Adversity creates opportunity

RITZVILLE - The same thing that killed off numerous businesses actually created conditions to thrive for one Eastern Washington ranch family.

"We've been ranchers for 50-plus years," said Peyton Curtis, 24, whose family raises, packages and sells beef under The Herd brand name. "This is all my family has done. I remember the idea of selling beef direct to the consumer was always thrown around at our dinner table, but we felt we're too busy.

"'We don't have time to do this. We don't have the processing space.' It felt there was excuse after excuse to not sell directly to the consumer."

Curtis said when COVID shutdowns were ordered by Gov. Jay Inslee, "and all the meat shelves became empty, it was a weird time..."

The family's 5C Ranches are centered around 2300 N. Klein Rd.

"Then, the meat processing plant down the road in Odessa, the former Cattle Producers of Washington, on Stein Lane, finally called it quits, it was a perfect time for us to enter into the marketplace."

Curtis said bigger meat processing plants were shutting down because of government mandates.

"That's when we acquired the beef processing plant in Odessa," she said, noting she clearly remembers touring the Odessa plant. "It was run down. I remember walking through the plant and sitting in the big cooler with my dad. He said, 'Are we going to do this?' And I said, 'We got to do it.' So we bought the plant."

Curtis said her family made their first harvest of about 20 head of cattle in July 2022, with about a half-dozen previous employees eager to work.

"It's in flux with the seasons," Curtis said. "So summer, fall, late spring, are definitely our busy months - when we're most full. January and February it slows down a bit."

She said the industry fluctuates with the weight of cattle during different times of the year.

"So, when you make a shift like that, one of the things you really have to think about is refrigeration," Curtis said. "We can harvest 60 head at the plant per week and have enough freezer and hanging space, but we had to move our operations of the finished product to Ritzville."

Curtis and her family bought an old automotive garage at 6 South Jefferson, scrubbed it up with a hot water pressure washer and installed a 900-square-foot freezer.

"We're going to put in a commercial kitchen in the corner to start further processing products," she said.

Curtis said she quickly navigated social media "and a lot of our advertising is based on the education aspect of things.

"Ranching is starting to become romanticized again, and people are wanting to connect their food products back to the place where it was raised. So, we have this cool opportunity to educate the consumer on this is where their food product comes from. This is how we do it."

Still, Curtis said a lot of her advertising is word of mouth.

"Someone will order a box, they'll cook it for dinner, someone comes over and says, 'Wow, this is the best beef I've ever had. Where did you get it,'" she said.

Then there are referrals.

Curtis said the success with beef quality comes from her father's decision about 20 years ago to raise steak instead of a 600-700 pound calf.

Peyton's father, Miles Curtis, said the company does not yet sell boxed beef to grocery stores, and there is "very little wholesale," but is relying on sales to restaurants.

He also said sales volumes are closely held by the family, but he did say the Odessa processing plant alone has a $1 million annual payroll for about 25 full-time employees. The family has about five employees at the cattle ranch.

"It's been an accumulation of tweaking genetics, selecting different carcass traits, such as rib eye size and marbling, that has allowed us to grade about 6-7 times above the national average in terms of prime beef," Curtis said, noting the business goal is to sell a majority of beef off the family ranch through a retail box program.

"I think the market potential is there. It's just a matter of getting our name out there and people learning about us," Peyton Curtis said. "And people want to buy and support local. I ship my beef all up and down the West Coast.

"So, if I can just multiply that by 10, then we'll be going somewhere."