An Aroostook County couple that’s been processing for hunters and cattle raisers is now looking to get USDA approval to expand.
Travis Parent and Dorothy Rossignol have big plans for their slaughterhouse in the Aroostook County town of St. Agatha, population 730.
Amid a shortage of local livestock infrastructure, Songbird Meat Production is poised to become Maine’s northernmost federally inspected slaughterhouse.
“We should be USDA-inspected by the summer of 2026,” Parent said.
Dorothy Rossignol grew up on the ranch associated with the business.
Watching her calmly guide a bull into a holding pen, her years of experience with cattle are obvious.
“I’ve been doing it from a very young age — probably since before I should have been holding a knife,” she said of the art of butchering.
Parent, on the other hand, has been involved in butchering and cattle for only a few years.
“It was a learning experience for him,” Rossignol said. “We divide and conquer. It’s a team effort.”
Moose and unruly bulls
Watching Parent negotiate a recently dispatched steer into the kill floor with large equipment while Rossignol quickly begins the slaughtering process, one can see that the two work together to get the job done in a sort of graceful dance.
“I have a rhythm to it,” Rossignol said. She emphasizes that the animals on the ranch live the best possible lives and are treated humanely and with patience.
Both Parent and Rossignol take pride in providing good food for the Aroostook community. “You want good quality going into the cooler,” Parent said.
The facility in St. Agatha is clean and orderly. The couple began construction in 2022 in order to fulfill Rossignol’s long-held dream of running her own slaughterhouse.
In 2025, Songbird processed 33 moose. Although Parent and Rossignol recognize that this is not a large number compared to what some Aroostook processors deal with in a season, they also emphasize that they are always looking to help hunters and livestock farmers in a pinch, whether by getting an unruly bull into a trailer or dispatching an animal cleanly and humanely on-farm.
Songbird is also involved in the state-funded Hunters for the Hungry Program, through which bear, deer and moose meat is donated to food pantries.
Benefit for local farmers
Both Parent and Rossignol emphasize that because of the high standards their facility already meets, the transition to USDA-inspected will be mostly a matter of paperwork, but could lead to steadier year-round business in the longer term.
Proximity to a USDA-inspected facility will also give local farmers the ability to sell cuts piece-by-piece to individual customers and to restaurants, stores and across state lines, potentially meaning higher sales and profits. Currently, the nearest USDA-inspected slaughterhouse is in Smyrna, well over an hour each way from the St. John Valley.
