Local farm MJ Ranch raises grass-fed cows for local beef sales. The meat is available at the Merc and for individual purchase.

As the months warm up and the cattle gain more weight, owners Mel and Joyce Williams will start to package their unique beef. Joyce said their spring supply of beef had already sold out, but they would soon start to package for the fall months.

Dale Blasi, beef extension specialist and professor at Kansas State University, said grass-fed versus grain-fed was just a matter of consumer preference. Consumers may worry about the quality of grain-fed beef, but all grain-fed is FDA approved, he said.

Blasi said farmers like the Williams were filling a niche since customer perception on packaged beef had changed over the years. He said consumers may not trust the government anymore and being able to special order the way their beef was cut has become a major plus.

“Based on previous survey results, locally raised beef appears to gain some consumers’ trust. It does appear that having a name and a face to go with the product gives it value,” Blasi said.

Joyce Williams said she thought the reason they had sold out this year was because the idea and benefits behind grass-fed cattle was catching on.

Joyce said grain-fed cattle were more prone to getting diseases from bacteria and grain-fed beef has more fat. She said the way she and her husband care for the cattle helped to keep the cattle less stressed, which Joyce said would help the meat taste better.

Joyce said there were also environmental benefits to grass-feeding cows. She said the cows were their own fertilizer and the land had several creeks, which supplied the cattle’s water.

Linda Flynn, Kansas City, Mo., resident and a customer of MJ Ranch, said what was important to her was being able to trust the product and whether it was local.

Flynn said she worried what conventional farms were doing to their animals, But with local farms, she could actually see how they treated the cattle.

Joyce said she has always encouraged her customers to come and see their ranch. She said anyone could see how they run their farm, but she also invited people over for hayrides.

“They can even come down and pick out their cow if they want,” Joyce said.

Flynn said she would continue to buy locally even if the prices rose. She hoped it wouldn’t rise too much because local food doesn’t have to be shipped and it was the best overall choice.

Though Flynn has only ordered from Joyce once, she said she would reorder from the ranch. Joyce said many of her customers were repeat customers, but that this year they had finally sold out of meat.

Joyce said they would package about 50 cows this year, which is their maximum. She said they would never expand larger than this because the land can only hold that many cows and to get bigger they would have to outsource. Mel and Joyce sell around half of their products to Lawrence markets and supermarkets like the Merc. They sell the other half to Kansas City markets and restaurants, with their processor located midway in De Soto.

Rick Marquez, meat and seafood manager at the Merc, has been selling MJ Ranch’s beef for a few years. Marquez said that because the beef was naturally healthy and as a local product, it fit well with the Merc.

“I think their beef sells well. More and more people are starting to hear about grass-fed beef,” Marquez said.

Joyce said she thought the idea of grass-fed was becoming popular and local residents were educating themselves on the benefits it could offer. She said she hoped more farmers would start to do the same.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Joyce said. “We love what we do.”

— Edited by Christine D’Amico