Montana Audubon and Blue Nest Beef Collaborate to Open New Cull Cow Market Opportunity for Ranchers
Connections made at the Annual Expanding Markets Conference
This winter, 63 cull cows from 3 Audubon Certified ranches were loaded onto trucks- supplying beef raised on “bird-friendly” lands in Montana to US restaurants owned by an ecologically-conscious International company. Thanks in part to the connections made at the Western Sustainability Exchange’s (WSE) Expanding Markets Conference, Montana landowners, Montana Audubon, and Standard Soil were able to begin formulating a strategy to source for this new cull cow market opportunity.
Standard Soil, Audubon’s commercial and logistics partner, purchased the cattle and provided shipping, logistics, and processing for the pilot project. Todd Churchill, co-founder of Standard Soil and CFO of Blue Nest Beef, was optimistic about the first load leaving Big Timber, MT, this winter. “We’re really excited to announce the launch of our pilot project for Standard Soil, sourcing cull cows from Audubon Certified Ranches in Montana. We had our first two loads of cows delivered to our processor in Minnesota in late January, and we were thrilled with both the quality of the beef trim and the relative ease of putting the supply chain together.”
Blue Nest Beef already produces “Bobolink” meat sticks, a beef product that sources cattle from Audubon-certified lands throughout the US.
According to Christian Meny, Director of Conservation at Montana Audubon, “birds can serve as barometers for environmental health, and Audubon certification distinguishes ranchers that manage their operation to promote animal welfare and biodiversity.” In direct collaboration with the National Audubon program, Montana’s Audubon Conservation Ranching program (ACR) certifies cattle and bison ranches that qualify as “Bird-Friendly.” The ACR certification supports ranchers and empowers consumers to support conservation by selecting beef/bison products bearing the Audubon seal. Beyond this marketing tool, ranchers in the ACR program benefit from a ranch-specific Habitat Management Plan, a bird inventory of the ranch, workshops/education, and the ability to leverage certification to obtain grant awards for grazing infrastructure projects.
Both organizations were represented at the November 2023 Expanding Markets Conference held in Billings. The conference, hosted by Western Sustainability Exchange, a nonprofit that helps ranchers improve their grazing management, is the only event in the West focusing on opening markets for regenerative producers. Christian Meny adds, “Expanding markets for Montana producers is a major goal of Montana Audubon and WSE. Helping regenerative ranchers to make market connections promotes good land stewardship, animal welfare, and biodiversity, and connects people to good food.”
If the pilot proves successful, Standard Soil may seek to source 1,000 or more cows annually from Audubon Certified lands in Montana. This cull cow market may provide an opportunity to scale regenerative ranching practices in Montana, supporting productive, resilient, and profitable ranches that rebuild and maintain healthy soil, recharge watersheds, and increase biodiversity.
“We anticipate needing a lot of cows from Audubon ranches all over the country, starting when this pilot project becomes a full project in the fourth quarter of 2024,” Todd added.
For more information on the Audubon Conservation Ranching program in Montana, email Montana Audubon’s Director of Conservation, Christian Meny, at cmeny@mtaudubon.org. For more information on Blue Nest Beef and Standard Soil, email Todd Churchill at todd.churchill@standardsoil.com.
To learn how you or your organization can become involved with or attend the 2024 Expanding Markets on September 24th and 25th in Billings, contact Holly Stoltz at hstoltz@wsestaff.org.c