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Area Family Expands Organic Beef Market
By Loretta Sorensen
P&D Correspondent
HARTINGTON, Neb. — When Martin Kleinschmit decided to raise organic, grass-fed Lowline cattle, he was looking for a niche market that would add value to the beef he was producing.
What he didn’t expect was to find some of that market in metropolitan areas like Chicago and Minneapolis.
While he’s been developing a local customer base for grass-fed beef over the past 15 years, the Hartington farmer said he didn’t recognize this new market until his children brought it to his attention.
“We’ve been raising grass-fed beef for the last 15 years,” Kleinschmit said. “We like it for ourselves and we were selling some of the meat directly to consumers. When we took some to our kids in Chicago a couple of years ago, they said they thought there were other people in the city that would want the meat.”
Since then, the Kleinschmits have been selling their packaged meat to six Chicago families, 10 Minneapolis families and some other metropolitan residents. When they completed certification for organic grass-fed beef recently, their product became even more valuable to consumers.
“One of my sons just started a new job in Minneapolis and he’s sharing information about the meat,” Kleinschmit said. “We expect that we’ll have some new customers when we make our next trip there.”
For many years, after he returned to the farm, Kleinschmit followed the same traditional practices his father had developed on their farm northwest of Hartington.
“I had dairy cattle and raised corn, soybeans and had some hogs,” he said. “When the profit went out of hogs, I could see my profit margins in dairy going the same way. I knew I needed to do something that would bring in more money, but buying more land and equipment was too expensive a proposition. I decided to start raising organic crops. It was a leap of faith and I was the talk of the neighborhood for a while.”
As time went on, Kleinschmit found it challenging to manage a full-time job and do justice to his farming. He had been learning about producers who were turning cropland back to pasture and raising grass-fed beef. That began his journey to produce grass-fed beef.
“I raised Black Angus for the first eight years,” he said. “I found that the genetics in my cattle weren’t as suited to grass-fed production as they could be.”
Kleinschmit’s search for cattle that would thrive and finish on a grass-fed regiment led him to Lowlines seven years ago.
“The Lowlines are smaller framed and they’re very efficient at converting forage to energy,” he said. “They were developed from the Angus breed, so it made sense that they would do well with my production plans.”
Since he brought the Lowlines to his farm, Kleinschmit has been pleased with how they’ve performed. One change he’s looking at is cross-breeding with Murray Greys, an Australian breed that is also small-framed but extremely heat tolerant.
“I have some of that blood in my cattle now,” he said. “One day I saw one of the calves laying out in the sun while the rest of the cattle were under a tree, trying to keep cool. I thought for sure there was something wrong with that calf, but when I came up to him he jumped up and ran. He was just more comfortable in the sun than the black cattle were.”
No matter which breed he ends up with, Kleinschmit said he made a good decision when he brought the Lowlines into his production program.
“It’s a low-cost way to get into a premium market,” he said. “Anytime you can cut your costs and increase your selling price, it’s a good thing. The organic beef market isn’t where it should be yet, but with the high grain prices we’ve seen recently, grass-fed production is still a much less costly option.”
The small-framed Lowline breed was developed in Australia as a means to produce more beef on fewer acres. An Australian disposal sale in 1993 introduced the Lowlines to the rest of the world. The breed was brought to the United States in 1997.
The average mature Lowline cow is about 39 inches high and weighs 800 pounds. A typical Lowline full blood calf weighs about 42 pounds. Lowlines are known for being docile, marbling on grass and producing a high proportion of prime meat cuts in their smaller cuts of meat. Kleinschmit knew they were bred to fatten on grass and produce tender, flavorful meat. His animals dress out between 500 and 550 pounds. Out of the 20 animals he raises each year, he sells approximately 10 of them.
“Our meat price is $3.60 per pound, based on carcass weight plus processing costs, usually about $6.50 per pound cut and wrapped,” Kleinschmit said. “In the city, that’s a good buy. In some areas, organic grass fed beef isn’t available at all. I was surprised that some of the families don’t eat much meat. Once a year they purchase a quarter of beef or less.”
Kleinschmit’s work with Nebraska’s Center for Rural Affairs in Cedar County has given him some insight into alternative markets for ag products. He and his wife, Linda, have developed a small network of customers in their local area and have marketed some of their meat in nearby Omaha. They would like to expand on what they’re doing by selling their products through farmer’s markets in the area, but time is a limiting factor since they both hold full time jobs off the farm. Kleinschmit and his wife, Linda, developed a website to make information about them and their product more available. They also produce a brochure that outlines information about their meat and their production process.
“All our meat is processed at a state inspected locker here,” Kleinschmit said. “Then we organize a trip to whichever city we’re selling in and deliver the meat right to the families. They’re always so thrilled to meet the people who produced the beef. We’ve found it very rewarding to have people thank us for providing them with high quality meat. That’s something you can’t get when you sell to a packing house.”
As Kleinschmit nears the age of retirement, he sees producing grass-fed organic beef as a viable alternative income.
“We have been fortunate that our children are able to help us make contact with potential customers,” Kleinschmit said. “All of our sales have pretty much come through word of mouth. Once people taste the meat, that’s about all it takes to sell it.”
More information about the Kleinschmits and their beef is available at www.kleinbeef.com.
What he didn’t expect was to find some of that market in metropolitan areas like Chicago and Minneapolis.
While he’s been developing a local customer base for grass-fed beef over the past 15 years, the Hartington farmer said he didn’t recognize this new market until his children brought it to his attention.
“We’ve been raising grass-fed beef for the last 15 years,” Kleinschmit said. “We like it for ourselves and we were selling some of the meat directly to consumers. When we took some to our kids in Chicago a couple of years ago, they said they thought there were other people in the city that would want the meat.”
Since then, the Kleinschmits have been selling their packaged meat to six Chicago families, 10 Minneapolis families and some other metropolitan residents. When they completed certification for organic grass-fed beef recently, their product became even more valuable to consumers.
“One of my sons just started a new job in Minneapolis and he’s sharing information about the meat,” Kleinschmit said. “We expect that we’ll have some new customers when we make our next trip there.”
For many years, after he returned to the farm, Kleinschmit followed the same traditional practices his father had developed on their farm northwest of Hartington.
“I had dairy cattle and raised corn, soybeans and had some hogs,” he said. “When the profit went out of hogs, I could see my profit margins in dairy going the same way. I knew I needed to do something that would bring in more money, but buying more land and equipment was too expensive a proposition. I decided to start raising organic crops. It was a leap of faith and I was the talk of the neighborhood for a while.”
As time went on, Kleinschmit found it challenging to manage a full-time job and do justice to his farming. He had been learning about producers who were turning cropland back to pasture and raising grass-fed beef. That began his journey to produce grass-fed beef.
“I raised Black Angus for the first eight years,” he said. “I found that the genetics in my cattle weren’t as suited to grass-fed production as they could be.”
Kleinschmit’s search for cattle that would thrive and finish on a grass-fed regiment led him to Lowlines seven years ago.
“The Lowlines are smaller framed and they’re very efficient at converting forage to energy,” he said. “They were developed from the Angus breed, so it made sense that they would do well with my production plans.”
Since he brought the Lowlines to his farm, Kleinschmit has been pleased with how they’ve performed. One change he’s looking at is cross-breeding with Murray Greys, an Australian breed that is also small-framed but extremely heat tolerant.
“I have some of that blood in my cattle now,” he said. “One day I saw one of the calves laying out in the sun while the rest of the cattle were under a tree, trying to keep cool. I thought for sure there was something wrong with that calf, but when I came up to him he jumped up and ran. He was just more comfortable in the sun than the black cattle were.”
No matter which breed he ends up with, Kleinschmit said he made a good decision when he brought the Lowlines into his production program.
“It’s a low-cost way to get into a premium market,” he said. “Anytime you can cut your costs and increase your selling price, it’s a good thing. The organic beef market isn’t where it should be yet, but with the high grain prices we’ve seen recently, grass-fed production is still a much less costly option.”
The small-framed Lowline breed was developed in Australia as a means to produce more beef on fewer acres. An Australian disposal sale in 1993 introduced the Lowlines to the rest of the world. The breed was brought to the United States in 1997.
The average mature Lowline cow is about 39 inches high and weighs 800 pounds. A typical Lowline full blood calf weighs about 42 pounds. Lowlines are known for being docile, marbling on grass and producing a high proportion of prime meat cuts in their smaller cuts of meat. Kleinschmit knew they were bred to fatten on grass and produce tender, flavorful meat. His animals dress out between 500 and 550 pounds. Out of the 20 animals he raises each year, he sells approximately 10 of them.
“Our meat price is $3.60 per pound, based on carcass weight plus processing costs, usually about $6.50 per pound cut and wrapped,” Kleinschmit said. “In the city, that’s a good buy. In some areas, organic grass fed beef isn’t available at all. I was surprised that some of the families don’t eat much meat. Once a year they purchase a quarter of beef or less.”
Kleinschmit’s work with Nebraska’s Center for Rural Affairs in Cedar County has given him some insight into alternative markets for ag products. He and his wife, Linda, have developed a small network of customers in their local area and have marketed some of their meat in nearby Omaha. They would like to expand on what they’re doing by selling their products through farmer’s markets in the area, but time is a limiting factor since they both hold full time jobs off the farm. Kleinschmit and his wife, Linda, developed a website to make information about them and their product more available. They also produce a brochure that outlines information about their meat and their production process.
“All our meat is processed at a state inspected locker here,” Kleinschmit said. “Then we organize a trip to whichever city we’re selling in and deliver the meat right to the families. They’re always so thrilled to meet the people who produced the beef. We’ve found it very rewarding to have people thank us for providing them with high quality meat. That’s something you can’t get when you sell to a packing house.”
As Kleinschmit nears the age of retirement, he sees producing grass-fed organic beef as a viable alternative income.
“We have been fortunate that our children are able to help us make contact with potential customers,” Kleinschmit said. “All of our sales have pretty much come through word of mouth. Once people taste the meat, that’s about all it takes to sell it.”
More information about the Kleinschmits and their beef is available at www.kleinbeef.com.
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