Iron-stomached entrepreneurs, has the state of Vermont got an offer for you. The state’s mobile slaughter house is up for sale, and interested buyers can place bids at the online auction house being used to sell the unit.

Officially known as the “Vermont Agency of Agriculture Mobile Poultry Processing Unit,” the portable rig has a daily processing capacity of 250 chickens or 100 turkeys.

The unit – it looks a little bit like a windowless single-wide – had been under lease by Spring Hill Poultry, but the owner there has decided not to renew. The agency is making the hard sell in a press release fired off to news outlets yesterday:

“With the market for locally produced poultry and rabbit continuing to rise, this piece of infrastructure offers a great business opportunity,” the release promises.

The state commissioned the trailer-sized unit in 2008, matching $93,000 in state money with a grant from the Castanea Foundation. State officials apparently want to unload the thing for good now, though the Agency of Agriculture will offer ongoing trouble-shooting assistance to whoever buys it.

The unit is being sold in an online auction at http://www.auctionsinternational.com/item.cgi?show_item=0000077280, and, so far at least, the price is right. Top bid right now is $7,600, and there’s no reserve. Bidding ends at 6:18 p.m. on Jan. 13.

The mobile unit can be docked at farms or fairgrounds, or any other place with decent numbers of slaughter-ready poultry.

To check it out in person, head over to the north end of the Waterbury State Complex parking lot sometime between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11. RSVPs would be appreciated, and you can do so by contacting Chelsea Bardot Lewis at (802) 828-3360, or chelsea.lewis@state.vt.us.