ARCHBOLD, Ohio – The year was 1962. Col. John Glenn was the first person to orbit the earth. The first Walmart opened in the state of Arkansas. It was the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. And it was the year that a gentleman named Leon Lugbill opened a small business of cutting and wrapping meat for his friends and neighbors on his 80-acre farm southwest of Archbold, Ohio. He had been doing this type of work since he was a kid, and Lugbill called his new business Brookview Farm, where he advertised not only his new meat business, but he also raised feeder cattle, sold under the slogan of “Tender Corn Fed Beef.”

Brookview Farm operates today with the second and third generations running the family business, with Jack and Jon Lugbill at the helm of the business. Today, as in 1962, animals are processed into freezer packs, the top processing animal being beef, followed by pork, then lamb, then goat. Not processed at their facility are buffalo, or any animal with horns that are 12 inches or more longer, or any home-killed animals. Still located on the same 80-acre farm, the business has had to adjust with changes and updates, similar to any other business that is customer driven.

Jon stated that customers are the purpose of their work, not an interruption. When customers started to ask about smoked hams years ago, they added a couple of smokehouses to offer smoked hams, bacon, summer sausage and bologna. Deli cases were added to accommodate customers’ desires for various cheeses and deli products. The latest product available to customers is Brookview BBQ, where the Lugbill “BBQ Crew” will either barbecue for pickup at the retail store, or barbecue on site. Jon explained the barbecue part of the business is a great way to not only promote their meat products, but to also give back to the community by participating in a variety of fundraising events. The barbecue side of the business keeps them busy from May through December, lots of evenings and weekends especially, with not only community fundraisers, but also corporate events, weddings, graduation parties and even church picnics.

When asked how COVID impacted their business, a ready answer was that the BBQ business was basically shut down because of no crowd gatherings, but the processing portion of the business literally exploded, causing them to be booked solid for the next two years for processing appointments. They literally didn’t have enough time, personnel or resources available to meet the overwhelming demand. Extra safety measures were implemented, as in no tours of the processing plant, the retail store was limited to a certain number of customers at a time, and extra sanitizing above and beyond what was considered the normal.

Jon said that a normal processing day includes six-eight beef, along with 18-20 hogs, but the impact of COVID is still being felt, as customers are still continuing to make processing appointments far into next year already. Customers are starting to want to know where their meat “comes from,” as opposed to just “going to the store” for a pack of hamburgers or steaks, hence the lingering effects of COVID, he said.

When asked what the hardest animal to process is, Jon’s reply was all animals take time to process, but extra-large beef animals take the longest, as the sheer size and weight when handling and trimming the meat to the customer’s requests.  He also stated that meat processing is a skilled trade, requiring the extensive use of hands and back, and knowing about the cutting and boning stages of meat processing, as well as pulling and the packaging where the lifting part and use of one’s back comes into play. Meat processing is a constantly on the move and doing something job to get the animal transformed from animal to a package.