Cockrum's Meat Processing and Taxidermy
Owners: Randy and Anjie Cockrum
Location: Rudy, Ark.
Company History: Randy said he started in the butcher business when he was 12 years old, riding a Honda 70 minibike to and from work. He worked his way into the grocery store butchering business, and eventually started cutting deer up in the back room. In September 1984 he built Cockrum's Meat Processing. "I think I was 22 years old," Randy said.
Randy knew the meat processing business was seasonal, so he found other ways to make money during the summer months: from brush hogging to hay baling to carpentry work. Randy then got hooked up with a company contracting building swimming pools. "Through that we were able to get full time help. In the fall and winter it was all meat processing; the deer is actually what built our business. Then, of course in the spring and summer we built swimming pools to keep the hired hands busy."
In about 2002 Randy said they went into the taxidermy business with taxidermist Scott Roam. "The taxidermy was a big hit and allowed us to get out of the swimming pool business. Now we stay busy in spring and summer with the taxidermy work."
Randy said without the help of his wife, Anjie, and coworker Perry Cooper, "I'd of been washed up a long time ago."
Products and Services: Cockrum's offers deer processing and custom butchering. "We don't do wholesale or retail, although we do raise our own cattle, running 140 head of momma cows. We raise the calves for butcher calves and sell them through the business as butcher beef. We buy hogs from the University of Arkansas swine operation and we can sell a half or whole hog. If you raise your own we can butcher it for you, and if you don't raise your own we can supply the beef or the hog for you."
Staying ahead of the Competition: "We do not take appointments. We work until the work's done. We try to have very competitive prices and I would say one of our best promises, you get exactly what you bring up here."
Business {Philosophy: "We used to advertise, 'You get your own animal and you get all of it.' Also, when you drop something off, we tell you when it's going to be ready when you drop it off, no if and or but. It will be ready, whatever we have to do."
