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Mike Callicrate: How a former bull rider became a rancher and Colorado Springs’ local food supply champion

Writer's picture: Marianne LandzettelMarianne Landzettel

Updated: Jan 19


Picture credit @M.Kunz
Picture credit @M.Kunz

Stepping through the door at Ranch Foods Direct on the northeast side of Colorado Springs, the meat counter may be the first thing you see, but on a cold day the delicious aroma of hot bone broth will likely be what grabs your attention. Enjoy a cup from one of the repurposed coffee urns as you look around. Meat and meat products take center stage, cuts are prepared by trained, experienced butchers. In the kitchen behind the fresh meat case, chef Adrian Mota creates various warm and cold dishes to take away. Meat comes from animals raised on Mike Callicrate’s ranch in St. Francis, a small town in the north-west corner of Kansas. ‘Snout to tail butchery’ means that nothing gets wasted. Customers can not only buy steaks, roasts, sausages and ham – fresh and in the freezer, they also find bags with marrowbones, all sorts of organ meat, and dog treats such as tendons and pig’s ears. Beef tallow goes into a variety of soap and cosmetic products, like the face cream made by a local producer. The cooler is stocked with sandwiches, bacon, all kinds of dairy products and bags of Sauerkraut and kimchi. Food hubs in southern and western Colorado deliver fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs from local growers. Sour dough bread is sourced from a small local bakery. “We like to give small producers who are just starting out a chance. If their products are made from local ingredients and of good quality, we’ll stock them, and if they are popular, they will stay on the shelves. There have been several small businesses who are now also selling through other shops as well”, says Callicrate.


Reasons to be proud and wear a smile: Mike Callicrate in the Ranch Foods shop  -  Photo credit @M.Kunz
Reasons to be proud and wear a smile: Mike Callicrate in the Ranch Foods shop - Photo credit @M.Kunz

Why does a rancher start a food business?

It’s been over four decades since Callicrate, an Evergreen, Colorado native, earned his money as a bull rider, but to take one by its horns whenever necessary remains his motto. His career as a rancher began after his wedding, when he bought his first Angus cows to graze near his in-law’s place in St. Francis, Kansas. Until the consolidation wave in the meat industry in the 1980s, ranchers like Callicrate were able to sell cattle and hogs to a dozen or more independent buyers. Ten years later there were just a few big meatpackers left. And while in the 70s, 70% of what consumers paid for meat went to the ranchers, it was now closer to 30%. In 1996 Callicrate and nine other cattlemen sued the biggest meatpacker, IBP (Iowa beef Processors), for price fixing and anti-trust violations. IBP later sold to poultry giant Tyson. The Tyson/IBP case went to court in 2004, but the consequences for Callicrate were immediate: none of the remaining big-four meat processors would buy his animals and he was forced to close down his cattle company in 1999. Giving up the ranch was never an option though. Instead, he decided to sell meat rather than livestock, slaughtering his animals at G&C Packing in Colorado Springs – which also meant organizing processing, sales and distribution of the meat.

As G&C Packing was showing signs of going out of business, like most of the other small meat companies, Callicrate teamed up with a group in Nebraska to develop a mobile slaughter unit (MSU). The animal is stunned and bled out in the farmyard. It is then lifted into the unit where it is de-hided, gutted and split into halves, which are then moved into the cooler section. On farm slaughter is the most humane form of killing an animal because it suffers far less stress. By contrast the big meat processors operate huge slaughter facilities, where thousands of animals are killed in a day. Loading, transport, unloading, and sharing crowded pens with other animals is extremely stressful, in particular for one-owner farm raised animals, which in many instances have never previously left their herd, let alone travelled for hours on a crowded truck. Stress causes the release of stress hormones, which negatively impact the quality of the meat - on farm slaughter therefore also makes for much better meat quality.

A trained and experienced butcher helps customers with advice and cooking tips   Picture credit @M.Kunz
A trained and experienced butcher helps customers with advice and cooking tips Picture credit @M.Kunz

On advice from Temple Grandin, one of Callicrate’s farm buildings had already been fitted as an indoor docking station for the MSU. With a few modifications the building was turned into a higher capacity abattoir. The MSU is now stationed at Montana State University for training purposes.


L-R Temple Grandin designed stock handling system on the farm...young cattle on ranch in nearby eastern Colorado... (both) Callicrate ranch pigs enjoy an outdoor run and ‘private accommodation’....the road to the Callicrate ranch just outside St Francis... depending on the availability of water short grass prairie grasses can look like... this, bottom left, Allan Savory calls it a brittle environment, grazing time and stocking density must be carefully planned... Callicrate slaughters and custom butchers animals for neighboring ranchers. Some are ‘finished’ on grain for a few weeks before slaughter... Photo credits @M.Kunz


Rebuilding a local food system

Western Kansas is thinly populated, and Callicrate was well aware that a sufficient customer base could only be found in or near a metro area such as Colorado Springs. Slaughtering the animal where it’s raised, while shipping only the carcass to the population center for further processing and sale made sense. Deliveries to Colorado Springs from the ranch are made weekly.


Bone broth good for health great for waste reduction. Photo credit @M.Kunz
Bone broth good for health great for waste reduction. Photo credit @M.Kunz

 The meat processed in the facility in Colorado Springs goes to the Ranch Foods Direct shop, as well as to restaurants, other wholesale customers, and online customers. Callicrate also custom slaughters animals for other ranchers, the meat is cut to their specifications for direct sales. 

The processing facility is located in a huge warehouse complex on the eastern outskirts of Colorado Springs with lots of parking space. The building houses coolers, freezers, a kitchen, a retail butcher shop and local food store (which is a smaller version of the shop closer to downtown). Because of the sheer size, Callicrate has provided some of the space to a small, local brewing company. “I’m happy to work with any small food producer but I will never be involved with ‘big food’”, says Callicrate. Sharing the space includes the use of coolers and the kitchen – a great opportunity for small businesses and producers who have outgrown the kitchens in their homes but aren’t big enough yet to rent or own a professional kitchen full time. “For an independent food business like ours with considerable investment in a single use facility, we feel it is essential to own the real estate. Owning the land and buildings provides stability and resilience, as well as potential appreciation in the real estate.


The Ranch Foods Direct Shop offers a wide choice of fresh meats and ready to cook meals....Picture credit @M.Kunz

 

Callicrate sees opportunity in co-locating with other local food enterprises, like the two food trucks selling tacos and smash burgers with tallow fries in the parking lot outside the main store. They’re owned by a former employee. They use ingredients sourced mostly from Ranch Foods Direct, and at mealtime do a roaring business. The popularity of the food trucks boost sales at the shop where customers often drop in to get a few items for later. And that benefits not only all the suppliers to the shop, but most of all the customers, who get real, healthy locally produced food at an affordable price.”




Story credit: Marianne Landzettel the London Cowgirl. Journalist and Slow Food UK Contributor

@M_Landzettel

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