meet your neighbors
Taking a Chance Pays Off By Julie Turner-Crawford
Josh and Lawanna Salmon say adding beef sales raised the value of their calves
Through the St. Clair County Cattlemen’s Association, longtime cattle Open cows are used for their beef stick program. producers Josh and Lawanna Salmon have been helping to supply lo“At the sale barn, an open cow will maybe bring $500, so by doing the beef sticks, we cal-raised beef to the school districts In St. Clair County, but when COVID can triple that,” Josh said. “We are just trying to find a way to boost our income. We hit, they looked at building their own beef market. should have done this way sooner. We had tossed around the idea of selling frozen beef “In May of 2020, when the cattle market was going down, he wasn’t coming in the in years past, but we were looking at it the wrong way. Instead of trying to sell a half, a house very happy,” Lawanna, who is a 23-year-employee in Education currently with whole beef, or a quarter to people who may only have a freezer on top of their refrigerthe Lakeland R-3 School District, said. She and Josh are also both members of the St. ator, we can sell them 5 pounds of hamburger, or 5 pounds of hamburger and a roast. It Clair County Cattlemen’s Board, with Lawanna serving as board secretary and Josh helps them, and it helps us.” currently serving as a state director. “We were going to have to figure out what to do to At this time, no wholes, halves or quarters are offered to customers. make the farm go. That’s when we decided to go with the farm-fresh beef. We currently “They will actually get more meat for their money with the frozen beef than if we sell help with the Mo Beef program, and I was the one organizing between the Cattlemen, them a lightweight animal because they are paying for bone and everything else,” Lawathe schools and the processor. We decided since we already had a relationship with the nna said. processor to get beef to the schools, so we were able to get appointments for ourselves.” Josh said Lawanna is “a heck of a salesman.” They had a beef processed and packaged “We load her truck up every Saturday for sale to see how things would go and go morning, and I think there is no way she’s it did. going to sell it all, but she does,” he said. “We started putting the word out that we Two calves are processed each month for were going to do this. I literally picked that the frozen cuts, and two animals are going beef up, drove to the school, I had told into the snack sticks monthly, and Josh people what the drop-off time would be, said there is room for growth. and it looked like people going through “We have the room to feed them,” he said. McDonald’s,” Lawanna said. “We did Calves going to the beef program are only hamburger meat that time, and peoprocessed at about 1,200 to 1,300 pounds ple pulled up to the back of our truck, told and are typically 18 to 20 months of age. us how many pounds they wanted, we Because the bulk of the herd is fall calving, gave them their packages of hamburger, the Salmons select calves of various sizes at they paid us and drove off.” weaning to filter calves through their proThey were convinced to start the beef cessing schedule. sales after that first day. “When you have a smaller, younger calf, “It’s added value to our animals,” Josh he is going to get docked at the sale,” Josh said. “We are getting more than market said. “We have a 70-day calving window, so price for our cattle.” those younger calves will be smaller, and we To help improve their bottom line, Josh and Lawanna They now offer farm-raised beef directcan move them to the beef side.” Salmon began direct beef sales. Pictured with the couple ly to customers through the Greater Polk Cheyenne, Kaitlin and JustinFall calves are their children Cheyenne, Kaitlin and Justin. County Farmers Market, as well as at reare weaned in June or July, will typically regional delivery locations. In May 2021, Submitted Photo main on grass and are hand-fed a cracked the family also started their brand of beef corn ration twice a day. sticks, which are now carried in 60 locations. “Right now, they are in the lot, but have access to hay and that cracked corn ration, Salmon beef is a part of Salmon Enterprises, LLC., which began in 2015 as a distribu- which they get about 18 to 20 pounds of a day,” Josh explained. tor for Old West Feed Company’s cafeteria-style, free-choice mineral. Animals placed into the beef stick program are not offered any grain. The Salmons own and rent a little more than 800 acres where they run “We keep them on grass,” Josh explained. “You don’t want to get those animals too their 250-head cow/calf operation of primally Angus and Angus-influfat.” enced females bred by Red Angus and Angus bulls selected for growth. The key to any cattle operation is healthy cattle, which is why the Salmons follow While they still sell most of their cattle at the stockyards, the beef program a vaccination schedule. They also believe their cafeteria-style minerals help keep has allowed them to add value to animals that may not bring a high price at their cattle herd in good health. Josh said the herd is currently receiving nine the yards by placing them into the beef program. minerals, two vitamins and salt, and cattle can pick and choose what they Appleton “If we have an open cow or when we wean calves and have something like want. City, Mo. a short tail, frozen ears or a bad eye are kept. They are perfectly healthy, but “We went from 80-percent conception rates to 96 percent, and we have they will get discounted at the sale barn,” Lawanna said. had some perfect years,” he explained. “Last year was a good test. We had
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Ozarks Farm & Neighbor • www.ozarksfn.com
FEBRUARY 7, 2022
