Young Cattleman of the Year

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 knowledge 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.

John found what he was looking for when he headed out to Kansas and visited Gardiner Angus Ranch. He came back home with a trailer full of cows, marking the start of a new direction for Maplecrest Farms. “They started from scratch. What they did then seems impossible today. It was literally a blank canvas between having virtually no fence, few acres and making major improvements to the house,” Lindsey said of her parents. “Growing up, it was just the four of us doing everything. We were always outside and with the cows.” Today, the two daughters and their husbands are all part of the operation. The Halls work full-time on the farm with Adam helping with daily operations, including feeding, calving, breeding and hay production, and running the Simmental side of the farm. Lindsey and her mother are in charge of bookkeeping and help run the new retail shop. John is “head honcho” as Lindsey describes him, relying on his years of expertise to help guide the farm’s future. Over the years, Maplecrest Farms has gained a solid reputation for raising high quality Angus, Simmental and SimAngus cross genetics for other cattle operations. The 350 head cow-calf business is about 80 percent Angus with the rest pure Simmental or cross. The family has used embryo transfer, artificial insemination and cooperator herds in Ohio and other states to improve their genetics for purebred and commercial breeders for many years. Environmental stewardship is equally important, and the family has used cover crops, rotational grazing and other methods to improve the land. Maplecrest Farms has four production sales each year: two online ones for show heifers and embryos, a bull sale in March at Union Stockyards and a female production sale on the fourth Saturday of September at the farm, which is held early evening to attract buyers attending the Boyd Beef Cattle sale in nearby Kentucky. They also sell market bulls through the Allied Producer Program with Gardiner and have sold some of the herd as local freezer beef. Cattle that don’t make the seedstock cut now end up at Maplecrest Meats with about six harvested every month. As their retail shop grows, Lindsey anticipates that number will increase, providing an opportunity for local producers who buy their genetics. “We have to keep so many seedstock registered animals to meet our production sale quotas and can’t afford to convert more to freezer beef. But we want to ensure we’re providing a high-quality product that’s from our genetics and this would be a great opportunity for producers who have bought from us. We’re always looking for ways to help our customers add value to their calves,” she said. Lindsey, who spent a few years out West getting her master’s degree in ruminant nutrition and working for a livestock nutrition company, is thrilled to be back working on the family farm. Adam’s experience working for a Simmental breeder and his beef cattle production degree from Ohio State’s Agricultural Technical Institute are the perfect fit for Maplecrest Farms. “My parents pushed for me and my sister to get away for awhile with hopes that we would come back. While we were away, they tried to build the operation up to a scale that could sustain multiple families,” Lindsey said. “My goal is to continue to keep the business sustainable enough for my kids to someday be part of the family operation if they want to.” Recently, the Halls were honored as the Ohio Cattlemen’s Young Cattleman of the Year, an honor that Lindsey takes pride in since her family received that award years ago as well as Seedstock Producer of the Year. “I can still remember when Dad was honored with Young Cattleman of the Year. It’s kind of cool to follow in their footsteps,” she said. “Some days when you’re in the trenches day after day and working so hard … it’s nice that others notice your hard work and the care you put into your farm.” Like her father, Lindsey is actively involved in the beef industry and is a member of OCA, American Angus Association, both the Ohio and American Simmental organizations and an advisor for the Ohio Junior Angus Association. “I know the advisors I had growing up had a big impact on me and mentors meant a lot to me so I wanted to step up and be a mentor, too,” she said. For Adam, he takes pride in being the “hands-on guy” in the daily operation of the farm and making breeding decisions. “It’s rewarding to see everything come full circle -- to see our genetics go out and how they make a difference. Living here will teach our kids responsibility and life lessons,” he said. And those life lessons are ones that Lindsey cherishes today. “I love working with my family and staying true to how we started,” she said. “We are very much a family operation, and I’m proud of what my parents built and their vision for it. It makes me super proud to carry on that vision.”