Growing a Business on Grass

Iola, Texas

The adage “Necessity is the mother of all invention” proved true for Ray and Karen Hadaway of Star Haven Farms in Iola, Texas. “When we started five years ago, we simply didn’t have the money to buy the quantities of grain feed needed to raise beef cattle to maturity. It prompted us to ask questions, think out of the box and challenge the way meat is typically raised here in Texas,” explains Karen. Such creative energy today fuel a committed passion for grassfed meats, growing their local niche in health-conscious customers seeking natural, locally-raised beef.

The couple, both in their mid-50s with grown children, moved in 1999 to a forty-acre farmstead in east-central Texas originally part of Ray’s aunt and uncle’s land. “Everybody around here is related to my husband,” Karen says with a laugh. Karen, too, grew up with rural roots having spent time on her grandparents’ farm.

“Unfortunately, the land had been farmed to death with no nutrients added back into the soil and Texas was right in the middle of a five-year drought, so we had our work cut out for us,” explains Karen. With frugal resources and a desire to improve the soil, Karen and Ray tapped into the Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) and other area resources and connected with a local farmer, Gene Sollock, who was pasture-raising beef on grasses and ball clover. Each spring, Gene and his wife, Ruth, host a “Clover Field Day” to show others how raising animals on pasture can benefit not only the farmer, but also the livestock and soil. “Gene hasn’t used any commercial fertilizer on his pasture for twelve years, neither feeds nor cuts hay, and can support one hundred head of cattle on his 54 acres by utilizing intensive grazing. We said, this is for us! Gene mentored us, getting us started planting our pastures,” Karen adds. Star Haven Farms currently has twelve acres in ball clover and plans to double that next season. A perennial crop, ball clover also restores nitrogen to the soil and as the cattle graze it, they take care of replanting.

Karen and Ray manage a herd of thirteen cattle: a registered Brangus bull, six females and the remaining calves raised for meat. “We raise Black Brangus cattle since this breed does well in the hot Texas climate and, with the Angus influence, produces well-marbled beef,” Karen says. The herd rotationally grazes through five field paddocks, making a full rotation every twenty-eight days. Balancing Ray’s job with the electric company and Karen’s administrative job at the Texas A&M University, with all that’s needed to run a successful farm, is difficult. Karen looks forward to retiring next year to devote more time exclusively to the farm.

Grassfed cattle take longer to reach maturity, typically 22 to 24 months verus 18 months for grain fed beef. It represents a challenge that must be factored into business planning for Star Haven Farms. As a steer matures and has enough protein intake, its meat naturally marbleizes with an increase in fat content, thereby tenderizing the meat. Conventionally, a steer is fed large amounts of grain in a feedlot to accelerate and unnaturally expand this process. As grassfed cattle graze freely on grasses and clover, it takes longer for them to add naturally add the needed fat-cover.

Higher sales pricing and a growing market demand for pastured-raised beef and other products offset the expense of this longer time commitment for grass fed beef. “A 1,100 pound steer at about 22 months will bring in around $.90 pound at a conventional livestock auction. By comparison, we sell our meat at what equates to $1.59 a pound directly to our customers, almost double the price we could have received at the livestock auction house,” explains Karen. Most of their customers come through word of mouth, primarily families that seek the health benefits associated with the healthy Omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated lineolic acid (CLA) found in grassfed meats. “Repeat customers hooked on the taste and quality of our meat form our core sales base. You’d be surprised at how many people really do want to know where their food comes from.”

Customers typically buy either a “half” or “quarter” of the steer, with the meat evenly divided between the front and hind section. This enables everyone to get equal amounts of the desirable hind cuts such as T-Bone and sirloin and the more budget front cuts like ground chuck and rib steak. A “quarter” beef will typically last the average family with two kids about three to six months.

When orders come in totaling a full animal, Star Haven Farms delivers the live animal to the butcher. While Karen and Ray can process meat year round, they try to gear most butchering toward late spring to fall as this is when grass is plentiful and the animals tend to be at their heaviest weight. Meat sells to the customer at a “hanging weight” price ($2.77 per pound) and customers pay the butcher directly for processing, enabling each family to custom order how they would like the meat processed and wrapped.

Karen and Ray recently added a herd of seventeen goats to their livestock mix. Boer meat goats are known for their easy-going and affectionate nature and, importantly, they don’t jump fences as other goats often may do. Goats prove to be a nice compliment to cattle as they will rotate into a paddock immediately after the cattle leave and “clean up” vegetation such as brambles and vines that the cows won’t eat. So far, the goats have not yet been sold for meat but Karen hopes to move into this in the future, citing a growing local Hispanic and Muslim market interested in purchasing live whole goats and processing the goats themselves. A few dozen eggs from pastured hens are also sold each week. “Customers love the eggs. I just don’t have enough chickens to meet the demand,” Karen says.

Karen looks forward to her early retirement in the next year and being able to run full time with new business ventures for Star Haven Farms. “I see strong potential in agritourism as many of our customers ask us for organized tours and opportunities to be on the farm,” explains Karen. “We’re exploring and developing the capacity to host school field trips, barbecues, fishing in the pond and campfires under the stars. Our family leans toward the musical side, so we can offer singalongs and tunes around the campfire, maybe coax an off-key ‘moo’ from a cow or two,” she adds with a smile.