Marketing grass-finished beef may not be easy, but it can be profitable.
Dylan and Colleen Biggs decided in 1995 that they wanted to diversify
their ranch at Coronation, Alta., so they would be less reliant on
conventional markets.
Grass-finished beef seemed a good option for the Biggs family, since it
fit with how they manage the cattle and the land at TK Ranch, with
three generations living and working there.
Today they have a clientele of 60 retail outlets in Alberta buying
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their product.
They are selling their grass-finished beef for about 30 percent more
than they would get without their market specialty.
The premium sounds appealing, especially at a time when people are
starting to think more about when the cattle price cycle dips.
However, building the market for grass-finished beef was challenging,
and there continues to be a lot of work with the venture.
“It’s not a cake walk,” said Colleen. “It’s probably the hardest thing
we’ve ever done.”
She and her husband are “puritans” when it comes to the way they raise
grass-finished beef.
They do not use any grain to help finish the cattle before slaughter.
The ranch, which is owned by Dylan’s dad Tom Biggs, is certified
organic. The beef they sell as grass finished will not have been
treated with antibiotics or growth-promoting implants.
If any of their animals receive antibiotics at any stage throughout
their lives, they are disqualified from the meat program and sold into
the conventional market.
Their cattle take longer to reach a finished weight for slaughter under
that regimen. However, Colleen said the premium compensates for the
time.
The Biggs family runs about 300 cows on their ranch – drought
permitting – and slaughters about 140 head of cattle annually as
grass-finished beef.
Sales under that program grew 30 percent last year and more growth is
expected in 2002, Colleen said.
The Biggs slaughter the cattle straight off pasture. Low-stress
handling techniques are used at their ranch, even at slaughter time.
“They’re handled gently and quietly right into the kill box,” she said.
“If an animal is stressed, we don’t kill it.”
The Biggs target for a 700-750 pound carcass. The meat is dry-aged for
21 days to add tenderness. A provincially inspected plant then
processes the beef into individual portions.
The Biggs have two large storage freezers at Hanna, Alta., where they
store the meat until it is time to ship it to customers.
Once a week they haul processed meat from Hanna back to their
facilities on the ranch to fill the orders sent in by their clients.
Canada Safeway, Co-op grocery stores and health food stores are among
their clientele.
“We sell everything by the pound, not by the half or the quarter,” said
Colleen.
Steaks, roasts, smokies, sausages and beef jerky are all part of their
product line.
The target market is urban consumers who have no desire to buy and
carve up a large side of beef or don’t have enough freezer space to
store the meat if they did go that route.
The grass-finished beef from the Biggs’ ranch has its own brand name,
TK Ranch Natural Meats. Information on the packaging tells consumers
where the beef comes from and how it was raised.
The health benefits of the meat, such as an increase in omega 3 fatty
acids, are important to consumers of grass-finished beef. However,
those consumers also are drawn to the meat because they know how it was
produced.
Colleen spent hundreds of hours doing food demonstrations in retail
grocery stores to help build the identity of their grass-finished beef
in the minds of consumers.
That contact is essential, she said.
“You need to talk to the consumer about what makes the product unique.”
She is now thinking about including recipes with the beef sold through
retail stores. These would tell consumers how to conveniently prepare
the meat into flavourful meals.
Of course, grass doesn’t grow year-round in Alberta. During the winter
months, the Biggs meet their customers’ needs by producing what Colleen
calls forage-finished beef. That simply means the cattle ate hay rather
than grass. The grassy part of barley sprouts, a byproduct of the
malting industry, is also fed to the cattle in a pelleted form.
Despite the work involved, the Biggs are confident a long-term market
exists for their grass-finished beef.
That gives them some assurance they will be able to weather the next
downturn in cattle prices.
