The-Ledger-Spring2018

BY KELSEY POPE, FREELANCE WRITER

B luebonnet B eef A Revolution of Excellent Cattle Producing Excellent Retail Beef

The constant evolution of a cattle producer’s desire to raise efficient cattle with the opportunity to meet Texas consumers’ demands for high-quality, family-raised beef created Bluebonnet Beef, owned and operated by Gabe Price and his family in DeLeon, Texas.

Before relocating to DeLeon, Price was working as a businessman and firefighter while running a traditional stocker operation in West Texas. In 2012, he and his wife, Shiloh, de cided to make some changes to have a better quality of life, so they moved to central Texas where Price lived as a child. “We started running our own cattle, and as we did that, we started having inquiries from people we knew about buying sides of beef,” Price says. “We would feed out our raised steers and, mainly, just did it because we wanted to provide these people we knew with good beef.” But Price started looking at it from a business perspective and what inputs were going into his cattle op eration. After crunching numbers and doing research, Price found he would be better off going into grass-fed beef because of its low inputs. “I’m not an anti-grain guy. It’s just an input thing that makes finishing cattle on grass good for our busi ness,” he says. However, the cattle that Price was running were not cattle that would be efficient if grass-fed. So he started doing some more research and ran across the Aberdeen breed. He met and visited with David Holland and connected with breeders in the north ern United States, learning a lot from them about the breed. “I saw Aberdeen for their value as a grass-fed option, so I bought a set of halfblood replacement heifers,” Price says. “I’ve since found that Aberdeen influenced cattle have a place in the beef business for the commercial cattleman.” Price was very impressed with the cattle. He liked their temperament, calving ease and that they’re easy keepers, but even more, he appreci ated their ability to produce extreme

ly tender and marbled beef without growth hormones and implants. “I put Fullblood bulls on all of my heifers, and I have literally never had a calving issue,” Price adds. Price runs 150 Moderator ® , Angus based cows. While using Fullblood bulls on his heifers, Price uses Mod erators or Hereford bulls. “We like a white face on our cattle,” Price remarks. “And we are noticing that we are selling a lot of our cattle to local, traditional cattle men who see the benefits of efficien cy like we do.” Price is very open to consumers who want to know more about how their beef is raised. He believes in an “open farm” policy and encour ages families to visit the farm to learn about their practices and products. This is one of the reasons that led Price into selling retail beef. Price started in the retail beef business simply by offering sides of beef to friends. Word of mouth spread, with more customers wanting smaller amounts or certain cuts of beef. “As word got out and customers re alized the quality of our beef, we had more demand for individual cuts of beef than sides,” Price says. “Being in Texas, we decided Bluebonnet Beef rolled off the tongue, so we obtained the name and started marketing our beef under this name.” In fall 2016, a building opened up in downtown DeLeon. They got some retail freezers and began market ing their beef to walk-in customers. Besides beef, their retail store offers free-range eggs, broiler chickens, pork and branded merchandise like hats, shirts and koozies. Many of these items can be ordered online at www.bluebonnetbeef.com , although Price says this is an area they are looking to expand and have a goal to ship products to customers.

“Our business has really evolved and is constantly evolving,” Price says. “We thought we would just be reaching out to customers in the Dal las/Ft. Worth areas, but we have a lot of foot traffic in our store in DeLeon. We are taking a farm-to-table ap proach and our customers like what we’re doing.” Besides the increase in foot traffic in their retail store, having an online presence with their website and so cial media has been a huge asset to their business. Bluebonnet Beef has grown so much that Price can’t raise enough cattle himself to meet the demand. So they are working with other local producers who Price sells his genet ics to, and buys back the calves to go into their beef program. Just recently, another farm came on board and Bluebonnet Beef is selling their name brand product in their store. The way the Price family’s business evolved is in large part due to the Ab erdeen/Moderator cattle they began raising. And the whole Price family is involved. Gabe, Shiloh and their three children – Gracie, 15, Emma, 12, and Hud, 9, – all participate in working the cattle and in the retail store. Even Price’s mother helps in the store when she can. “Bluebonnet Beef is definitely a family affair, which gives our custom ers a connection to their food – beef they can buy directly from a family farmer they know,” Price says. The Price family is honored to be stewards of the land and to provide quality products raised locally. And Aberdeen cattle are a big part of what makes them proud of their products. “There is a real place in the com mercial cattle world for Aberdeen cattle for their efficiency and cost,” Price says. “And people want farm to-table beef, so we are constantly evolving to meet this demand.” TL

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