Beef is born tender at Sho-Me Farms
By Doug Rich
"Give the public something that is different from the norm," says Don Mayse. He believes that is the key to success in any value-added business.
When Don and his wife, Marylou, started selling meat from their purebred herd of Shorthorn cattle they decided to give their customers the most tender beef products they could produce. "Offer the public something special that they cannot get anywhere else," says Mayse. "Tenderness is what we picked because the beef industry as a whole has not paid enough attention to it."
Don and Marylou Mayse are uniquely qualified to operate a retail business from their farm southeast of Columbia, Mo. Don Mayse grew up working in his father's meat processing plant in California (the state not the town) where he gained valuable experience in the meat business. Both he and Marylou attended the University of Missouri; Don studied Food Science and Marylou Home Economics. For 30 years Don Mayse worked in town managing and owning a variety of businesses. "I have always enjoyed business," he says. "This is the most vertically integrated business I have ever had." He advises anyone that cannot read a balance sheet or an income statement to think twice about getting into the retail meat business. "We make money a nickel at a time."
Eleven years ago they started Sho-Me Farms on land they had purchased southeast of Columbia. "We started off selling sides of beef and I would highly recommend that as a place to start," says Don Mayse. "To do what we do right from the start would not be realistic." Public demand for their meat led to their decision to sell pre-packaged cuts of meat instead of just sides. People were interested in trying their meat but they did not want to spend $700 for a side of meat the first time out. Now people can buy a variety of products from beef sticks to pre-packaged vacuum wrapped T-bone steaks. "We still sell sides but our emphasis is on the package."
Their primary emphasis is on tenderness. "We want to give our customers what they want, not what we can force down their throats," says Don Mayse. He has been raising purebred Shorthorn cattle for several years and considers them to be one of the best breeds for producing tender cuts of meat. "I tried crossbreds a couple of times, but they do not shear very well. We just do not get the tenderness out of them." All of the bulls he uses, either natural service or for artificial insemination (AI), are DNA tested for tenderness. He has not DNA tested any cows for tenderness but he might at some time. Right now he is concentrating on bulls. "A good bull can make an average cow generate a great piece of meat."
They process calves every week and every calf that they slaughter is shear tested for tenderness at the University of Missouri. "We know the dam and sire of every calf," says Mayse. "After we do 20 to 30 head from the same sire and see his effect on a herd, good or bad, we can make a pretty good decision about that sire. Is he putting meat on the plate or fat in the barrel." The best bull they ever used produced calves with an average shear score of 5.37 pounds. When this bull was DNA tested he was double marked for tenderness but not for marbling. "I don't care if they marble. There is no correlation between grade and tenderness and I am not selling on grade and yield." Mayse prefers calves with a shear test of 6 or 7 pounds and will not sell anything to his customers with a shear test over 11 pounds.
"We cut cattle like they did in the 1960s," says Mayse. He would like to develop a rib length grid that would give him a more accurate measurement of the meat his cattle are producing. The more loin area a calf has, the more high priced cuts of meat he will yield. "I want to measure the loin from the front of the pelvis to the last cut we would take a rib steak from and multiply that by the surface area of the loin."
Don and Marylou collect a lot of information on every calf they slaughter. On the kill sheet they record registration number of the sire and dam, live weight, carcass weight, ribeye area, backfat, grade (as Don Mayse sees it), yield grade, kill date, days to slaughter, and shear test. All of their meat is processed at Jennings Premium Meat, a federally inspected plant in New Franklin, Mo. Mayse helps cuts the meat. "I am slow, but I can get the job done," he says. Mayse says it would be impossible for them to sell meat the way they do without the service they get from Jennings Premium Meat. "They are like members of our family." Most of the calves are slaughtered at an average weight of 1,200 pounds at 14 months of age.
No hormones, implants, or anti-biotics are used on the cattle. The calves are fed out on the farm in grass paddocks where they have access to self-feeders. His ration is a basic protein mix with corn. The cattle also have access to alfalfa and grass hay grown on the farm. He vaccinates the calves three times, twice with a killed virus and once with a modified live virus. Different vaccines are used every year. He vaccinates calves once at four months of age, just prior to weaning, and again after weaning.
Every package of meat that Mayse sells has a number on it that corresponds to the kill sheet on that animal. If a customer says they really liked the last steak they bought from Mayse, he uses that number to find the dam and sire of that particular calf. Then he can tell if he has more meat from that calf or if he has more calves from that particular mating. It is all about providing what the customer wants.
A year ago Don and Marylou purchased ten acres adjacent to land they already owned and built a small store on their farm. Their customers can now come to the farm and pick up meat whenever they need it. Mayse and his herdsman, Jerome Grethen, have two trailers equipped with glass front freezers that they pull to three farmers markets. HyVee grocery stores in Columbia carries Sho-Me Farms "Born Tender Beef" and the Flat Branch Pub & Brewery uses their ground beef. They also have a mail order business for their meat. The 10 acres they purchased last year had a large greenhouse on it. Marylou grows a variety of flowers and vegetables for sale through the year at their store and at farmers markets. The Missouri Department of Conservation leases 3,500 sq. ft. of the greenhouse for seed production of native grasses and plants.
Meat is their main product, however. Don Mayse, the experienced businessman, knows that he is not just in the cattle business, but in the value-added meat business. "We don't select our cattle here like other breeders do because we don't sell them like other breeders do," he says. Don and Marylou Mayse sell what their customers want--tender beef.
Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304, or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com.
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