Meet a Real Cowman: Lean Tasty Gelbvieh Beef Fits the Bill for Illinois Producer
Apr 7, 2008 2:03 PM
By Lori Maude, American Gelbvieh Association
Odell Obermark will be the first to admit that his custom natural beef enterprise started without any planning. “I always fed out a freezer beef for my family and then a co-worker asked if I would feed one for them and it grew from there,” says Obermark. “It was not intended to grow to the extent that it has.”
Today, Obermark feeds approximately 30 head of freezer beef each year to meet the demand of his growing customer base near his home in Golconda, Ill. The business grew primarily through word of mouth. Obermark worked for Allied Chemical for 30 years and it started with a few co-workers asking him to feed a beef for them. Then, those co-workers told friends or family and the rest is history.
“I have customers that I have never met,” admits Obermark. “They will call and ask for another beef. I feed the cattle and deliver them to the meat packer. That’s where my involvement ends. I let the customer deal directly with the packer to get their meat cut and packaged the way they want.”
Obermark feeds the cattle and sells the cattle for a predetermined price based on the weight on the rail. The ration he feeds consists of corn gluten and soybean hulls, along with free choice hay. “I have adjusted my rations over the years, depending on what’s available and the cost,” explains Obermark. “I raise my own hay, but I buy the corn gluten as a by-product from ethanol plants and the soybean hulls are local. It seems to work really well to finish out the cattle. If I have a really good year for moisture, I also sell quite a bit of horse hay. This past year was not one of those good years for rain.”
“The customer buys the animal from me and then pays the meat packing company directly for the cutting and packaging,” explains Obermark. “The cattle are ready to sell in May, June and July. Shortly before that I study the markets and what beef is bringing on the rail. I set a price that I can live with and that’s what the customers pay regardless of what the market is doing at the time the cattle are killed. The last couple of years I sold the fed cattle for a $1.50 per pound on the rail. The customer is happy and I can cover my expenses.”
As a load of cattle is ready to harvest, Obermark takes them to a packing plant operated by a Mennonite family that is about 45 miles from his farm. “They do a really good job of processing the cattle,” says Obermark. “So good that there is an 18-month waiting list to get something processed. I know I will have a load in May, a load in June and a smaller load in July, so I try to book a year in advance.”
Obermark admits finding a good processing plant is the greatest challenge for his business these days. He has tried other processing plants, but has not had the success he’s had with the Amish company. “I listen to my customers and they’ve said not to go to certain plants again because they weren’t happy with how the meat is cut,” says Obermark. “If the customer isn’t happy, then I’m going to make a change.”
In the past, it was easier to find a small processing plant to work with on custom jobs but consolidation over the years has made it more difficult to get animals processed.
Obermark sells a natural beef product and won’t sell any animal treated with antibiotics to his customers.
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