It’s Finally Happening, direct to consumer BEEF

It’s been a long haul, and I’m definitely not done but I feel like it's finally happening. 

I am a person that likes instant gratification, I think most people do. Little time, instant reward. Over the course of this year I have learned that the sense of gratification and accomplishment is even greater after so many struggles and setbacks. 

Just over a year ago I had this crazy idea to start selling some of our beef direct to consumer. 

There seems to be a demand, consumers want to know where their beef comes from. How hard can it be? We have the cattle, let’s just finish a few of them, and see how this goes. This was the pitch I made to my husband as he looked back at me with some concern. 

I can say now I did not know what I was getting us into. 

Of course I take this project on at the same time we are having a global pandemic. Which was a blessing and a curse. Mostly a curse. 

It did shine a glaringly bright light on the fact that there is a big problem in our country with the beef supply chain. We put way too much trust in a very small monopoly of beef packers. When something happens to just one of those packers, we are looking at empty meat cases, and outrageous prices. Which is what happened during Covid. That’s the other thing the virus did, drove demand for beef. Of course that didn’t help beef prices, because of the bottleneck at the packing plants.

Unfortunately it also was just before I went to butcher with our first round of finished steers, and I could not get a butcher date. I also couldn’t find freezers. Every person in America seemed to suddenly have a bunker mentality and was prepping with large freezers.  

This is around the point my very stubborn personality came in handy. I was determined to figure this out.

I grew up in this industry, and thought I knew a lot about it, but I have learned so much since starting this. Finishing, processing, marketing, cuts, yields, it’s an end of this business I really knew nothing about. 

I think the most shocking thing I’ve learned is just how bad the shortage of processors is. Especially USDA inspected butchers. It really is a big problem. The red tape involved in being a USDA inspected facility is huge, and I can see why butcher shops don’t want to do it. But we sure do need them. It would help with the dependence problem we have on big packers, who have full control over supply and price. More USDA inspected facilities would mean more competition, which in turn would help everyone from the cow calf producer, to the stockers and feed lots, all the way to the consumer. 

I definitely don’t have it all figured out, but I feel like with this batch of meat up on the website and our first boxes shipped I have at least made it over a hurdle. 

If I would have known from the start how hard this would be I’m not sure I would have done it, but I’m sure glad I did. Looking back and seeing what we accomplished, and how much I’ve learned this year, it was worth it.

It also turned out to be a good project for me to keep my mind busy after losing my dad. I always think about what he would think of what I am doing. I’m pretty sure he would tell me I’m crazy, then head up to the coffee shop to tell the guys all about it with pride. He was always my biggest fan.  

I certainly could not have gotten this far without some great help! Susie Felton, Mary Heffernan and so many who were willing to give me advice and guidance. Truly great people!!

And, thank all of you that have bought beef! Thank you for supporting us!! Stay tuned for more to come. Can’t wait to see what this year brings!