Where's the Beef?

Today my family booked in our first steers to be processed. Rather than just using our market animals for ourselves, we have started custom beef sales to customers. Our custom beef sales have grown every year and have been a very important part to our ranch. Our customers have told us that the quality of the beef is outstanding and that they will not purchase from the grocery store anymore. The customers like that the beef they purchase are processed and cut the way they want. We have been quite successful with these sales and they will always be a part of our program.

Although the sales are successful, they were ultimately the result of BSE. In 2003, BSE, technically known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, a fatal disease in cattle, caused the borders to be closed to the export of Canadian beef. This devastated the Canadian cattle industry. When the borders closed, my family's ranch lost our buyers from the United States, which were in fact the majority of our sales. Producers had to go back to the drawing board and rethink of how we were going to remain successful in the industry. Without our seed stock buyers from the United States, we too had to find a new way to make profit. This is where our custom beef sales came into play.

The rest of my family have been doing these sales since BSE became a crisis, but I actually came into the business through 4-H. When I joined my 4-H club almost 7 years ago, my sister and I had project steers, and like many other members, alternate steers as well. After the 4-H steers were sold, the alternates were sent to be processed. While we kept a side of that beef for ourselves, my sister and I found buyers of our own for the rest of it. Ever since then, we have kept up a relationship with these buyers and sell to them every year. I see this as a project I will continue in the future to my own custom beef business. Many cattlemen have found new ways to make profit in their programs and I believe I have found my way.