Carcass Club members learn new marketing techniques
Shannon LeClair – Times Reporter
Members of the Cheadle 4-H decided to try something new this year when they created the Carcass Club.
The kids each picked out a calf, raised it, have gone through judging activities and are now selling them in quarters.
The kids went to Pure Country Meats to judge the carcass from underneath the skin and to see how it is cut and prepared.
“The smell can kind of get to you, for the most part the kids understand this is where our food comes from and are very interested and very proud to be producing a quality product,” said Patti Brewin with the 4-H club.
“It was kind of fun to see them looking at steaks being cut and how they look.”
This was a new concept for the 4-H club, and it was started when the club realized it is getting harder to get people to come out to the show and sales.
“We kind of took this on to try something new for marketing and advertising for the animals. So we’ll see if they felt it was something worthwhile, I know they have had a lot of ideas and a lot of interest so I would be surprised if we didn’t do it again next year,” said Brewin. There are not many groups selling their meat like this, and Brewin said she only found a few in the U.S but not really in Canada.
“What we’ve tried to do is come out with a product that we sell in quarters with a price per pound,” said Brewin.
Pure Country Meats has been helping provide this kind of quality. They are the ones cutting the animal and will be mixing the front and the back so buyers will have a good mix of the different beef. Buyers can also specify the cut they want.
“We support every 4-H club and we try to help out as much as possible,” said Shawn Tourout, who co-owns Pure Country Meats with Mike Conley.
“For us it’s the same processing. It’s a 21 day hanging process either way, for them it’s nice if they have them presold,” said Tourout.
The 4-H club will still be doing the show and sale, which will be in Rockyford this year, and after the animals have been judged they will be sold in a live auction. The buyer would bid on the price per pound on the whole animal, and then send the meat to Pure Country Meat to be cut. The kids started with 14 animals and have already sold half since the beginning of May. A quarter works out to roughly 100lbs, and the clubs are selling it for $5.50/lb. The minimum order is 100lbs. Anyone interested in placing an order can contact Patti Brewin at 403-901-1413 or Jeff Warrack at 403-934-5648.