Looks like somebody wants Mexican cattle.

[Ben Roberts]

[Ben H]

[PPRM]

They will pay more for slowly processed beef. That is the difference between my "Ranch of Origin" and the COOL.... I can't keep up because my label reflects quality where COOL does not....

How much more and how many more? I have no idea and truthfully, noone else does either. It has not been tested, we can only suspect how big the market is. What I do know is the overwhelming majority of peaopl I have met have never experienced beef that has been Dry-Aged for 21 days. When they do, they no longer ask about price....They know what they want.

Is that a regional thing? Is that a small group I just encounter? I do not know....I just try to sell what I do the best I can,

Ben, I'd be surprised that huseb could do 30 head in a day given a mobile slaughter unit, but I don't know,

PPRM

[Ben H]

30 seemed like a lot to me too, but that's what I read or was told. My USDA butcher limits me to 6 in a day, mostly due to their holding pen size and space for dry aging. I'm not sure what the capacity of the State inspected plant I'm trying this month is.

As far as dry aging goes, I used to try to maximize but now that I'm grass fed, I'm limiting to 10 days. That's what's recomended by Anabil Pordomingo, the Grass Fed Guru from Argentina and Grass Finished editor for SGF. He feels tenderness should come from a constant rate of gain through the animals life, never a time with poor gain. He feels 10 days is sufficient and anything can more can concentrate possible off flavors from a forage they may have consumed. Consistancy is the advantage of grain fed, and you shouldn't have to worry about off flavors. I haven't come across any, for one I know not to use Fescue in the last part of the finishing stage.

The butcher told me a few weeks ago that the animals I brought were the best they have seen from me so far, the tenderness was great and the fat cover was about perfect, he couldn't believe it when I told him the steer was born last May and never had a bite of grain in his life. I love these Hereford/Red Angus crosses. I'm really excited for spring, I have some calves from Johnny B. Good (Pharo Cattle Company) on the way.

[RobertMac]

Ben H, PPRM, and Ben Roberts...when talking to my inspectors, they could not think of a plant that was labeling beef in Mississippi...even made a few calls that came up empty. They said the reason was the increased testing for E.coli...forcing plants killing 6 head per day to have the same amount of testing as the plant killing 6000 head per day. Testing cost spread over 6 head is more burdensome than the same testing cost over 6000 head. I can cover the cost with my premium market(as I'm sure the three of you can), but if the plant has to compete on the commodity wholesale level, they simply can't. The inspectors also said that grocery stores that grind their own beef will eventually stop because of regulations.

What are y'all situation with your processors?

PPRM, as for the market...most all of my customers are college graduate, professional people. They care about the quality and safety of the food they buy and feed their families. When they research "food", they don't like what they find about what is available from the large food processors. This market will continue to grow...we just have to have a way to reach those consumers. That's why keeping small plants open is critical!!!!!

[Ben Roberts]

[quote="RobertMac"]
What are y'all situation with your processors?quote]


I am my processor, so my situation is pretty tough because, I demand high standards.

[mrj]

Ben R. and Ben H., how are you defining "small plants"? I'believe I've previously been quite clear that I refer to family owned and operated, small town plants with STATE inspection, not FEDERAL. Maybe a helper or two, but not a large staff. The several "small" plants, maybe a dozen or so over the past fifty years I know of, (and that includes a buffalo processing facility) in west central SD have done a great job, for the most part.

However, there probably haven't been more than a very few people involved, from owners to part time employees, who have more than a high school education, if that. Nor have they taken any formal training in processing animals, other than possibly a workshop put on by a state government entity, or their business organization or on the job training by way of a previous job at a larger meat processing facility.

So, when I refer to "unskilled" and "uneducated" workers, I mean they have likely not been trained for meat processing in a technical school or nor gotten a college education. Or had no practical on the job training.

That is not to say those who have not had such training are incapable of achieving training or education. There can be good skills in most jobs passed down from parent to children, tho there might be some valuable up to date professional techniques lost in that situation.

Are you saying workers in all small plants ARE skilled and educated???

mrj

[Mike]

[RobertMac]

[mrj]

Mike, fact is, my original comment on the previous page re. "unskilled workers" related tothe fact there are UNSKILLED workers in the largest packing plants!

The question was whether or not consumers can afford to, or will, pay the prices necessary to raise wages for jobs requiring little 'skill' or education to the point that 'educated' or 'skilled' workers will take the jobs now being performed largely by unskilled, uneducated workers.

There had been implication that we would have fewer beef recalls and foodborne illnesses if there were no poorly paid and educated workers in food processing plants.

FACT: we can make pristine beef products....FOR A PRICE. Whether that 'price' is 'slow processing' by highly educated and motivated workers, or whether it is by improvements in eliminating E coli and other problems, or whether it is with irradiation pasteurization of beef after packaging, it can be done......if enough people demand it and are willing and able to pay the costs.

mrj

[Ben H]

The butcher passes the cost to me, I recently killed/processed 2 beeves, the check I wrote was $942.25, that was sold to 5 customers for their freezers.

There are a few small USDA inspected plants in the state, I believe they also fill in the gaps by trucking in a Refer. and cutting it up.

I doubt any of them have any higher education other then the inspector, the owner is from many generations of meat cutters, he has his son working with him and a grans son running around with a little white apron. One knock I will put to them is lack of retail experience. I was willing to purchase the cutting directions, DVD's, audit cards for the new cuts developed by the checkoff. They were unwilling to take the time. Because I do a little bit of retail sale by the cut (from home and farmers market) that is money lost for me. Consistancy does lack a little. Someone made a comment about lack of oversight, there isn't any as far as processing uniformity and consistancy goes. It's reputation, and if there aren't many choices due to the fact that they can't compete, then you're kind of screwed. Large plants are an assembly line where a worker is trained on a specific task. The biggest advantage in food safety with these small plants is that each animal is processed seperately.

I highly recomend any of you read the new book by Joel Salatin "Everything I want To Do Is Illegal, War Stories From The Local Food Front", he brings up the point that they need to de-regulate the local producers and allow ones reputation to be the standard.
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Want-Do-Illegal-Stories/dp/0963810952

I heard Mike Lorentz of Lorentz Meats talk at a SGF conference, he seems like he really has it together and has a good model. They would like to open other plants in areas that are in need.
http://www.lorentzmeats.com/