PRODUCTION: KILLIAN BEEF

CAN WE BUY YOUR BEEF?

ARTICLE BY TIFFANY SELCHOW & PHOTOS BY HAZEL LIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Phil Killian, who is from a long line of ranchers, always thought he’d just be that. A rancher, far from town and other people, surrounded by open spaces, cattle, and a few horses, working hard to raise high-quality beef. As we all know, life has a funny way of taking you down a totally different path than you had planned and that is where Phil currently sits.

This is the best kind of business story. One born of demands made by potential consumers. Phil and Jenna, Phil’s wife, often received the same question from their friends: “Can we buy your beef?” After numerous requests, Phil and Jenna decided to make the answer to that question, “yes.” They purchased cattle from their family’s ranch and fixed up the old feed yard that Phil’s great grandfather had built in the 1920s in Mesa, Arizona. Then, they started feeding those cattle in the middle of town and sold a few sides and quarters. But the story doesn’t stop there.

The Killian name is well known in the Mesa area which often brings visitors to their doorsteps. Neighbors started asking about the cattle they were seeing in the feed yard pens which progressed to the question of how they could buy some of the beef from those animals. Of course, most people aren’t interested in buying half of a beef or in getting all the different cuts that come with that process, so Phil and Jenna come up with yet another solution. To fulfill the local customer demand, Killian Beef became a storefront almost four years ago. This coincided with a time when many consumers started asking where their food came from and who was raising it. Instead of finding a place in a shopping mall, they converted a shed into a shop complete with a walk-in freezer which is located about 100 yards from the feed yard pens where the cattle are housed. When asked if this affected customers in a negative way, Phil gave a resounding, “Not at all.” In fact, it sees to have the opposite effect on most. Seeing a cow right outside the door makes them feel even better about eating the beef they just purchased because they can see the quality care given to these animals first-hand.

Not only does Phil run the storefront in Mesa, but he also manages the family’s ranches in Willcox and Safford. Wearing these two hats has given him first-hand knowledge of the entire beef lifecycle, which he shares with customers. Every customer has a different question and Phil is happy to answer them all, helping each person to feel comfortable about eating their beef. Phil said he sees many customers asking for trendy products, with one of the most common asking for grass-fed beef. While Killian Beef did cater to that market in the past, Phil made the decision to stop finishing cattle in that style for numerous reasons related to the current body of scientific evidence. And more often than not, this doesn’t cause customers to walk out the door but to learn more about how beef cattle are raised and feel more comfortable with the entire process.

Thanks to the internet, information is plentiful, which gives us the opportunity to see things from many different perspectives. However, the downfall of this unlimited access is the abundance of misconceptions that can arise. The beef community is no stranger to the negative impact of oversharing and under researching. A great way for ranchers and farmers to combat that is by sharing what they do and how they do it in the same places we look to get information. Killian Beef often shares how their cattle are raised on their Facebook and Instagram pages, along with delicious beef recipes and funny videos from the ranch. Not only does this give consumers a look at the rest of the lifecycle of their beef, but also helps them to stay connected and remember to come back and buy more.

More often than not, Phil finds he has a much higher demand for his product than he can fulfill. With customers coming from all over the Phoenix valley, even as far as New River, and regular customers showing back up every week, Phil and Jenna have a goal of raising more beef in this fashion. While the majority of the herd from the family ranch goes into the traditional beef lifecycle and marketing, they see an unmet demand for raising and selling their beef in the style of their storefront. When asked what advantage he has over the beef you buy at the grocery store, Phil makes it quite simple, “A cow out the window.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tiffany Selchow, moonlighting as a freelance writer, works for the ranchers of Arizona by educating consumers on the many benefits of including beef in a healthy lifestyle with the Arizona Beef Council. Her horse crazy tendencies began by asking for one on her Christmas list as a young child and took her to Nelson Farms in Tucson, AZ where she rode and showed horses on a national level. That passion evolved and carried her into a life revolving around production agriculture. She lives and has taken up the role of ranch wife on the Quarter Circle U Ranch with her husband, the ranch manager, and their daughter Hayes.

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER: Carmen McConnel of Hazel Lights Photograph found her passion for photography while working as a farm manager at the University of Arizona. She was inspired by the unique setting of the Campbell farm and the cattle, sheep, and hogs. After receiving her Master’s in Agriculture Education from The University of Arizona, she moved to Surprise, Arizona where she works to hone her craft with a variety of subjects ranging from cattle to babies and landscapes to lovebirds. Follow her on Instagram at hazel_lights_photography.