From school to market

RIVERTON — Like the other students in her program, Central Wyoming College student Sandra

Dawson takes food safety seriously. Demonstrating her knife skills last week, she suited up carefully.

It feels good, she said, to know what she cuts will feed people right here in Fremont County.

"If you wouldn't want it on your plate, don't put it on somebody else's," CWC Meat Sciences Instructor Travis Barlett often reminds his students. 

Dawson appears to have taken that advice to heart.

Dawson and Bartlett weren't speaking theoretically; through partnerships with the Fremont Local Market in Riverton and Meadowlark Market and Kitchen in Lander, food from CWC goes out into the community. Through new memorandums of understanding, slated to go into effect on March 1, that food will include locally-raised livestock, slaughtered and processed at CWC as part of its Meat Sciences program.

Not only is it going to be beneficial for the local farmers and ranchers, you're also going to train the next generation of butchers," Morgan Doyle of Red Roof Meat Company commented. Doyle, Bartlett noted, already consistently brings him lambs for processing – and is one of the producers who can be counted on to roll up her sleeves and pitch in where she can.

CWC's facility is U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved and has its own on-site USDA inspector. That makes a difference; while poultry is included under the Wyoming Food Freedom Act, meats like beef, lamb, goat, and pork are not. 

Any locally-raised red meat sold in local markets must be processed in an inspected facility; because CWC's facility is USDA-inspected, meats processed there can also be sold out of state and even internationally.

Before the Fremont Local Market opened its doors, people often expressed doubts about Riverton as a location for a local foods market, board member, local producer, and Morgan Doyle's father Steve Doyle recalled. Now, it's one of the examples to the rest of the state of what a thriving Food Freedom Act local foods store can look like.

"If we can do it, and Lander can do it, just about any place in Wyoming should be able to establish one," he remarked.

The Fremont Local Market sees particularly high demand for milk, bread, and meat.

"I believe that ... we could sell a heck of a lot more meat if we had it on the shelf," Steve Doyle continued.

The problem for producers is often distance and time; if ranchers have a local opportunity to sell their meats, Doyle explained, but have to drive to Hulett or Cody to take it to an inspected processing facility, their profit margin narrows significantly. 

"We think we can make it easier for the farmer," he said.

CWC can process about one beef or four to six lambs or goats per week, Bartlett said.

On the CWC side, while most kids who take Bartlett's classes do so because they're interested in running an efficient ranch or because they want some kind of skill or certificate to add to their resume, there are significant employment opportunities related to training in meat science.

"Butchers are getting old. We need to train new ones," Barlett remarked. 

Beyond butchers, the program can also lead to careers as inspectors or in other related areas – and Bartlett is trying to grow crossover with other programs such as CWC's culinary program.

Under the new MOUs, the first processing of an animal whose meat will wind up on the Fremont Local Market's shelves is scheduled for March 23.

This story was published on Feb. 24, 2026.