What Happens to the Rest of the Animal and How Montana Ranchers are Reclaiming Its Value
When a Black Angus cow arrives at a processing facility, it weighs an average of 1,200 pounds. However, only 500 pounds are processed into consumable meats and sold at the butcher counter. The other 700 pounds, consisting of hides, bones, organ meat, blood, and fat, is generally rerouted to the landfill or compost, meaning over half of the animal, along with potential nutritional value for customers and added revenue for ranchers, is lost. In all but the largest processing plants, this is a common outcome. But thanks in part to increasing consumer demand for these “other” products, Montana ranchers, processors, and value-added entrepreneurs are finding creative ways to reroute and reintroduce these products into local, regional, and national markets.
Historical Whole Animal Utilization
Using every part of a cow was once common practice, rooted in necessity and respect for the animal. However, over the last 40 years, as large-scale processing became normalized, efficiency and cost-cutting measures have taken precedence over whole animal utilization. Processing hides, blood, and fat takes specialized equipment, facilities, and substantial market access to be profitable today. Large meat packers enjoy the economies of scale to make these investments cost-effective, but smaller businesses often lack the capacity. This shift reduced incentives for butchers to process and distribute less popular animal parts, including organ meats. Cuts that could be standardized in mass quantities were pushed, and over time, consumer demand for specialty products declined. Coupled with a growing distance from traditional butchery and loss of knowledge on how to use the products, a system where only the most profitable
Individual Level
Anna Borgman from Chaos Farms, a Whitehall-based wild game processor and mobile butcher, is seeing increased interest in whole animal utilization, driven by media highlighting the nutritional and ethical value of organs, tallow, and bones. Today, more consumers are buying fat (“fat is like gold,” Anna says) to render into tallow for cooking and skincare, and Borgman’s small-scale operation is experiencing this change firsthand. Recently, a sheep farmer who hired Borgman to process five sheep initially planned to keep only certain parts of the processed animals. As they worked, the farmer asked questions about the other parts of the animal and what people did with them. By the end of the day, the farmer kept the entirety of the animals. Instead of being wasted, bones were kept to make bone broth, heart and liver recipes were shared, and anything remaining would be made into dog treats.
Scaling Up
Montana’s high-quality pasture-raised beef is a big part of the growing demand, according to Brian Engle, owner of Pioneer Meats in Big Timber. “I can’t keep marrow bones or beef knuckle on our shelves; everybody wants them for broth.” He’s delighted to see the demand for specialty animal products growing. “It completes the circle,” he says.
“Ranchers work hard raising animals on pasture to make a beneficial product. No one wants to send any of that to the landfill or pay to have it composted.”
Wyatt Nelson, owner-operator of Montana Local Foods Distribution, agrees. “The consumer mindset is changing and [they are] willing to pay more for clean, local products. Montana has that product,” Wyatt says. “Getting known for that product is the key. Equally important is being ready to meet the demand.”
Sara Andrews is focusing her efforts on doing just that. Based in Big Timber and spearheaded by a collaboration of ranchers, processors, and value- added producers, Sara co-founded The Grange to build the “messy middle” of infrastructure needed to allow for the aggregation and distribution of locally raised and processed products at scale. Currently in pre-development, The Grange hopes to aggregate, cut, and distribute halves, hides, and organ meat to regional and national brands within three years and launch a co-packing facility shortly thereafter.
Even without The Grange operating, connections between ranchers and businesses are growing. Pioneer Meats’ line of local dog treats, “Treats of Montana”, was already succeeding when Wyatt learned that West Paw, a Montana-based pet toy company, wanted to develop dog treats from Montana regenerative ranch organ meat for the national market. He connected them with Brian, who developed a three-ingredient recipe for West Paw and now processes their “Montana Beef Sticks” treats at Pioneer Meats. PEOPLE magazine awarded West Paw’s Montana Beef Sticks the Pet Product Award for 2024 for best jerky dog treat, helping build both West Paw’s market and the market for Montana specialty meat products.
Nose to Tail, No Matter the Size
No matter the scale of our meat consumption needs, there are ample opportunities to utilize more of the animals we raise and consume. As the demand for the ‘other half’ grows, so does the innovation, infrastructure, and availability. Whether it’s picking up some tallow face cream at the farmers market, using bones for broth, buying your dog organ meat treats, or connecting with local producers and processors for your own business, anyone at any scale can help add value to the food supply chain and put more money into the pockets of their local producers.
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Written by:
CHLOE NOSTRANT