Yellowstone River Beef serves
local farm-to-fork beef
It’s easy to forget about shopping in 2020, when grocery stores had shortages, packing plants experienced shutdowns and feedlots backed up.
It got a lot of people thinking about where their food came from, and the challenges of a beef pipeline dominated by four major packers.
It also got Calli Thorne and her husband, C.J., talking about the cattle on their ranch near Watford City.
“If we could finish them, we would be able to put food on people’s plates,” Calli said.
So they did.
“In six to eight months, we sold beef to 200 families,” she said. “That opened our eyes to the opportunity that was out there.”
The shortages abated, but the idea remained, and a much bigger opportunity came knocking nearly four years later. The owners of Yellowstone River Beef, who were from out of state, wanted to sell the business and approached the Thornes.
It was a big move, and one they ultimately made with their neighbors, Luke and Courtney Taylor.
Calli and the Taylors grew up in the same area.
“We’ve known each other for years,” Luke said. “Both of our families are multigenerational agriculturalists. It made sense to become partners and take this leap together.”
Together, the two couples finalized the purchase at the end of May.
“It’s pretty unique that ranchers are able to touch all parts of the food chain, from feeding cattle to selling to consumers,” Calli said.
They had used Yellowstone River Beef for their own beef processing and were familiar with the operation, which helped their decision. Another positive factor?
“The team came with it,” Thorne said. “It’s a great team – nine employees. We were thankful we had them when we started. We’ve got some fantastic people who love their jobs.”
Now on any given day, Calli might be pitching in by loading meat on a truck or working at the retail counter in Williston, where shoppers can pick out a fresh steak or their first side of beef.
“We take pride in our customer service, whether it’s a customer that wants to order a whole side of beef, or it’s a rancher with animals who wants processing,” Calli said.
Yellowstone River Beef also prides itself on quality, with custom processing and farm-to-fork traceability.
Calli enjoys educating consumers about their product – from where the black and red Angus cattle are raised to how they are fed and butchered.
“It’s local cattle all from our ranch or a few other local feedlots in our area,” she said. “We know how they feed and finish them.”
Another plus is having a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector onsite, with an office at Yellowstone River Beef.
That makes it possible to sell the beef out of state.
“We can export globally,” Taylor said. “We can sell to anyone, anywhere.”
The same goes for other ranchers who have their beef custom processed at Yellowstone River Beef.
“In the short term, our main goal is to continue increasing our capacity,” Calli said. The business recently added a large freezer and a second cooler.
Long term, they’re interested in exploring opportunities with local businesses such as grocery stores, cafés and even larger government contracts.
“Places around our community that want our beef in their stores, schools or offices,” Calli said.
In the meantime, the business is focusing on retail sales of their locally raised and processed beef. And of course continuing to let ranchers in the region know it is open for custom processing of their cattle.
“It’s about all the care that goes into getting that steak on your plate,” Calli said. “Our butchers are trained and exceptional. You can walk home with a fresh steak that has never been frozen. Then, it’s just up to the cook.
To read this and other stories in the October issue of North Dakota Living CLICK HERE.
* Pictured: Owners of Yellowstone River Beef are Luke and Courtney Taylor and Calli and C.J. Thorne