A calf can leave the ranch where it was born, move through multiple stages of the beef industry, and travel again after processing before it ever reaches the grocery store. Here's what that journey can look like.
When you see a package of beef at the grocery store, it's easy to picture a pretty simple journey.
A cow was raised on a ranch.
It was processed.
The beef went to the store.
But for much of the conventional beef industry, the road from pasture to plate can have quite a few more stops.
Sometimes, the ranch where an animal is born is only the beginning of the journey.
Let's take a look.
THE JOURNEY CAN START AT ONE RANCH AND END SOMEWHERE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
Most beef cattle begin their lives on cow-calf operations.
According to the USDA, calves are generally raised there until they're weaned at around 400 to 600 pounds.
Then things can start moving.
A calf may be sold and shipped directly to a feedlot.
Or it may go first to a stocker or backgrounding operation, where it continues growing before eventually moving to a feedlot.
After finishing, cattle are shipped again, this time to a slaughter and processing plant. From there, the beef is distributed into restaurants, retail stores, institutions and other outlets.
In fact, USDA's own diagram of the U.S. beef-production system shows the possible progression:
Cow-calf operation → stocker operation → feedlot → slaughter plant → further processing → retail or foodservice.
Not every animal follows every step.
But many do.
THE FEEDLOT CAN BE ANOTHER STOP
Most cattle eventually enter feedlots, according to USDA research, although individual production systems vary.
And today's feedlot industry operates at a remarkable scale.
USDA data show that feedlots selling 1,000 or more cattle represent only about 7% of U.S. feedlots, yet market approximately 88% of fed cattle.
Feedlots selling 5,000 or more cattle account for roughly 77% of fed cattle marketed.
So although there are thousands of smaller operations across the country, a large percentage of America's finished cattle moves through a relatively small number of very large feeding operations.
Once cattle reach market weight, they're ready for another trip.
THEN IT'S ON TO THE PROCESSING PLANT
USDA data show that nearly all shipments leaving surveyed feedlots went directly to slaughter rather than to another feedlot or interim handling facility.
The USDA also specifically notes that handling and transportation present risks of injury and weight loss, which is one reason expedited delivery to the slaughter facility is expected.
That matters.
Because transportation isn't just a line on a supply-chain diagram.
There's a live animal making that trip.
Loading.
Trucking.
Unloading.
A new environment.
New surroundings.
And potentially unfamiliar animals and people.
For us, that part of the story matters just as much as what happens after processing.
THE TRAVEL DOESN'T END WHEN THE ANIMAL IS PROCESSED
Once cattle reach a slaughter facility, the journey changes from transporting cattle to transporting beef.
USDA describes finished cattle being processed into beef that is then distributed to restaurants, retailers, institutions and other outlets.
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service tracks an enormous national market in boxed beef, including sales, shipping, delivery periods and destinations.
So the steak you eventually see in a grocery case can be several stages removed from the ranch where the animal began its life.
IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THAT SYSTEM?
Not necessarily.
There's a reason the modern beef supply chain developed this way.
Specialization allows different businesses to handle different stages of production. Large feedlots can finish enormous numbers of cattle. Large processors can process beef efficiently at tremendous scale. Distribution networks can move that beef throughout the country.
The system is designed to move a lot of beef.
And it does.
But efficiency isn't the only thing that matters to us.
HERE'S WHAT WE'RE QUESTIONING
How much movement should happen between pasture and plate?
How many times should an animal need to be transported?
How many different operations need to be involved?
And how far removed should the person buying the beef be from the place where that animal actually lived?
Those aren't questions with one universally correct answer.
But they're questions worth asking.
Because once you understand how long the conventional beef supply chain can become, you start to understand why knowing exactly where your beef came from isn't always as simple as reading the package.
OUR BEEF DOESN'T TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME
At Falula Farm, we've taken a dramatically shorter route.
Our cattle spend their lives on more than 3,000 acres of open pasture, raised and cared for by our fourth- and fifth-generation ranch family.
And when it's time for processing?
They don't get loaded onto a truck and hauled to a distant processing facility.
They're processed right here on the same ranch, one animal at a time, in our USDA-inspected facility.
The beef is aged for 14 days, hand-cut, vacuum sealed, labeled and flash frozen.
Then it goes to you.
There isn't a stocker operation in between.
There isn't a commercial feedlot.
There isn't a distant slaughter plant.
And there isn't a massive network of cattle changing locations before they become the beef we sell.
The ranch where the story begins is also where the beef is processed.
That's unusual.
And it's one of the things we value most about the way our beef is produced.
THE BEEF REPORT BOTTOM LINE
The conventional beef supply chain can involve multiple operations before beef ever reaches a consumer.
Cow-calf ranch.
Stocker operation.
Feedlot.
Processing plant.
Further processing.
Distribution.
Retail.
Each stage exists for a reason, and not every animal follows exactly the same path. But USDA's own research shows just how complex the modern beef-production system can be.
Our system is intentionally different.
Our cattle don't need to travel from operation to operation for us to produce beef.
They're raised here.
They're processed here.
And we know what happened in between because we were there for the entire journey.
When we say ranch to table, that's what we mean.