Young Cattleman of the Year 50 | Ohio Cattleman | Spring Issue 2021
Lindsey and Adam Hall work to diversify, grow Maplecrest Farms Story & photos by Amy Beth Graves The opening of a meat shop in March marked a new chapter for Maplecrest Farms. During a soft launch of the Hillsboro shop on March 24, Lindsey Hall was a bundle of nerves. She and her parents, John and Joanie Grimes, had long dreamed of this day with a goal of starting the new venture in about five years. But then COVID-19 hit and everything shifted. Demand for local meat was hot since COVID had crippled some plant production lines nationwide. Store coolers were wiped clean of beef and pork. Hungry for meat, customers across Ohio started reaching out to local producers, asking if they could buy directly from them. Lindsey knew it was time to capitalize on the demand and move up the timeline for opening up a meat shop. “We were a little nervous but then when we noticed the strong shop local movement and increased interest in customers knowing where their food comes from, we decided we needed to jump on this or someone else would,” Lindsey said. At first the thought of making the leap from raising Angus and Simmental seedstock cattle to retailing the end product was a bit daunting. But then Lindsey and her family were approached by John and Andrea Holt, owners and operators of the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Hillsboro, who asked if Maplecrest Farms was interested in setting up a meat shop in what had been banquet space for Ponderosa. The building was ideally located along heavily traveled South High Street near downtown Hillsboro, and the area didn’t have any local meat shops. “It was a match made in heaven,” Lindsey said. “We have great knowl-
edge of the production side and how to source cattle, and they have tons of retail and entrepreneurial experience. We needed an outlet for some of (our cattle) that didn’t make the seedstock cut and had always toyed with the idea of selling more than freezer beef to friends. The pandemic made it happen.” It took a lot of hard work and planning to get Maplecrest Meats up and running just before Easter but that’s the type of life Lindsey and her husband, Adam, have always known. Lindsey and her sister, Lauren, grew up on the Highland County farm founded by her parents in 1990. Adam grew up in West Virginia where his family raised Simmentals on a small farm. The couple met in 2011 when they were in adjacent stalls showing cattle at the Ohio State Fair. They married six years later and have two young children, Holden and Henley. Located in the foothills of Appalachia where cattle country begins, Maplecrest Farms has grown significantly since its founding just over three decades ago. Lindsey can still remember the cows that became the foundation for the farm today. They arrived in 1998 when her parents decided to change up their operation. At the time, Lindsey was just starting to show in 4H. “Dad has always had a big passion for the beef industry and didn’t want to just feed out cows but he also wanted to be more than commercial,” said Lindsey whose father retired in 2019, working more than 30 years for Ohio State University Extension and serving the last few years as beef coordinator to address beef production concerns for producers.
