April 17, 2006
Cattle country | Fort Fairfield anticipates an economic boost from Pineland Farms Natural Meats' new,
By Torrey Meeks
If you ask Erick Jensen what's new at New Gloucester-based Pineland Farms Natural Meats, he's likely to start talking about a cattle feedlot ˆ and not just any feedlot. Pineland Farms is building one on a 200-acre site formerly used as a potato composting facility near Fort Fairfield, which, when completed, will be the largest feedlot east of Ohio. There, Pineland Farms plans to handle 5,000-7,000 head of cattle ˆ half its yearly total, says Jensen, the company's president ˆ that have been raised with no antibiotics or hormones.
It's part of a bid to expand production of the company's Wolfe's Neck Farm Natural Beef brand, says Jensen, which in turn could boost local agriculture. "I hope that the cattle producers throughout Maine will increase cow herd numbers to help supply the feedlot," says Jensen. "We're really trying to impact a whole new industry up there."
Pineland Farms' decision to build the feedlot, the place where cows are fattened up before slaughter, revolves around productivity. When the company transitioned from its nonprofit roots at Wolfe's Neck Farm in Freeport to for-profit status a year ago (see "From calf to cow," Aug. 22, 2005), it turned a more critical eye to the bottom line. It settled on a new feedlot as key, because holding cattle in one location prior to slaughter would be more efficient than its existing practice of shipping cattle from far-flung producers to a host of smaller feedlots. Although the initial expenditure will be roughly $5 million-$6 million in land-lease, grain and cattle costs ˆ a significant amount of the company's yearly revenue of $15 million ˆ it's one of Pineland Farms' first major moves towards vertical integration, says Jensen, which will move the business one step closer to profitability.
Though the feedlot's location in northern Maine ˆ relatively far from most of Pineland Farms' ranchers and major markets ˆ might appear counter-intuitive, to Jensen it makes perfect sense. "There are tremendous available resources of grain and foodstuffs up there," says Jensen. "Also, the land is fairly inexpensive, so a lot of underutilized areas will be available for future expansion."
Establishing a feedlot close to substantial hay and grain supplies not only makes good business sense, says Jensen, but it also fits the company's core mission like an old pair of shoes. Wolfe's Neck Farm Natural Beef was founded with the goal of improving the vitality of Maine's agricultural industry by using local, rather than distant, products, says Jensen. If there are luxury cars of the cattle world, then natural beef is the Mercedes-Benz for health-conscious meat lovers, carrying a 10% to 15% higher price tag than standard beef. Sales in the category are growing by at least 30% a year, Jensen says, and Pineland Farms sees room to increase its annual production of just over 10,000 head a year while providing ranchers with a steady customer for their cattle.
In a region like northern Aroostook County, which has seen many industries decline, the feedlot could invigorate the local agriculture business, says Jensen. Though it won't directly employ many people (the rule of thumb is one person for every 1,000 head of cattle) the economic spinoffs still could be significant. Due to the cattle's need for grazing land and food, area farmers are looking forward to counting Pineland Farms as a new customer for everything from grain and hay to lease grazing land, says Kevin Bouchard, co-owner of Fort Fairfield-based hay harvesting business Kevric Farms. "If we sell product directly to Pineland, it's another customer buying our product," says Bouchard. "If we don't, they'll still be buying a significant amount of hay. That takes a lot of product out of market, and makes other providers' product that much more valuable."
Northern exposure
The chance to become an agricultural hub is a big reason the town of Fort Fairfield has supported the feedlot plan. Over the last six years, Fort Fairfield has spent $250,000 to buy and rehabilitate 8.15 miles of railroad track that were slated for abandonment. The line runs right into the center of the town and links up with national rail networks, says Town Manager Dan Foster. The first rail cars began rolling on the rehabbed track in January, and town officials say it has the potential to handle everything from incoming shipments of grain for Pineland Farms' cattle to outgoing produce from local farmers.
The town also had available space ˆ the site of a defunct experimental potato composting facility set up by the Maine Department of Agriculture on town land in 1989. Seeing the feedlot as a potential long-term economic engine, Fort Fairfield in November granted Pineland Farms a 15-year lease for the land. Town officials also worked to smooth the permitting process for Pineland Farms. For example, the composting facility came with a set of valid Department of Environmental Protection permits. Rather than voiding those permits and making Pineland Farms apply for new ones, says Foster, the town is working with the DEP to have those permits transferred to the company. "If a business comes to me and says, 'This is something we want to do in Fort Fairfield,' the typical bureaucratic response is, 'You have this setback and this setback and this permit,'" says Foster. "Government methodology is usually very unfriendly to business. For us, I want to know what the business wants to do, and what they need to make it happen."
However, residents have raised concerns about hosting approximately 5,000 cattle within one-and-a-half miles of town. One biggie: "We had questions about how they're going to handle manure management and odors," says Foster.
In response, Pineland Farms told citizens at a town meeting that company executives had visited feedlots in the Midwest, studying odor reduction and composting techniques it plans to use in Fort Fairfield. The most important aspect in odor reduction is making sure manure doesn't linger on the ground in the lot, says Jensen, so Pineland Farms plans to regularly clean manure from the site and hold it in a separate building to compost.
For Pineland Farms, a bigger challenge is the County's weather, says Jensen. But despite occasional extreme cold snaps ˆ which can pose problems even while animals are off the range ˆ the cold conditions have built-in advantages for an all-natural program, says Deanna Potter, beef and cattle production educator with the University of Maine's Cooperative Extension program. "There's a lower incidence of disease in [Northern] areas," says Potter. "There aren't the insects, lice problems, ticks and a lot of diseases and pests you find in warmer climates."
A lower incidence of disease and parasites due to the climate has definite appeal, says Jensen, fitting nicely into Pineland's mission to invigorate the all-natural beef industry. But a far-North feedlot poses one main challenge: The bovines will be sent to a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania ˆ and diesel fuel for truck hauling isn't cheap. "While we have great availability of feed in that part of country, logistically we're a long way from processing facilities in Pennsylvania," says Jensen "That's a problem we just have to deal with." (See "Range life," this page.)
Although Fort Fairfield is now operating its rail line, Foster says it's likely too slow, and he can't see the line being used to send the animals to Pennsylvania. That leaves trucks as the best transportation option, which will make it hard for Pineland Farms to lower its transportation costs, Jensen says. Even with the extra travel distance, the feedlot has a built-in advantage that will mitigate some of the transportation costs: The site will allow Pineland Farms to ship cattle to the facility earlier in the grazing season, when they weigh less, letting them grow near the feedlot.
Locally grown
With Pineland Farm's sales growing at 30% for the last few years, Jensen says the feedlot was the next step for a company trying to stay competitive. Currently, Pineland Farms cattle are collected from ranchers and kept in space leased from six other feedlots located throughout Maine. Overstock is stashed at smaller farms that accept 20 or 30 head of cattle each. "Small groups of cattle are very hard to manage," says Potter. "It's much easier to bring in a tractor trailer loaded with 50,000 pounds to a central location, so you can manage them all at once."
Once Pineland Farms set out to create a new, larger feedlot last November, it found what appeared to be an ideal site in Fort Fairfield. Due to the feedlot's past life as a composting facility, there are already key infrastructure components in place, says Jensen, including a water runoff system that meets DEP standards for a facility that will produce large amounts of manure. There is only one major building on the grounds, a large pole barn ˆ essentially a warehouse for produce ˆ that Pineland Farms is converting to a cattle barn by installing feed troughs and pens. Other buildings slated for construction include additional barns and large, greenhouse-like structures known as "hoof buildings," which shelter cattle in severe weather.
Once the site is operational and stocked, the cattle will consume about $300,000 a year in grain alone, says Jensen. Hay requirements will be more than that. But one way Pineland plans to support the operation is by selling the cattle's by-products. "We've been getting a lot of calls from area farmers that want our manure," says Jensen, "Putting chemical fertilizer on the ground really depletes organic matter in soil."
Pineland Farms' plan is to recruit as many local farmers as possible to farming methods that mesh with the company's all-natural feed requirements. So far, Jensen says, it doesn't look like it's going to be hard to raise interest. There has been a steady stream of farmers, growers and hay harvesters like Kevin Bouchard expressing support for Pineland's project, says Jensen.
Encouraging farmers to adopt chemical-free practices may also help Pineland Farms increase its number of local cattle suppliers. In the past three years, Maine's cattle numbers have increased by 20%, says Jensen, making Maine one of few states in the country with a growing cattle business. Still, only about 3,000 of the cattle that Pineland Farms buys annually come from Maine ranchers. "Not all beef we have in Maine necessarily fit the naturally raised requirement," says Potter.
With the feedlot's slated opening on June 1, the town of Fort Fairfield is looking forward to additional revenue that the trucking industry may generate from gas sales, says Foster. And some businesses, looking ahead a year or two, are even planning changes. "We're doing preliminary research right now about opening a feed store," says Bouchard. "This feedlot has the potential to change the face of agriculture in Aroostook County in a very positive way."
But even with talk of regional economic development and boosting agriculture in northern Maine, Jensen sees the feedlot primarily as an extension of Pineland Farm's biggest responsibility. "The end product is what we're really interested in," says Jensen. "We want the highest quality of beef we can produce, because ultimately, this is all going into the consumer's mouth under the Wolfe's Neck label."
It's part of a bid to expand production of the company's Wolfe's Neck Farm Natural Beef brand, says Jensen, which in turn could boost local agriculture. "I hope that the cattle producers throughout Maine will increase cow herd numbers to help supply the feedlot," says Jensen. "We're really trying to impact a whole new industry up there."
Pineland Farms' decision to build the feedlot, the place where cows are fattened up before slaughter, revolves around productivity. When the company transitioned from its nonprofit roots at Wolfe's Neck Farm in Freeport to for-profit status a year ago (see "From calf to cow," Aug. 22, 2005), it turned a more critical eye to the bottom line. It settled on a new feedlot as key, because holding cattle in one location prior to slaughter would be more efficient than its existing practice of shipping cattle from far-flung producers to a host of smaller feedlots. Although the initial expenditure will be roughly $5 million-$6 million in land-lease, grain and cattle costs ˆ a significant amount of the company's yearly revenue of $15 million ˆ it's one of Pineland Farms' first major moves towards vertical integration, says Jensen, which will move the business one step closer to profitability.
Though the feedlot's location in northern Maine ˆ relatively far from most of Pineland Farms' ranchers and major markets ˆ might appear counter-intuitive, to Jensen it makes perfect sense. "There are tremendous available resources of grain and foodstuffs up there," says Jensen. "Also, the land is fairly inexpensive, so a lot of underutilized areas will be available for future expansion."
Establishing a feedlot close to substantial hay and grain supplies not only makes good business sense, says Jensen, but it also fits the company's core mission like an old pair of shoes. Wolfe's Neck Farm Natural Beef was founded with the goal of improving the vitality of Maine's agricultural industry by using local, rather than distant, products, says Jensen. If there are luxury cars of the cattle world, then natural beef is the Mercedes-Benz for health-conscious meat lovers, carrying a 10% to 15% higher price tag than standard beef. Sales in the category are growing by at least 30% a year, Jensen says, and Pineland Farms sees room to increase its annual production of just over 10,000 head a year while providing ranchers with a steady customer for their cattle.
In a region like northern Aroostook County, which has seen many industries decline, the feedlot could invigorate the local agriculture business, says Jensen. Though it won't directly employ many people (the rule of thumb is one person for every 1,000 head of cattle) the economic spinoffs still could be significant. Due to the cattle's need for grazing land and food, area farmers are looking forward to counting Pineland Farms as a new customer for everything from grain and hay to lease grazing land, says Kevin Bouchard, co-owner of Fort Fairfield-based hay harvesting business Kevric Farms. "If we sell product directly to Pineland, it's another customer buying our product," says Bouchard. "If we don't, they'll still be buying a significant amount of hay. That takes a lot of product out of market, and makes other providers' product that much more valuable."
Northern exposure
The chance to become an agricultural hub is a big reason the town of Fort Fairfield has supported the feedlot plan. Over the last six years, Fort Fairfield has spent $250,000 to buy and rehabilitate 8.15 miles of railroad track that were slated for abandonment. The line runs right into the center of the town and links up with national rail networks, says Town Manager Dan Foster. The first rail cars began rolling on the rehabbed track in January, and town officials say it has the potential to handle everything from incoming shipments of grain for Pineland Farms' cattle to outgoing produce from local farmers.
The town also had available space ˆ the site of a defunct experimental potato composting facility set up by the Maine Department of Agriculture on town land in 1989. Seeing the feedlot as a potential long-term economic engine, Fort Fairfield in November granted Pineland Farms a 15-year lease for the land. Town officials also worked to smooth the permitting process for Pineland Farms. For example, the composting facility came with a set of valid Department of Environmental Protection permits. Rather than voiding those permits and making Pineland Farms apply for new ones, says Foster, the town is working with the DEP to have those permits transferred to the company. "If a business comes to me and says, 'This is something we want to do in Fort Fairfield,' the typical bureaucratic response is, 'You have this setback and this setback and this permit,'" says Foster. "Government methodology is usually very unfriendly to business. For us, I want to know what the business wants to do, and what they need to make it happen."
However, residents have raised concerns about hosting approximately 5,000 cattle within one-and-a-half miles of town. One biggie: "We had questions about how they're going to handle manure management and odors," says Foster.
In response, Pineland Farms told citizens at a town meeting that company executives had visited feedlots in the Midwest, studying odor reduction and composting techniques it plans to use in Fort Fairfield. The most important aspect in odor reduction is making sure manure doesn't linger on the ground in the lot, says Jensen, so Pineland Farms plans to regularly clean manure from the site and hold it in a separate building to compost.
For Pineland Farms, a bigger challenge is the County's weather, says Jensen. But despite occasional extreme cold snaps ˆ which can pose problems even while animals are off the range ˆ the cold conditions have built-in advantages for an all-natural program, says Deanna Potter, beef and cattle production educator with the University of Maine's Cooperative Extension program. "There's a lower incidence of disease in [Northern] areas," says Potter. "There aren't the insects, lice problems, ticks and a lot of diseases and pests you find in warmer climates."
A lower incidence of disease and parasites due to the climate has definite appeal, says Jensen, fitting nicely into Pineland's mission to invigorate the all-natural beef industry. But a far-North feedlot poses one main challenge: The bovines will be sent to a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania ˆ and diesel fuel for truck hauling isn't cheap. "While we have great availability of feed in that part of country, logistically we're a long way from processing facilities in Pennsylvania," says Jensen "That's a problem we just have to deal with." (See "Range life," this page.)
Although Fort Fairfield is now operating its rail line, Foster says it's likely too slow, and he can't see the line being used to send the animals to Pennsylvania. That leaves trucks as the best transportation option, which will make it hard for Pineland Farms to lower its transportation costs, Jensen says. Even with the extra travel distance, the feedlot has a built-in advantage that will mitigate some of the transportation costs: The site will allow Pineland Farms to ship cattle to the facility earlier in the grazing season, when they weigh less, letting them grow near the feedlot.
Locally grown
With Pineland Farm's sales growing at 30% for the last few years, Jensen says the feedlot was the next step for a company trying to stay competitive. Currently, Pineland Farms cattle are collected from ranchers and kept in space leased from six other feedlots located throughout Maine. Overstock is stashed at smaller farms that accept 20 or 30 head of cattle each. "Small groups of cattle are very hard to manage," says Potter. "It's much easier to bring in a tractor trailer loaded with 50,000 pounds to a central location, so you can manage them all at once."
Once Pineland Farms set out to create a new, larger feedlot last November, it found what appeared to be an ideal site in Fort Fairfield. Due to the feedlot's past life as a composting facility, there are already key infrastructure components in place, says Jensen, including a water runoff system that meets DEP standards for a facility that will produce large amounts of manure. There is only one major building on the grounds, a large pole barn ˆ essentially a warehouse for produce ˆ that Pineland Farms is converting to a cattle barn by installing feed troughs and pens. Other buildings slated for construction include additional barns and large, greenhouse-like structures known as "hoof buildings," which shelter cattle in severe weather.
Once the site is operational and stocked, the cattle will consume about $300,000 a year in grain alone, says Jensen. Hay requirements will be more than that. But one way Pineland plans to support the operation is by selling the cattle's by-products. "We've been getting a lot of calls from area farmers that want our manure," says Jensen, "Putting chemical fertilizer on the ground really depletes organic matter in soil."
Pineland Farms' plan is to recruit as many local farmers as possible to farming methods that mesh with the company's all-natural feed requirements. So far, Jensen says, it doesn't look like it's going to be hard to raise interest. There has been a steady stream of farmers, growers and hay harvesters like Kevin Bouchard expressing support for Pineland's project, says Jensen.
Encouraging farmers to adopt chemical-free practices may also help Pineland Farms increase its number of local cattle suppliers. In the past three years, Maine's cattle numbers have increased by 20%, says Jensen, making Maine one of few states in the country with a growing cattle business. Still, only about 3,000 of the cattle that Pineland Farms buys annually come from Maine ranchers. "Not all beef we have in Maine necessarily fit the naturally raised requirement," says Potter.
With the feedlot's slated opening on June 1, the town of Fort Fairfield is looking forward to additional revenue that the trucking industry may generate from gas sales, says Foster. And some businesses, looking ahead a year or two, are even planning changes. "We're doing preliminary research right now about opening a feed store," says Bouchard. "This feedlot has the potential to change the face of agriculture in Aroostook County in a very positive way."
But even with talk of regional economic development and boosting agriculture in northern Maine, Jensen sees the feedlot primarily as an extension of Pineland Farm's biggest responsibility. "The end product is what we're really interested in," says Jensen. "We want the highest quality of beef we can produce, because ultimately, this is all going into the consumer's mouth under the Wolfe's Neck label."
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