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Connecting Consumers and Cattle Producers
Connecting Consumers and Cattle Producers
Follow Upper Iowa Beef on a journey of sustainable beef production
By Haley Banwart
When you know your farmer, you really know your food. That’s the vision behind Upper Iowa Beef, a family-owned beef processing facility focused on sourcing high-quality, sustainable products.
Since opening in 2017, the company has taken an active role in prioritizing animal care, adopting climate-smart practices and providing transparent information to families who enjoy beef at their dinner table.
Upper Iowa Beef’s state-of-theart facility in Lime Springs was professionally designed and built to grow and expand with new technologies that improve processing, packaging and delivery. Darin Koch, Upper Iowa Beef special projects and systems coordinator, says slow and steady progress was key to the company’s early success.
“We started out processing 25 head of cattle per day before ramping up and reaching our goal of 60 head per day, which is what the plant was originally designed to support,” says Koch. “Today, we’re processing up to 470 head per day with the help of 300 employees and more than 350 cattle producers.”
Koch continues, “It all goes back to our approach of bringing food production back to a local level, working with the families who raise the cattle we source and getting to know their operations. We work with small-to-medium-size farms. Some of our producers are selling to us every week; others bring in loads once a year.”
High-Quality Care for High-Quality Beef
One of the attributes that sets Upper Iowa Beef apart is the extra steps its hand-selected producer partners take to deliver a wholesome product. Cattle suppliers include independent, family-owned farms in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.
The attention to detail starts with the individual farmers who work daily to administer the best care for their livestock to ensure a safe and nutritious beef-eating experience.
“We’re continually having conversations with our producers to better track and understand how their cattle are being raised, from feed bunk management to the conditions at the time the cattle are sent to market,” says Koch.
“One of the biggest things we pay attention to is the humane treatment and handling of the animals,” he shares. “For example, all our producers are Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) and Beef Quality Assurance Transportation (BQAT) certified for proper care and transport. We strive to originate all our cattle from within 150 miles of our plant to reduce stress as well as our carbon footprint.”
In 2022, Upper Iowa Beef launched its Tri-State Supreme program to meet the needs of sustainability-conscious meat consumers further and provide a local value-added market to local cattle producers.
Producers in the program follow a 13-point sustainable practices checklist to qualify. By implementing this unique approach, Upper Iowa Beef aims to increase transparency along the supply chain and help producers capture a higher percentage of the retail beef dollar.
A Commitment to Better Beef
According to the Upper Iowa Beef philosophy, beef tastes better when raised by family farmers who prioritize caring for their land, cattle and community.
As a facility that sells directly to wholesale distributors across the globe, the company regularly features producer spotlights to showcase how the farm families working behind the scenes go above and beyond to provide a superior beef product. Upper Iowa Beef shares the materials with end users, including grocery stores, local lockers and restaurants.
Upper Iowa Beef also recognizes its role in supporting a sustainable future.
“When we think about sustainability, our goal is to stay ahead of the curve,” says Koch. “In addition to focusing on the way cattle are fed and cared for, we also look at using new technologies to make data available for driving better decisions and returning a higher value to producers and consumers.”
They are responsible for performing standardized qualitative and quantitative tests to determine the physical
and chemical properties of food and products.
Tri-State Supreme Sustainability Checklist
All cattle are individually identified with an Upper Iowa Beef numerical tag when entered on feed.
All cattle enrolled in the program are source-verified back to the point of purchase.
Cattle include typical beef breeds and exclude dairy lineage.
All cattle are raised within 150 miles of Upper Iowa Beef.
Cattle are fed a 100% vegetarian-based diet. They are fed a corn-based ration for at least 180 days.
No feeds produced on irrigated cropland are fed to the cattle. All feeds are home-raised or purchased within close proximity to the cattle.
Cattle are all fed in a BQA-certified facility.
Cattle are all transported by a BQAT-certified livestock transporter.
No ractopamine are fed to any cattle. No injectable antibiotic is administered within 30 days of harvest.
Upper Iowa Beef personnel monitor cattle quarterly to verify standards are upheld.
