Meat+Poultry - August 2021 - 22

COVER STORY
renovated to a smokehouse and bakery,
another example of implementing what it has
learned from third-party partners. The new
operation is expected to be up and running by
Spring 2022.
In another example of breaking the mold,
the beef processing operation distinguishes
itself from others by running its beef first
through a 700-lb capacity bowl chopper before
an auger moves it to one of two lines, where
the beef is conveyed to a grinder/mixer and
then dumped into a Vemag stuffer either for
loaves that are directed to a thermoformed
packaging area or onto a patty forming line and
vacuum tray packed. The Reiser-heavy line is a
good fit for the grinding operation, Lahm said.
The beef patties produced
at Certified Piedmontese
are first run through a bowl
chopper before they are
conveyed to a grinder/
mixer - this produces
patties that are unlike
others on the market.
switching between steak cutting and ground
beef processing. In total, the operation typically
produces up to 25,000 lbs per week. Its weekly
ground beef capacity is upwards of 60,000
lbs, while the staff of about 16 steak cutters
is almost maxed out, which made the recent
investment in a Grasselli slicer a welcome
addition. As the on-site facilities are expanded
to accommodate more products, including a
smokehouse and the addition of cooked foods
in the coming year, Lahm expects production to
increase to as much as 45,000 lbs per day. The
company is expecting it will process an average
of 400 head of cattle per week for 2021, which
includes its core grain-fed products and the
fast-growing grass-fed beef.
The warehouse and processing area is
currently being reconfigured to accommodate
order fulfillment and shipping for e-commerce,
which was originally a minor part of the
business that turned out to be a well-timed
profit center, going from about 100 orders a
week up to as many as 1,200 orders per day.
" Now it's time to expand, " Lahm said.
Like other parts of the business,
e-commerce has been a learning process and
the resources dedicated to the growth and
refining the execution has grown exponentially.
" By the time it was truly behaving and
operating like an e-commerce company, we
were already fulfilling and shipping from our
campus here, " Mohl said.
That space that was previously used
for order fulfillment and shipping is being
22 MEAT+POULTRY | 08.21 | www.meatpoultry.com
HIGH ON GRASS-FED
With a growing on-property garden and plans
to one day even raise chickens on the property,
" we're really trying to make a 'from our farm to
your table' type of approach, " Swain said.
While the company's core products are
from cattle raised on vegetarian, grain-based
diets, about a year ago, CP launched its grassfed-and-finished
line of products. Grass-fed
was tested early in the company's development
but it was put on the side burner while details
were worked out to ensure the genetics would
produce consistent product with the bulls in
the program. Once that was established, Shane
Peed led the effort to purchase a handful of
ranches with enough land to grow the grassbased
feed to sustain a growing program. In
2020, as a newer program, grass-fed cattle were
slaughtered and processed about every four
weeks, but in 2021, as it matures and demand
has grown, the program is on a 52-week
harvest frequency. The production of the
animals is an 18- to 22-month process.
" It's just a matter of time before our
grass-fed really catches fire. It's all about
the performance [of the cattle], " Swain said.
" We've seen it develop that way with the grain
finished and know it's going to come with the
grass finished. "
York Farms is home base where the
company's dedicated grass-fed and finished
Certified Piedmontese cattle are produced. The
production of cattle in the grass-fed program
is approximately 24 to 25 months from birth
to slaughter while the core, grain-fed cattle
require between 18 months to 22 months. The
Certified Piedmontese
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Meat+Poultry - August 2021

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