Iron to Iron offers custom beef and pork processing in rural Tower

TOWER- While it might surprise his childhood self, Jacob Doble is following in his grandfather’s footsteps.
“My grandfather owned a meat market in Lonsdale, in southern Minnesota,” he said. “But when I was younger, I had no interest in becoming a butcher.”
Fortunately for folks here in the North Country, that changed when he and his wife Rebekah started raising hogs down in Iowa.
“We wanted to be able to butcher them ourselves,” he said. “And the people who then owned his grandfather’s butcher shop were happy to teach me.”
Jacob then worked on and off as a butcher for seven years, before moving to rural Tower four years ago with his young family, which now includes four young children on a rural homestead of 30 acres. The move brought them closer to family. Jacob’s parents now live in the Cook area, and his brother had moved north, and is currently working at the bait shop in Cook. His mother still works part-time at Cook Building Center.
Their homesteading plans near Tower have started slowly. “We had a dairy cow,” said Rebekah, “but got too busy with the family.” She said they do hope to start raising hogs and a dairy cow in the future, but right now they are happy to have their own flock of laying hens.
After moving to Tower, Jacob found work with Mesabi Masonry, but he had a goal of opening his own commercial butcher shop.
Reaching that goal took time. “There were a lot of hoops to jump through,” he said, but he found that the Minnesota Department of Agriculture was helpful. The couple built the 24’ x 44’ building that houses their operation themselves, with animal pens behind it. Jacob said his time working with Mesabi Masonry helped improve his construction skills. The new building houses a large walk-in cooler, walk-in freezer, and plenty of room for the meat processing and packing. The entry is decorated with old family photos of his grandfather’s butcher shop as well as other relatives who worked in the butchering business, putting the operation into its family context.
The business does not sell meat retail. Instead, it works with customers who either grow their own livestock, just cattle and hogs for now, or who buy them from an area farmer. Jacob said, if needed, they can help connect interested buyers with area farmers who raise cattle or hogs. Then, they slaughter the animals at their facility, and process the meat, packaging it to the customer’s specifications. They also will smoke and cure meats, make bacon and hams, as well as their own special-recipe sausages.
“Our spice blends for our sausage are homemade using simple and high-quality ingredients,” they said. “We never use store-bought premixed spice blends for any of our products.”
“We don’t do deer processing right now,” Jacob said, “but we can take trimmings to make sausages.” Though he added that customers might have to wait until late winter or spring for their turn.
The local need for the service is evident. While the business has only been up and running for a year, it already has a long waiting list, with no openings until winter. And they suggest anyone wishing to book time this winter, do it soon. They do have a cancellation list, so there are chances to get in sooner, if you’re lucky. They also are taking appointments to make sausage and other cured meats from provided meat and trimmings. Many customers are now booking slaughter times a year ahead, he said.
The shop quickly became Jacob’s full-time job. Some days he will be out in the shop until almost midnight, waiting on a batch to come out of the smoker.
It can take a full day to butcher up a beef cow, and then more time for grinding. He sets aside one day a week for slaughtering duties.
Customers pay a fee for slaughtering/disposal, cutting/wrapping, grinding, and then any specialty products. Customers select the exact cuts, sizes, and packaging instructions they desire, as well if they want the specialty items like soup bones, liver, tongue, and oxtail. The facility is state inspected quarterly to ensure everything is handled safely.
While his days are long, he said he usually doesn’t have to work on the weekends. This past weekend he was planning on trying some deer hunting.
The family loves living in the area. Rebekah loves to bake and try out new recipes, including experimenting with specialty sausages and cured meats, which their kids also enjoy eating. They only have a small garden for now, but she has plans to expand.
Rebekah is homeschooling their oldest, who is six, and she has found a friendly local homeschooling community in the area. All the kids love playing outside, she said, and adore their flock of free-range chickens.
Jacob, with a laugh, added he gets out to golf or fish at least once a year. Luckily his brother Konner, who works at Northwoods Bait and Tackle, spends most of his free time fishing, so they family gets treated to regular fish fries.
You can find more information at irontoironbutchery.com