By SARAH B. AUBREY
Indiana Correspondent

DENVER, Colo. — Rex Moore, president and COO of Maverick Ranch Natural Meats, has confidence in his product: “If it’s good enough for America’s best athletes, then its good enough for the American consumer.”

The Denver-based company, founded in 1985 by Rex’s father, Roy Moore, has been an exclusive supplier of beef to the United States Olympic Teams since 1987 and the organization’s pork provider since 2002. Its meats feed 25,000 athletes per year at Olympic training centers across the U.S.

The Moore family is certainly proud of their brand, but Moore said Maverick Ranch supports ranchers and their way of life. “We started Maverick to pay producers a premium for raising a superior product,” he said.

What began as a program of producers who were using the Moore family’s Salers-based genetics morphed into an internationally-recognized brand which utilizes hundreds of feeders from throughout the country.

“Producers from all over the country direct their cattle to approved feedlots, and those cattle are sent to Maverick,” Moore said.
Why raise cattle for a brand name instead of sending them through commodity channels? Many natural programs exist in the U.S. where producers can either raise cattle in their own lot, then have them picked up by the contracted company, or ship feeders to approved lots for finishing elsewhere.

Moore said producers should consider a natural branded program because there is opportunity to make more money raising beef for companies like his.

“A producer has to have decided ‘I need to be a more profitable operation,’” he said.

Published premiums from Maverick indicate that extra profits are attainable. For raising “natural” cattle, producers can earn from $.05 per pound up to $30 per head premium at the calf level, and for feedlot and backgrounder operations, the premium is $30 per head plus an additional undisclosed “big bonus” on higher marbling scores.

The premiums can be upwards of $60-$70 per head.

While premiums look attractive, changes in management have to be considered and each natural program has distinct requirements.
“In our natural program, there are a number of rules and standard operating procedures, no exceptions,” said John Butler with Beef Marketing Group (BMG), a relative newcomer to the natural-branded beef foray.

BMG is based near Great Bend, Kan., and has had a natural beef program for only about 18 months.

“The changes most producers experience deal with validating what they are doing. This is accomplished through a series of affidavits and audits. A producer interested in participating is faced with giving up some flexibility and independence they may have become used to,” Butler said.

Changes most noticeable for feeding in natural branded programs include knowing exactly what supplements are contained in the feed and increased paperwork and administrative record keeping, Butler said.

Some producers are concerned with feed efficiency and digestion problems when performance aids such as implants and products like Rumencin are not allowed. Many natural programs require producers to forgo traditional performance and dietary enhancements such as ionophores, antibiotics and implants common in commodity beef. To address these concerns, companies are popping up with potential solutions.

“When you pull out all the technology in those other products, because things like Rumencin work so well, it requires a whole new set of management skills and procedures,” said Tom Nicholson, vice president of Ivy Natural Solutions in Overland Park, Kan., makers of natural feed alternatives.

The company also markets conventional animal productivity products and was recently acquired by Elanco. Nicholson said Ivy’s two main products, ProTernative Continuous Feed Formula and ProTernative Stress Formula, are live yeast products which aid in rumen health, digestion, improve feed consumption and reduce bloating.

Costs associated with the program are not less expensive than using traditional performance enhancements, though Nicholson says they are comparable.

In general, the products run between 3.5 to 5 cents per head, per day.

For now, the debate between higher premiums versus potential increases in management due to paperwork and potential digestion problems is one best worked out on an individual basis. For his part, Moore believes the future is to be found in selling naturally – and even organically – especially in the international market.

“Right now there are only about 15 programs in the U.S. set up for EU (European Union) approval, but there is a big growth opportunity,” he said, adding that Maverick Ranch is signing up producers who want to earn larger premiums by selling overseas. “We’ll really push the premiums higher for the EU market.”

Becoming approved to sell to the EU can be somewhat expensive. Moore said the certification costs approximately $5,000 per ranch, but his firm is covering that cost for qualified producers.

Certified organic is the other area Moore believes is growing. He is concerned natural-branded beef will become commodity as bigger players join the market.

“My father predicts that ‘natural’ will be the beef industry. We’ll be 100 percent organic in five years. For Maverick, that is the new niche that (will pay) the new higher producer premiums,” Moore said.