Spring creek ranch

[Big Muddy rancher]

Spring Creek Ranch in Alberta is buying cattle from signed up producers and marketing Natural/antibiotic and hormone free beef. Great concept and it seems to be working. http://springcreek.ca/

Is the producer suppling these cattle for them getting enough of a reward?

From what I have seen the producer takes his cattle to the auction and contacts Spring creek that they have consigned and the auction keeps them separate. Up here in Canada many of our calf sales are presorted into larger lots. Typically the liner load lots bring the premium so the Spring creek buyer is bidding generally on smaller lots unless the produce has liner loads of his own calves.
So is the only "Premium" one bid over what the order buyers are paying?

Is that enough to forgo the use antibiotics and ionaphores ect?

 

[PureCountry]

Natural or not, everyone's making money on their calves this year so no Spring Creek "producers" are complaining I bet.

For the most part one bid over market price is not enough. We did that years ago and it was too little reward for too much expense. These value chains are better for the producer when the marketer deals with them privately, and preferably all the producers know each other or at least have access to each other's contacts. That way they have the peace of mind of being able to chat and know what each other is getting for their efforts.

Spring Creek is a joke to me. Their propaganda all portrays this scenic pastoral setting, as if the cattle live that way all their life. We all know her Daddy has one of the largest feedlots in Alberta and that's where Spring Creek beef is finished, they just keep some pens empty for the natural cattle.

 

[PATB]

I sell into an all natural grassfed program and we get around 10 cents per pound over local price. The buyer picks the cattle up at the farm and weighed at local truck scales and check is received at that time.

 

[jigs]

we give as close to zero shots as we can. no implants, nothing...we try to raise an animal we would want to eat ourselves, and eating medicine is not my idea of a meal....

I try to sell calves on radio advertising as all natural steers with no growth hormones or antibiotics..... I ask a little over market top at last weeks auction. and 90% of the time there is no questions asked. they are happy to get the critter