Thousand Hills Cattle Company offers branded grass-fed beef

By ANDREA JOHNSON, Assistant Editor
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 4:57 PM CDT

CANNON FALLS, Minn. - Thousand Hills Cattle Company is a privately held grass-fed beef supply and breeding company.

The Minnesota-based company began conducting business in September 2003.

Starting with just a few head per week, the company now slaughters and processes 18 beef cattle per week valued at about $35,000 in fresh product. The company has seen a 100 percent sales increase in each of its first three years.

“We're not anticipating growing that much this year, because of different things that start to take affect as you get to this scale,” said Todd Lein, sales and marketing director. “Our sales are about $30,000 per week, so I'm not quite done with my job yet.”

The slaughtering and processing of Thousand Hills Cattle Company cattle is done at Lorentz Meats of Cannon Falls, a USDA licensed processing facility.

All aspects of inventory and distribution are managed from the Thousand Hills Cattle Company office and warehouse in Cannon Falls.

Products are served at Agraria Restaurant, the North Dakota Farmers Union restaurant located in Washington, D.C. In addition, products are sold to about 45 retail stores in the Midwest, 22 restaurants and six food service accounts.

Thousand Hills Cattle Company products are branded as “grass-fed beef that offer a memorable eating experience.”

“I think the main concern and a role that we've begun to play for beef is what I see as the loss of the local food infrastructure,” said Lein.

The product is viewed as locally raised, locally processed, healthy for consumers and good tasting.

Cattle are sourced throughout the Upper Midwest, with the majority of the cattle finished in Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin and South Dakota.

To sell cattle to Thousand Hills Cattle Company, producers must verify each finishing animal's place of birth, breed, age, ear tag number, cow/calf producer, and name and location of finishing unit.

Calves must remain on their mother's milk for at least 120 days, although 9-10 months of lactation is preferred.

Once the calves are weaned, their diet can include pasture forages with no synthetic chemical pesticides or herbicides, flax seed, grazed summer and winter annuals, and molasses.

All veterinary treatments, including antibiotics, vaccines and/or worming treatments, must be recorded and available for inspection.

The producers must also verify that humane handling procedures were used in loading, trucking and restraint of the animals prior to slaughter.

“Our protocol is our stamp of approval,” said Lein. “All producers that raise for us have to meet that protocol. They have to comply with an affidavit to deliver the cattle. They have to verify that what they are doing is what we require.”

During the first three years of operation, Thousand Hills Cattle Company has paid out more than $300,000 in premiums to independent family farms and ranchers in the Upper Midwest.

Participating in a Certified Beef Program is not yet an option for companies selling grass-fed beef.

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service oversees 26 programs that feature Angus products, two programs for Hereford beef, and 12 programs featuring non-breed specific high quality products.

There are four Certified Beef Programs that feature brand name specifications, one program for non-hormone treated cattle, and one program for process verification.

But there are no programs or federal standardization protocols established for grass-fed beef. So Todd Churchill, owner of and procurement manager for Thousand Hills Cattle Company, defined the company's product and set up his own brand identity. He is using that information to differentiate the company's product from other beef products.

By branding their products, the leaders of Thousand Hills Cattle Company hope to increase the availability of grass-fed beef products to consumers.

The journey is not easy, though. One of the challenges Thousand Hills Cattle Company faces is the cost of transportation.

The company's truck makes about 45 stops/week, and Lein is working hard to find out if they can offer additional products on the truck routes.

“There are problems as we re-create local food distribution systems,” said Lein. “That particular area is an interest of mine. I have been given the authority by my boss to look into that.”

Comments »

Comment on this story

Comments will be approved within 48 hours

Name:

Email: (optional)

Comments:

Image Verification: (Case sensitive)