I get most of the Missouri county extension newsletters and saw this one
from a livestock specialist. I thought
it was interesting and thought I’d share it with you. debi
A few weekends ago while visiting my son in Kansas City we
went to a couple of big farmer’s markets. I’m always interested in vendors with
beef for sale and their pitch.
The vendors I talked to came from Moberly, King City, Leeton,
Lee’s Summit and Welch, OK. All had a pretty long trip. The man from Welch said
he’d driven the 181 mile trip for 5 years. He felt it was worth his time.
The breed makeup for the different vendors was quite a mix.
Included were: Scotch Highland, Charolias x Longhorn, straight Longhorn, Angus
x Devon and Angus.
All were promoting their beef as natural with one, claiming
their beef was organic certified. Some were grass fed. I asked what their
customers were looking for and they said lean beef that was safe for their
families. They do not worry or ask about the grade of beef. They want it to be
free of antibiotics and hormones and if they wanted to take their family to the
farm and see the cattle, they could. The latter indicated their interest in it
being locally produced.
One seller said he
felt anyone with 30 cows, who is willing to work can make a decent living
producing all-natural beef. He is a strong advocate of using a management
intensive grazing systems. He didn’t describe, “a decent living.” I did notice
all their beef was priced fairly high, as you might expect. However, there were
lots of shoppers and they appeared to have the finances to pay extra for the
beef.
(by Eldon Cole, MU Livestock Specialist)
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