Drought can't keep pasture-raised beef market down
Owners of local ranches that sell natural, pasture-raised beef say the costs of business have increased because of the drought, but they're still seeing a rise in the demand for their products.
Pasture-raised beef -- that is, beef from cows that aren't fed grain in a feedlot or given hormones -- is rising in popularity because more people are becoming aware of and concerned with the way their food is raised, local ranchers say.
"Last year we were so overwhelmed by orders that we had people on a waiting list for six months," said Laura Holliday DeHaven, business manager of the family owned and operated Cross Creek Cattle Company near Plantersville.
DeHaven said her family has been raising cattle using traditional methods for seven generations, but began providing pasture-raised, grass-fed beef on their ranch near Plantersville about four years ago because they detected a demand for it.
"We saw the demand growing for a different alternative to what's typically in stores," said DeHaven.
DeHaven said the ranch, owned by her parents, Kenton and Cathey Holliday, decided to try to appeal to that growing niche market. Previously, it only raised beef for the family and a few friends, and sold cattle to auctions or as show animals.
Another local outlet is the family-run Wild Type Ranch near Cameron, which Sara Faiver-Davis and her husband, Ralph Mitchell, started about six years ago. Wild Type sells natural beef, veal and eggs.
Faiver-Davis said she wanted to raise natural beef for a healthier lifestyle.
"I figured I could make a really quality product and make a living," she said.
Faiver-Davis had some experience that would help her in the business. She has a doctorate degree from Texas A&M University in genetics and animal science. She also taught animal science at Texas A&M until 2000 and was co-founder and president of Ag Animal Biotech in Austin.
Even then, Faiver-Davis said, there was a learning curve.
"I still had a lot to learn about raising good beef and selling it," she said.
The learning curve is one of the reasons it's difficult to raise natural beef as a business. It's also hard work and takes a "pretty big investment" to buy the cattle herd and land, she said. She has held several seminars on raising natural beef as a business.
The ranch began selling its natural beef in Round Rock and Georgetown, and expanded to the Brazos Valley about a year and a half ago.
It is sold in a natural beef case at Village Foods in Bryan and also used in the hamburgers sold at the store's deli, Stover Brothers Cafe. The ranch also sells its beef at the Brazos Valley Farmer's Market in Bryan one to two times a month and on its website.
Faiver-Davis said the beef, at $5.50 a pound, is more expensive than grain-fed meat at stores, whose price varies depending on the cut. But consumers are paying for quality, she said. Consumers buying cuts of meat through the subscription service online save a little money, which has been popular.
The ranch harvests two cows a month for its meat sales.
The primary reason for the cost of the beef, she said, is that the ranch has to pay its mortgage for a place to raise the animals.
Cross Creek Cattle Company sells whole calves or split quarters on its website for $3.50 a pound plus approximately 53 cents a pound for processing. Customers pick up the meat at the ranch.
The drought
Faiver-Davis said Wild Type Ranch increased the cost of its beef by 25 percent about June 1 because of the ongoing drought.
The ranch's tanks have dried up for the first time ever, she said, so now it buys city water. It is also feeding cattle baled corn stalks, which it can still buy locally.
Wild Type is also buying hay from out of state since there's not any for sale in the area. The next truckload will come from South Dakota, she said.
Because of that, the Wild Type is selling its beef as "pasture-raised" rather than "grass-fed."
Cross Creek's DeHaven said costs for grass-fed cattle are minimal on a good year once the land is paid for, but for the first time the ranch started feeding hay and dehydrated alfalfa hay cubes this summer because it is running out of grass. The ranch's ponds are also drying up, so it had to drill a water well.
DeHaven said her family has discussed raising the cost of beef, but hasn't yet because they wanted to keep it affordable for local families.
"You hope it's just a passing phase," DeHaven said.
Faiver-Davis and DeHaven agree that even though costs have gone up because of the drought, the demand for natural beef -- unlike that of live cattle -- appears to be growing.
"If anything it's gotten stronger," Faiver-Davis said. "I think it's a niche market that's gaining popularity."
Faiver-Davis attributes the growth to consumers' concerns about how their food is produced. Good word-of-mouth advertising is also spurring sales.
"We've just gotten to the point where we're just exploding," she said.
At a time when many ranchers are selling their stock because of the drought, DeHaven's family is not, but she said it has not been able to afford to expand its herd and grass-fed beef operation as planned.
The ranch has sold much fewer animals for breeding stock or show than in the past, and instead is concentrating on selling as much grass-fed beef as possible because the demand for it far exceeds supply, she said.
Natural beef advantages
Ranchers at both outlets say natural beef is healthier and tastier than beef raised in feed lots, and it's also better for the cattle.
Faiver-Davis said consumers buy natural beef for several reasons: They want to support local farmers, they don't want to buy animals raised in feed lots or for health reasons.
Cattle in feedlots, unlike pasture-raised ones, are given hormones to grow and put on muscle faster, but that happens at the expense of marbling, Faiver-Davis said. Cattle raised using traditional methods are harvested at only about eight months, but it takes 12 to 14 months to harvest a grass-fed calf, according to DeHaven.
Feedlot animals are also given antibiotics to keep animals healthy in a stressful situation. Pasture cattle don't need the antibiotics -- except on the rare occasion when they get sick -- because they don't have that stress, she said.
Grass-fed beef has less overall fat, fewer calories, more omega-3 fatty acids, more conjugated linoleic acid, more Vitamin E and more beta-carotene than grain-fed beef, according to Cross Creek's website.
Faiver-Davis also said her ranch's free-range chickens, besides helping with insect control, produce tastier eggs that are higher in vitamins and fresher that those typically in stores because they're harvested within a week. Grocery store eggs could be up to three months old.
On the Web
* www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Type-Ranch/255724812589
* www.beeffeez.com/sw/beef-TX.aspx
* www.facebook.com/StoverBros?sk=info
* www.facebook.com/pages/Village-Foods/214741804576
* www.facebook.com/brazos.valley.farmers.market