Peaks Slaughterhouse - Lynchburg, Virginia

Nicolas G.

I Googled local slaughterhouses and came up with three local options. Peaks was the first to get back with me and was able to give me all of the information that I requested had the most variety of meat available and the most flexibility as far as how I wanted the cuts done. I really like the fact that they get the meat fresh each week from a local farm that they have worked with for over 3 generations. He was up front about the process, the payment, and pickup. The meat is the absolute best beef I have ever had and I have been buying from small local farms for the last 6 years. I bought 1 whole cow & 1/2 a pig. All of the cuts were flawlessly executed - vacuum sealed with nice thick packaging, labeled and done exactly how I had asked.
I picked up the meat in sept of 2024. I have eaten up a good portion of it and loved every bit! The steaks are so juicy, the ground beef cooks up like a dream. The sausage is phenomenal. I wanted to wait to review it until I had a chance to try the different cuts ans see how they hold up on the freezer and I couldn't be more happy with the results.
The meat is CLEAN, tender and fresh. So yummy!! I have already ordered more meat from them and looking forward to the years to come filled with delicious beef, pork, & lamb!! Thank you peaks slaughterhouse for being professional, having high quality meat, & dependable availability. One happy customer!!

Earl M.

I reluctantly took my deer to Peaks this past hunting season because my usual processor was full and I had no way to keep my deer cold until I could find another processor. I've heard so many bad things about this place. Well, every package I've opened has had hair in it, including the ground meat. I've been getting dear processed for many years and have not once found hair, not once. When I picked up my deer meat I ask the guy where my rack was, he left and came back with the whole deer head, rack still attached. I guess he could tell by the look on face, he said I guess you was expecting just to get the rack, I said yes, he said O well, I just work here, and walked off. It is quite evident that the employees there do not care about their work or their employer. I'm surprised they have been in business as long as they have. I'll never go back.

Bill T.

I decided try Peaks to process my deer for snack sticks and summer suasage. NOT GOOD! Sticks were extremely dried out and hard to chew. Ends were burnt telling me too much heat or too long in the smoker. The summer suasage was, well, tasteless. Seasoning seemed off. Peaks was closer to me, so I thought I'll try it. Bad move and wasted money down the drain. Should've stayed with Strock's which is distance wise further for me but would've been worth it. Oh well, next year.

Natania J.

If I could give them a negative review I would! My husband took a deer there last year, and I picked up. We immediately noticed hair and nodules in the meat. We went to talk to them, and they offered to donate the one we had (already home) and get another one, or get a refund. We chose the refund and reluctantly ate the meat. We had to butcher a lot of the meat again to make it edible. We've had the ground meat twice. Both times made me sick, and my husband found bone pieces. Everything we have from then sadly has to be thrown out. We will never use them again!

brendametube

I’m concerned about this slaughterhouse’s practices possibly not being humane. I was visiting the area for a few days. Peaks slaughterhouse is a mile crows fly. 4 mile drive. Do cows scream for hours at night? Research said they only scream when they’re in serious danger, duress and it means they are asking for help. It said at night they may do an occasional relaxed moo if they are feeling safe and happy. I have seen plenty of cattle at night and they are very quiet and calm. In the US it is law that before slaughtering, an animal is to be stunned & knocked unconscious either through electrocution or an instrument that actually hammers their head. This way, the dispatch and slaughter will not cause undo suffering. This was so sad because I was working outside last evening for almost an hour and for the entire hour, I heard the pattern. I heard one begin a bloodcurdling scream, immediately followed by many many more, at the same time. Loud screams and long lows. There was also lots of loud mooing, but it didn’t sound like happy cows. The horrifying and desperate screams of all of them at once went on for about 3 minutes and then it would quiet down, but you could hear lots of distress lowing in between the horrible escalations, which happened about every 7-10 minutes, over and over throughout the hour and into the night. Please believe me… This was heartbreaking to listen to for hours because I could still hear it from indoors. I felt tremendous sadness for the fear and pain they were going through, which, by the way studies have proven when animals go through an undo amount of fear before death, all of the stress hormones such as cortisol make their meat less palatable and it adds toxins. So it's especially a shame that they are forced to watch and listen as each one is taken. I’m not an animal rights person… I believe in the American tradition of hunting and dispatching animals humanely. I eat meat. I’m thankful for it, but I do try to find sources that treat them and dispatch them humanely. Still… Just hearing how these animals were going through so much fear and pain was truly one of the saddest things I have felt in a very long time. There was nothing I could do. I prayed for the family who owns the company. I prayed God would move their hearts to want to do their job with tremendous integrity and that He would provide for them the resources to do so. If this does not happen, I pray that God would give them a great urge to leave this practice in the hands of someone who can do it with the integrity that these animals deserve, as they are losing their lives for us. It was happening the night before too but I didn’t figure out what it was because we were all talking and visiting. I have videos as I was outside walking the homeowner's pup. Their pup kept looking in that direction with great alert and concern. Earlier in the day it sounded like smaller animals going through the same thing. Possibly sheep, lambs or goats?
I have visited this house other times and not heard anything. It is quiet right now at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon Monday after Father’s Day. Please Peaks, if you see this… Please do the right thing🙏💜There’s no way what was happening was correct, just or righteous in any way. Please train your dispatchers properly… Invest in the right equipment so these animals don’t suffer. Your lives will be happier and more peaceful just knowing that you’re doing it right. I'll bet if you reached out to the public for help, they would pitch in for you to get the right equipment, because you are part of a whole community who cares about each other. ....And that goes for your processing of the meat as well. (Review cont’d in photos) (also, I am open to any conversation and education if I understood any of my experience incorrectly).

Tanicia P.

We recently had to sheep butchered at Peaks. Spoke to the owner and he was very accommodating to our situation, offered us assistance to unload our very large rams and even offered possible ideas in transporting them to his facility. They do excellent work, everything was processed professionally. cleanliness and packaging and their prices are great! We will be using them again! Thanks again!

Andrew B.

Buckle up for this review, I’m gonna give you every detail I experienced and leave you to make your own decision. I was fortunate enough to harvest my target buck and first “mountable” deer of my life. I took it to them to get caped and processed against my better judgement (based on previous google reviews). On arrival I noticed extremely unsanitary conditions. I’ll list a few here to clear up any vagueness…deer legs in the gravel driveway, pooled water mixed with deer blood in their driveway potholes, open containers of deer guts in the drop off area, not to mention a pile of deer on the drop off dock. That’s just where this nightmare starts. When I went to fill out the paperwork portion and walked through the office I was shocked to see a baby in the lobby. Yeah, a baby. Not like a toddler that was wondering around …but an actual baby in a bassinet left moderately supervised. That was overwhelming enough to distract me from the fact that the place isn’t even moderately climate controlled and you can see meat being butchered and processed through the doorways. Again, against my better judgment I decided to continue. As I was waiting, the parent of the baby came up to sooth the young child. The mom didn’t bother to take off her meat/blood covered gloves or clothes and picked the baby up. Are you repulsed yet? Because I was, but like I said…buckle up.

Fast forward and they call me to tell me my deer was ready. Upon pickup the guy handing me the deer meat and cape didn’t change his gloves and took my card, swiped it, and kept carrying on. His gloves were covered in blood and meat bits the whole time which I thought was disgusting.

I took my cape to my taxidermist and I’ll just copy and paste what they said to not mince words,

“I’m sorry to say that your deer cape wasn’t any good .
When I skinned it out the other day , the hair started slipping and it wasn’t able to be saved .

Remember when I told you the nose was really big from all the blood because it was hung upside down ?

Unfortunately , when capes get like that , froze and then thawed . Most of the time the blood that’s in the nose area builds bacteria before the rest of the deer cape can completely thaw . So the face has a higher chance to slip hair .

This was likely due to poor processing .
I’m sorry this has happened…

And the processor left that hide on the deer too long . The forehead skin was so dry that I could barely cut it off. The eyes were sunk in and the hair had a vinegar smell to it near the shoulders (which is usually the first sign of bacteria )

My guess is that they had too much intake and let it sit too long in a cooler instead of a freezer before they worked on it .”

The taxidermist I go to is damn good from what I can tell and I literally left the processor and went straight to their place.

I haven’t tried the meat yet and at this point I’m a little scared to. I noticed deer hair in the meat packaging which makes me feel great about it. If you’re thinking about bringing a deer here…just don’t. Don’t do it. Do. Not. Do. It. Don’t. Pleasant valley and Shrocks are much more professional to say the least.

I will say the people at peaks were very nice (despite the repulsive conditions) and they were nice enough to refund me the cape fee ($40) for my trophy deer which totally makes it right…right? But seriously, they were pleasant people. They did also offer another cape for me to take to my taxidermist but after the first one I didn’t want to see what that one looked like. Fortunately my taxidermist had a donated cape similar to mine but it’ll never be mine. Thanks Peaks!

Jessica P.

****update***
My husband called and spoke to them with our concerns. They stated that the time of our process was when their small blade was out of working order so a larger one was used, hence the hard chunks. They reprocessed the beef, not exactly what I wanted seeing it had to be thawed, processed again and refrozen, not there was not much left of a choice. We've since had 2lbs of the ground beef and it did seem much better. Thank you for making this right.

Original post---

We purchased half a cow from a local farm and this is the slaughter house they used. We have LOTS of ground beef and 3 of my my family members have came close to breaking a tooth. Every single pack of ground beef has hard pieces in it. My husband and I LITERALLY have to "feel through " each pack of ground beef and discard the sharp, hard chunks. We will NEVER use this company again. Ridiculous.