OWNER: ENGLAND FAMILY • BRAND NAME: ENGLAND CATTLE CO. BEEF • RANCH NAME: ENGLAND CATTLE CO.
How did you get started selling branded Brahman beef? There were two main driving factors that prompted our ranch-to-table beef program — demand from the community, and an opportunity to gain a higher return on our fullblood Brahman steers. We harvested our first Brahman steers in the summer of 2020. At that time, beef was hard to find on the store shelves, and we had our family and friends coming to us looking to stock their freezer with beef. Therefore, we started offering a few steers “on the hoof” – selling quarters and halves to members in our community on a “pre-order” basis to fill a need. If you’ve ever sold beef on this model, then you know custom cut sheets are a big undertaking, and we saw that our profit margins could increase if we went the individual cut/retail route. As word got out within the community that you could buy beef from us, we had many members of the public calling and asking if they could just buy some ground beef and steaks for the week. As the demand for individual cuts grew and our business model changed, the following year we harvested steers at a USDA-certified facility which has allowed us to sell at local farmers markets and ship beef across the US.
What type of cattle are you using in your beef program? All the steers that we run through England Cattle Co. Beef have Brahman blood in them with the majority being fullblood Gray Brahman. On average, we will feed around 125-150 steers a year. We have strict culling practices for docility and structural soundness in place, and we recognize that not every bull calf born on the ranch will make it as a herd sire. By having a ranch-to- table beef program, it has allowed us to demand a higher premium for our fullblood Brahman steers. The remaining steers are out of F1 cows and sired by Brangus bulls. With this cross we have seen higher gains and less time on feed in the yard.
How do you market your branded beef operation? Although we have a strong website and very active social media pages, by far the best advertising for us is word of mouth and reviews from happy customers. On any given weekend, we will attend 4-5 Farmers Markets in the Rio Grande Valley. We have a well-established customer base and strive to provide excellent customer service. Every week we gain new customers who hear about us from their friends or who tried our beef at one of the local restaurants we supply.
Where is your product available for sale? Aside from local farmers markets, you can order beef online at englandcattlecobeef.com. The website is the easiest way to look at a full list of our cuts and then schedule an order pickup or shipment to your door. We currently offer individual cuts and quarters and halves on a monthly subscription basis. Currently, our monthly subscription boxes are only available for pickup at our local markets.
What cuts do you offer? What is the most popular? We offer everything from tongue to tail — literally. Of course, our number one seller is our boneless ribeye but fajitas, tenderloin filets, flat iron and chuck eye steaks tend to sell out next. By far our cut that is the most in-demand is Brahman Hump. We have shipped hump roasts as far north as Washington state and have sent several of our Winter Texan customers from Canada home with Brahman humps. We often joke that we wish we could put two humps on a Brahman, because the demand is so high!
How is Brahman beef different than other beef? Brahman beef is truly one of a kind. Feedback from our customers tell us that it’s unlike any beef they’ve ever had. Some say it has a sweeter flavor than others, but all can agree that you can’t beat the taste. Research has shown that Brahman beef is actually lower in saturated fatty acids than other breeds, making it better for your heart too.
Are there any negative preconceived notions about Brahman beef from buyers that you have to address? We rarely encounter negativity toward Brahman beef in our area. Being in the Rio Grande Valley, Brahman cattle are very prominent here and our community has not required a ton of education on the breed. Many are surprised to see such great marbling in the steaks. It has been great to show that Brahman cattle can grade, and the proof is in the product.
How interested are people in buying Brahman beef? The demand grows every year. When we first got started, we harvested three head, and it took us roughly four months to sell them. Now, we are consistently harvesting seven to fifteen head per month based on the season. The demand is there! Now, more than ever, the American consumer wants to know where their food is coming from, and we are honored to be a small part of the American beef industry.
Are you retaining kill data to be used with other performance data in your herd? Yes, we are. In addition to obtaining a full DNA profile on every fullblood Brahman steer, every carcass is graded and given a USDA-certified grade. Right now, we are using this information within our own herd to identify which sire lines are producing the steers with higher-marbling grades and larger ribeye areas, and also as a way to educate our customer base when they go to purchase bulls or semen.
Do you have particular bloodlines that you think are superior based on the meat? Through our research, we have identified that the ECC El Caporal 301 and ECC AX Polled Rio King 620 sire lines are our superior carcass sires. A Caporal son, ECC Polled Rio King 104/8, sired our first prime-grading 100% Brahman steer. In addition, Caporal sits in the Top 20% of the breed himself for Marbling and the Top 25% of the breed for Carcass Weight, with heavier carcasses yielding more beef and, in return, dollars in your pocket. ECC AX Polled Rio King 620 ranks in the Top 20% of the breed for Tenderness and produced ECC Polled Rio King 817/3 who was the High-Indexing Bull of the 2024 ABBA Bull Gain Test.
Please describe the biggest challenges of owning a branded beef operation. The biggest challenge was just getting started. In the beginning, we faced many hurdles and had to work hard to get our name out there and establish a brand. It was a grind and required many late nights and weekends spent at the farmers markets ourselves, visiting with the public and sharing our story. Now we are blessed to have a great team of employees that help us on the weekends, and we can fill in when necessary. There’s no rule book on how to build a branded beef program, and even if there was, just because it worked for someone else, doesn’t mean it will work for you. We’re here today through many trial and error situations and just figuring out what worked best for us in our area. We have friends in the same space that are thriving on selling quarters and halves, and they don’t need to go the retail route. Our biggest advice would be to do your own research in your area, find the niche in the market and go from there. How many steers do you have available? What is your target audience? How much are they willing to spend on beef? Do you want to sell just to the public or wholesale to restaurants? There are so many factors that go into this business and doing your research beforehand will help in the long run.
Is there anything else that I have not asked you want to tell me about? A few years ago, we coined the phrase “Beef is Better with Brahman” and we firmly believe this statement. We must not forget that Brahman cattle are a vital part of the beef industry, and it is our job as Brahman breeders to do our part in making sure the cattle we are raising today are able to get the job done, from the ring to the rail. If you are a Brahman breeder and are wanting to start a branded beef program, we encourage you to do so! It’s time we take up space in the beef market and demand a premium for our fullblood Brahman steers.
• 985-747-7001
• 13228 MILE 2 E, MERCEDES, TX 78570
• ENGLANDCATTLECOBEEF.COM
