Feed Lot Magazine Online, Leachman Zeroes in on Piedmontese for Branded Beef Product

Montana Range(TM). The name brings forth images of the West and colorful, rugged cowboys gathering their cattle on the open range. It's also the name Leachman Cattle Company has selected for its branded beef products - products that Leachman Cattle Company promotes as "better beef."

Information about Montana Range lists four characteristics that makes it a "unique beef product:" 1) As lean as skinless chicken; 2) More tender than Angus beef (as proven in shear force testing); 3) Hormone free and antibiotic free; and 4) Source verified from ranch through slaughter.

The Piedmontese beef is what sets Montana Range(TM) apart from other products, including other branded products. All beef in this program comes from Piedmontese-sired calves.

Why beef from Piedmontese-sired calves?

Ralph Peterson, who manages the Wichita, Kan.-based shipping plant for Leachman Cattle Company, shares that, when Leachman Cattle Company decided to enter the branded beef program, it wanted two things: 1) a unique beef product that combined leanness with tenderness and 2) a beef program that's success depended upon multiplication of unique genetics.

"Piedmontese cattle fills both requirements," Peterson explains.

Peterson points out that Piedmontese is homozygous for the myostatin gene that controls muscle growth in cattle. When the myostatin gene is active, muscle growth is limited and the storing of fat is encouraged. When the myostatin gene is inactive - such as it is in Piedmontese, muscle growth is greater and less fat is stored. The result: heavier muscled cattle with less fat.

Every animal in the Montana Range program is one-half Piedmontese. Since Piedmontese has a double copy of the inactive Myostatin gene, one copy will be passed to the offspring.

Cattle with only one copy of the gene for inactive myostatin look normal, but their carcasses typically yield about 7 percent more beef that has about 14 percent less overall carcass fat than beef with active myostatin, says Timothy P. Smith, a chemist at ARS' Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Clay Center, Nebr. Researchers such as Smith have found that cattle with at least one gene for inactive myostatin produce beef that has less marbling, or intramuscular fat, as well as less extramuscular fat.

Nothing is left to chance, however, in Leachman's Montana Range program.

"The myostatin gene is DNA verifiable," Peterson relates. "So it's not just our opinion that the animals producing the carcasses for our program meet our standards. We know they have this inactive myostatin gene."

Contract Producers

To keep with its desire for a producer-based program and to obtain the animals needed for its Montana Range program, Leachman Cattle Company turns to cow/calf producers. They want herds with highly productive dams. Plus, they want producers who will abide by the rules and will take the extra steps needed to be in the program.

Contract producers enter into an agreement to produce terminal cross animals, using Piedmontese bulls. These bulls can be used either AI, purchased from Leachman Cattle Company or leased from Leachman Cattle Company. Contract producers must also agree to not use growth hormones, and to identify all calves that receive antibiotic treatment. Any calf receiving any antibiotic does not qualify for, and must be eliminated from, the Montana Range program.

Contract producers can either sell their Piedmontese-sired calves to Leachman Cattle Company as feeders or yearlings or as fed cattle. The premium received depends on the marketing option.

This past year, 4,000 head met the Montana Range qualifications and were slaughtered at O'Neill's, a plant near Omaha, Nebr., that has an arrangement with Leachman Cattle Company. This plant has the capability to source verify carcasses - another component of the Leachman program.

"There's already 7,000 head committed and either in the feedlot or going into the feedlot for the coming year (2001)," Peterson tells. "We project as many as 40,000 head by the year 2004."

After the beef is aged for 21 days, it goes to a plant in Wichita, Kan., where it is processed into steaks, roasts, ground beef or even franks. Then it's sent to the Wichita warehouse that Peterson oversees.

Marketing Brand Product

Montana Range product is marketed through three primary avenues at this time: high-end restaurants located in urban areas such as Los Angeles, New York City and Orlando; upscale meat retailers and wholesalers; and over the Internet.

"We're looking at natural food store chains as a marketing avenue," Peterson shares. "Since our product is hormone-free and antibiotic-free, it's a fit for a natural food store chain."

Because Montana Range beef isn't your ordinary beef, and because demand exceeds supply at this time, Montana Range prices are "relatively upscale." A check of prices at the www.montanarange.com website confirms this.

Filet mignons run $24 to $25.28/lb.; sirloin steaks, $12.80/lb.; ribeyes and strips, $17.92/lb.; premium standing rib roasts, $14.83/lb.; and traditional roasts, just under $7/lb. Ground beef patties hit a bit under $5/lb. while ground beef touted as suitable for spaghetti, chili and the like is sold for $4.25/lb. Franks, when figured by the pound, come to $4.99/lb. (Expensive, perhaps, but in line with other gourmet beef companies such as Omaha Steaks.)

Rather than market the product by the pound and have raised eyebrows or fewer sales, they offer their product in packages of four steaks, packages of two 3 lbs. roasts, packages of 10 lbs. of beef patties, etc. eliminating a per pound cost.

They've also created catchy, appealing names for the various packages. For example, consumers don't just have the opportunity to buy hot dogs. Instead they can purchase "Ranch Style All-Beef Franks." On the higher end is offered such items as "Cattlemen's Sirloin," "Big Sky Steak Tips," "Premium Standing Rib Roast" and "Premium Filet Mignon."

To get consumers to try a bit of everything, the Montana Range website offers "Rancher's Roundup," a combination of numerous kinds of steaks, plus patties, ground beef and franks.

"We anticipate being less pricey as more cattle are available," Peterson states. "But, right now, Montana Range is going out the door at a fantastic rate. The holiday season was good, as this beef can be shipped directly to someone's door."

Peterson says, the primary buyer of Montana Range is the health-conscious consumer: either the fat-conscious individual who doesn't want to sacrifice taste and tenderness or the consumer who wants hormone-free, antibiotic-free beef. The other key buyer is the consumer who simply wants great-tasting, tender beef.

No matter who the consumer is purchasing the beef, Montana Range has caught the attention of some very powerful individuals. In addition to making magazines such as GQ and Goodhousekeeping, Leachman Cattle Company's Piedmontese steak was recently named one of Forbes "100 things worth every penny."