.
Board: A 10-member board of small producers governs the co-op. Its officers include President Barbara Harvey, Moatsville, W.V.; Vice President Charlotte Koontz, Philippi, W.V.; and Secretary leda Darnell, Bruceton Mills, WV Membership shares are $50 each.
Geographic area: There are many members in the cooperative stretching from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina west to West Virginia and Pennsylvania. However, fewer than 50 growers supply the majority of meat processed at Country Pride Meats, Friendsville, Md., one of only three USDA -inspected rabbit processors in the country.
Product highlights: Rabbit production hit an all-time high in the war years of the 1940s. With meat scarce, families in rural and urban areas supplemented their diets with home-grown rabbit. In the late 1940s and early 50s, domestic rabbit was common in meat departments in certain areas of the United States and it sold for about the same price as chicken. While the poultry industry moved ahead in production and marketing techniques, the rabbit industry lagged. Now Mt. Pride members are marketing whole fryers, taken at 4.5 to 6 pounds, live weight.
Cooperative members also market goat and lamb. However, that meat isn't marketed through retail store outlets under the cooperative's own label. The rabbit meat has been sold in about 400 Shop N Save, Foodland, Country Market and SuperValu supermarkets in the membership region, as well as some Ohio stores.
Recent developments:
James I. McNitt, a noted rabbit researcher at Southern University, Baton Rouge, La., has found that consumers want rabbit parts while
usually available. Even though whole fryers are the mainstay, Mt. Pride members are considering other types of value-added products as rabbit supplies increase. Extension agents Ron Swope, Marion County, WV.; Jim Simms, Garrett County, Md.; and Melanie Barkley, Bedford County, Penn.; are helping develop basic rabbit production practices. Members and their processor are exploring both smoked and marinated rabbit; experimenting with products such as "rabbit wings," using the foreleg in a sauce; and studying the possibility of rabbit sausage. The co-op is also networking with the meat goat industry to organize a channel for direct marketing of goats and lambs to processors so more money can be returned to farmers.
For more information: Mt. Pride Cooperative, Inc., 1916 Maryland Hwy. Suite A, Mt. Lake Park, MD 21550; (301) 334-6960; fax 334-6961; or www.mtnpride.com.
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