Marrs bring prime cuts direct to market

John Oncken  —  11/29/2007 9:31 am

Most of us love a great steak -- the sizzle and smell of a grilling steak makes the mouth water and the eating is out of this world. A beef pot roast at a family gathering is one of life's great joys. Hamburgers, from gourmet to the inexpensive, are among the most popular of "eating out" meals. And beef jerky is commanding ever-more space in supermarkets.

Beef is bought at restaurants, from fast food to white table cloth, at baseball games, in supermarkets both big and small, and yes, even from the farmers who raise the cattle from which it is made.

Jerry and Nancy Marr operate Marr Family Farms LLC in Mineral Point. The Marrs are part of a growing number of farmers who raise beef and sell it directly to consumers. They are beef experts who practice the business from start to finish, from birth of the calf to the consumer's plate.

The Marr farm covers high hills and low valleys in the unglaciated area south of Mineral Point some 50 miles from Madison. In Nebraska's hill country it would be called a ranch.

The black Angus based cattle have a million dollar view of the countryside and graze on what Jerry Marr calls some of the lushest pasture land anywhere.

The Marr home farm where Jerry was raised is located on the other side of Rock Road. "My dad was a conservationist," he says. "He planted thousands of trees over his lifetime." Jerry has continued the practice.

Most of the 256 acres that Jerry farms is permanent pasture that runs either uphill of downhill. He takes good care of the grassland and harvests some hay as big round bales for winter feed.

Although his 45 mother cows are black, Jerry says his background was with red and white Herefords.

"We crossed them with Angus bulls which made 'Black Baldies,' added some Simmenthal breeding and brought the Black Angus breeding back,'' Jerry says. "It makes for a great beef animal."

Like most beef raisers, the Marrs had sold their cattle as finished beef on the traditional commercial market through Bloomington Livestock or Equity Co-op in Monroe. The animals then ended up in a packing plant and ultimately in a meat case somewhere.

Jerry says he thought about direct marketing over the years but never made a move in that direction.

Then, in the late 1990s, he attended a state meeting that focused on the extremely low price of hogs, selling at $8 per hundred weight.

"I realized that the beef cattle price also went up and down and I had no control of it," he says. "I realized we had to expand our beef herd or get out. That's when I got serious about marketing my beef direct."

Marr knew a lot about raising beef -- he's a UW-Madison Farm Short Course graduate -- but very little about marketing. He also knew he was raising his beef on pasture and that was a plus for consumers asking for "natural" beef.

The Marrs began selling at the farmers' markets in Fitchburg and Middleton and after two years moved to the Dane County Farmers' Market where they remain seven years later.

"People have been very receptive to our meat products," Jerry says. "They know us and return again and again for our meat."

The Marrs sell a long list of meat cuts and products.

"Our steaks are the first to sell early in the morning," Jerry says. "And there are just so many steaks on a beef animal. We've encouraged people to consider roasts and our all ground beef, beef brats, landjaeger sausage and beef sticks. Many customers have expanded their beef usage to include a variety of products."

The Marrs also offer beef quarters. A beef quarter is about 165 to 175 pounds. That's a quarter of the about 700 pounds of meat that an 1,100-pound beef animal will produce. Orders can be picked up at the weekly Farmers' Market in Madison.

Many farmers' market customers ask questions, with the most common being "Are your beef animals raised on grass." Marr does raise his animals on grass but says he finishes them on corn to get the highest quality, best tasting meat possible.

"I like and want satisfied customers," he says. "This feeding program produces that combination for me."

Marr admits that marketing his high quality beef at the Dane County Farmers' Market requires a good deal of labor. In the beginning, it means hauling his over 1,000-pound animals to Housley's Meats in New Glarus where the animal is processed into the variety of cuts and the sausage and snack sticks are made.

The Marrs then pick up the packaged meat, weigh and label each piece, then store it in freezers.

On Saturday morning, he and Nancy get up at 3:45 a.m. to load freezers, coolers and the meat onto their truck for the hour-long trip to Madison. Their tent is set up, signs are placed on the counter and the meat-filled coolers are arranged.

It makes for a long day but the Marrs enjoy selling their quality products to customers who enjoy them.

"Actually we are promoters of agriculture in addition to selling our meat," Jerry says. "We're proud to be farmers. We produce our beef using very sustainable practices that are environmentally friendly."

The Marr farm is located in an area that's home to many beef farms and has long been known as "grass country."

"Cattle are designed to harvest forage,'' Marr says.

Marr's two brothers also provide valuable part-time help on the farm. Dick lives nearby and Jim resides in Ft. Atkinson.

Jerry is happy with the decision to market high quality beef direct and the world is better off for it as customers of Marr Family Farm LLC will admit. To enjoy the sizzle and mouth-watering taste of their grass fed beef, call 608-574-3471.

Most certainly, you will enjoy.

John Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 222-0624 or e-mail jfodairy@chorus.net

John Oncken  —  11/29/2007 9:31 am