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Farmers Market

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PPRM

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Joined
Feb 10, 2005
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Location
NE Oregon
I have been going to our local one....There is some talk that the Natural and No Implant labeling is deceptive and detrimental....Well, here is one of many examples of why I disagree...

A lady come up who had bought 1 pound the week before. She told me that she didn't eat Beef. She had only bought it to cook for her husband. But my Beef was absolutely Amazing! She bought 4 pounds of Burger this week and wanted to get information on buying a quarter of a Beef....

Why is my Burger Amazing/ It goes back to beiung lean (there's no grease or water left in the Pan when you fry it) and the fact I dryu age it 3 weeks before cutting (I feel it shrinks ou the water, makes it more tender and flavorfull). When they fry my burger, it doesn't shrink....

I never knew Burger could be tough until I had people tell me they like mine because it never is....

I have a lot of thoughts on this, but my main one is my label gets people who aren't eating Beef to try mine...The process I use hooks them for good. It goes back to giving the customer what they wantr and not forcing my ideas onto them....

Another thought is a lot of the mediocre eating experiences goes back to the Fast industrialized way of processing. I recognize the need for cost reduction and am not saying this Beef doesn't have a place. I am saying there is opportunity for those that want to go after it......Dry Aged is a great marketing tool and I have found people will readily buy Frozen Product....

A last thot goes to Fat.....I recognize the need for fdat, but wonder if we are too reliant on it. I can site several examples from my customers...my burger is lean and I don't have to add anything for it to hold together. And people rave about it's flavor.... I need to have mine tested, but I know we fried some 15% fat Burger up from the Grocerthat left a lot in the pan and shrunk up more......

My Lean Steaks......Well, I had a guy reluctantly buy some Round Steaks because it was all I had left. he came back the next week and sai hewas really surprised... My thot is it goes to a Corn Fed Beef that isn't made too fat, but is Dry Aged.......

Why do I say this...well it seems all people will look at to make a consistently Tender and Flavorfull product is higher fat...this is done because people don't want to mess with the way it is processed.... I am just saying there are other ways and other opporunities....


I really don't know why I posted this. I hope to get some good ideas, but the tendency is critisism....But I will rest on my laurels...What I am saying is I wonder if this post will get me nore grief and I'll get nothing for it.....And if it does inspire someone to try to do something different, well, then good...It is better to do this in a strong market than while the market is down and you don''t have the resources,

PPRM
 
When you say dry aging is that just how long the meat hangs? I sell a lot of freezer beef and whole hog sausage. I have been planning on branching out into the farmers market but havent taken the step yet. We sell only shorthorn cross or full shorthorn beef . We make the locker plant hang them for 14 dayseven thou they want to cut them in 4 or 5. So far this has worked well. But i always like to keep my ears open as well as my mind. Also how do you price your steaks if you don't mind my asking. I price my burger and sausage .25 higher than store bought.
 
Not sure on Hogs, but calves are 18-21 days. Most Butchers will balk. They don't want thier lockers tied up that long,

When you say 25 cents, wgat are you comparing it to? There are lots of different ground products in the grocer case. My burger is $3.00 per pound,

PPRM
 
Katrina,

I have been direct marketing for 12 years, but this is my first venture into this. I learned I need to keep growing my customer base as the old ones kept moving, buying less (Three teenage boys leave home and consumption goes way down, LOL). A lot of people only buy a package or two (But the margins are pretty good). However, I feel this is the best way to make contacts. They are people there looking to buy rather than me going out and selling. This gives them a chance tosample and then buy more later....


I think the first lesson I have learned is people want to support local.People want to feel good about what they buy and where it comes from...The second is that we are way to focused on Fat...I have learned that Fat isn't the only answer to flavo and tendernedd. Fat is a factor, but aging is a huge key.

The reason I bring this up is that if we continue to look at Fat as the only answer, I fear we will go to putting to much of what people don't want into a package......

The final lesson, there are a lot of people not eating Beef that could be. They simply need assurance of how it was handled and a consistently good product to buy...


Now, when are you going to market your Bio-Diesel knowledge? LOL,

PPRM
 
The last two steers we did hung for 24 days... This place aims for 3 weeks because they have the room to do it and the like their product better that way. They will do it earlier if the fat cover is not there however.. hogs don't hang much at all at most places, I have seen 1 week and I have seen just long enough for the carcass to cool.

We do diret marketing but we only do whole animals. People tend to like to be able to talk to the producer, know that it was semi local (Most of our sales are into Chicago area) and want assurances on no implants, no antibiotics and some want grass fed or organic... We get a bit of a premium in the long run... Actually a lot of one but we also hold onto the animals a long time so you have to look at your costs of opportunity and the like...
 
Some of the best grassfed meat you will eat is a dry two or three year old cow. we usually butcher a two that has lost her calf in late summer-pretty tasty stuff.
 

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