“Real beef. Real farmers.”

— Elaine Martin

hills of Virginia, started as an intern for GAR in 2013. Nine years later, she and her husband own their own herd and are cooperators for Gardiners. They also finish their own commercial calves to sell as beef out the barn door.

When it comes to selecting Gardiner cattle, Martin uses the big four: carcass merit, calving ease, growth and docility. She says they specifically look at marbling the most. After that they watch phenotype, structure and pedigree.

“[Gardiner] cattle are all backed by genomics and EPDs that are proven,” says Martin. “They’ve got a lot of carcass data behind them. We’ve found that if we buy a bull that’s got a good marbling EPD and is proven well, those calves time and time again hit Choice and Prime.”

Since the 1980s the Giles Ranch, located about 30 miles northeast of GAR, has been purchasing Gardiner bulls. Initially, the Giles’ wanted more calving ease in their herd.

Now they look to Gardiners to help them maintain a functional cow herd that brings to the dining room table exceptional carcass traits.

“Our goal right now is to be increasing our ribeye area and Prime,” says Jenny Giles Betschart, one of three sisters who manage day-to-day operations on the ranch. She says they pay specific attention to ribeye and marbling EPDs.

Selling beef

Martin’s (Virginia) Blue Cedar Beef began shipping product up and down the East Coast in 2019. Solely an online beef business, customers use a website to place orders for individual retail cuts and/or a sampler box.

The product ships on dry ice and lands on customers’ doorsteps a few days later.

Martin relies on word-of-mouth advertising and social media marketing to sell her beef. Built into the price, shipping is free for most products. She believes her customer demographic is a higher-end clientele. Martin stands by her pricing.

“It’s expensive beef. It’s marked up because the quality and consistency are there,” she says.

Joanie (Ohio) was looking to diversify the operation and make it more sustainable for the younger generations to come back to the farm. In 2020, the family started shipping beef through online sales only. Then in 2021 they opened a storefront in Hillsboro.

“I felt we needed to go the extra step to be able to showcase our product better,” says Joanie of the store. “We felt it was really important to be able to tell our story.”

Maplecrest Meats and More offers a full deli with meats, cheeses, salads and other lunch options. The store features Certified Angus Beef® brand steaks in its fresh case and homegrown Maplecrest Meats in its frozen section.

To market their beef the Grimes’ family uses social media, word of mouth, sponsors a fall BBQ contest and are partners with a family involved in a restaurant business and a convenience store.

The Giles’ family (Kansas) has been finishing their calves for 50 plus years. Fifteen years ago, they started sales of quarters and halves to family and friends. In 2012 they bought a walk-in freezer trailer and began selling at farmers’ markets and shipping beef. In 2020 they opened a storefront in Ashland.

The Meating Place sells individual cuts of Giles Ranch Beef, as well as different packages including a steak lover’s and a slow cooker package. To manage supply, Betchart periodically has a ground beef sale. She also promotes weekly specials on products she needs to move.

Betschart says the supply chain is always a little tricky — steaks are limited, ground beef is plentiful — but overall, she’s found the cuts tend to manage themselves.

“The majority of our local customers don’t buy as many high-end steaks as they do cuts to feed their families,” she explains.

The online shipping business tends to sell more steaks, so it balances.

Facebook, Instagram and word of mouth are Giles’ most important marketing channels, but she does use local advertising methods, too. She works with other retailers in town to promote each other. She sends mailings to current customers twice a year.

Sagrera (Louisiana) is in his second year of selling beef off the ranch. He sells quarters, halves and whole beef from ranch headquarters. He maintains a website, a Facebook page and an Instagram account. He encourages all interested to place their order with him through the phone, but orders may be placed through the website.

Sagrera’s product has already gained accolades from world-renown Chef John Folse. Sagrera introduced Folse to his Prime beef while Folse was preparing a meal for the governor of Louisiana and officials from the Vatican.

“He was just amazed,” remembers Sagrera. “He had never seen this quality of product in his life, ever. That it was coming from a guy that was local, floored him.”

Together Sagrera and Folse have done YouTube videos, local news segments and a few social media posts. Aside from what he does with Folse, Sagrera says all of his marketing is done through social media and word of mouth.

Customer service

The Giles family is passionate about supporting Kansas farms. The Meating Place offers Kansas-sourced cheese, pork, chicken and lamb, as well as other locally-made products.

“Getting people to buy things that are supporting local, small business has gained lot of importance over the last few years,” says Betschart. “I think people enjoy being able to come in and know that the purchases they are making are helping businesses in the area.”

She feels a sense of loyalty to her small town.

“Keeping businesses in small communities is so important for keeping your main street and your school alive… It’s very important and dear to our hearts to keep it open,” she emphasizes.

Sagrera goes a couple of extra miles to make sure his customers are satisfied. It starts with ultra sounding every calf for its intramuscular fat (IMF) percentage. A 7% IMF or higher is the cutoff. Anything that doesn’t meet that standard, isn’t Sagrera Farms beef. Sagrera ultrasounds again on the finished end.

“High-choice finishes out at an IMF of 8-9%, which is where I want my carcasses to finish,” he explains. “I offer a guarantee. If you don’t like it, I’ll give you your money back. The only way to ensure I don’t give money back is ultrasound at 8%.”

Sagrera invites all of his customers to pick up their beef from his home. He offers a ranch tour if they are interested. If they can’t make it to the ranch, Sagrera hand delivers their beef.

While the Grimes’ work hard to give their customers a unique experience in-store, they are also focused on their commercial bull customers.

“What we’re doing is practicing what we’ve been preaching,” Joanie says.

She says the quality of her beef proves that a solid cow herd with animals that bring value to the end product does and can exist. She believes her bull customers will notice the same thing.

Joanie also loves knowing the genetics in her steaks.

Recently, a gentleman entered the store asking what animals were for sale that day.

She took him to the back and said, “this is R9091, and she had a marbling EPD of 1.2.”

Martin acknowledges consumers really care about their beef and the food they bring into their homes to feed their families. She uses her social media accounts to share her beef story. Martin documents the behind-the-scenes life of raising beef — everything from a live calf being born to a steak on a plate.

“Seemingly that’s very fascinating to a lot of consumers, to see that part of our life,” she notes. “I can always link it back to our website. If people are interested in buying beef from us, they know how to find us.”

What have you learned?

It used to surprise Martin when her customers would say “‘Man, that’s the best beef I’ve ever eaten!’”

“I used to always think, ‘How can that be, we don’t raise any higher quality beef than everybody else does.’ But the truth is we do, and by we, I mean anyone who markets Gardiner-influenced cattle.” admits Martin.

She’s learned a consistent product is key. There’s a lot of confusion at the grocery store, she says. People misread beef labels and purchase a different quality of steak every time.

Martin enjoys talking to customers about her beef and explaining what her family does and why they do it.

Now in the retail business, Giles has learned year-round supply is critical. To address the seasonality of finishing spring-born calves, Giles Ranch added a fall-calving herd to their program.

Betschart has also learned to tackle tough topics with her customers. People have questions about implants and antibiotics.

“Once you explain what you do and why you do it, they totally get it,” she says.

Before starting his beef business, Sagrera always thought selling amazing, high-quality beef was for someone else, for the big guys with lots of volume. Boy, has his perspective changed in the last two years!

He’s seen the entire life cycle from breeding to eating and, “It’s been a blast!” he says.

“You can’t feed tenderness,” he states. You can’t start with a Select animal and make it Prime. That is where Gardiners come in.

“Gardiners offer us those quality cattle. They’re not the only ranch that does it, but they are the only ranch that does it in quantity numbers.”

Joanie and family have become regular myth busters. They have debunked myths about frozen meat being subpar to fresh meat, what marbling is, what ribeye area is and what external fat is. They’ve educated on what a quarter, half and whole beef yields in terms of pounds of beef — boneless cuts vs. bone-in cuts.

“It has allowed us an opportunity to work with our consumers and our producers and teach them about it, so they know exactly what they’re getting and why it is that way,” explains Joanie.

Selling finished beef out the door may not be for every ranch or farm, but for those invested in quality cattle, it just comes naturally.