Looking for local meats? You’re not alone. Demand for purchasing beef, pork and lamb directly from farmers has skyrocketed in recent years. Fortunately, Illinois is home to a growing number of farm families raising cattle, hogs and more – and selling their products directly to consumers – as well as meat processors supporting these farm-to-table efforts.
Grazed to perfection
To cattleman Sam Deisher, local beef is comparable to local honey.
“Everyone is crazy about the benefits of local honey,” Deisher says. “It tastes great, and it’s good for you. Local beef is the same way.”
Deisher’s father, Dave, began working on Foxglove Acres Ranch in high school. When the ranch’s owner passed away, Dave and his wife, Kris, bought the Mount Carmel farm, continuing the legacy of pasture-raised Charolais cattle. Their children, Sam, Jacob and Isabelle, are all involved in the cow-calf operation.
Several years ago, a business acquaintance asked if they sold fresh beef.
“That turned the switch in our heads,” Deisher says. “We thought we could sell locally raised beef direct to people and give them a good product.”
They sell retail cuts at the Wabash County Farmers Market in Mount Carmel and online.
“People tell us how much they love our beef,” Deisher says. “Customers want a good product, but they’re most interested in knowing where their food comes from.”
He prefers the term “pasture-raised” to describe their cattle rather than “grass-fed,” noting cows can be grass-fed even if they’ve spent most of their lives in a feedlot.
“We also throw some corn in the diet while our cows are on pasture,” Deisher says. “That mix makes the best meat.”
Foxglove Acres Ranch sells whole, half or quarter beef, as well as retail products such as ground beef, a fan favorite. Deisher supplied beef for one of the Illinois Farm Bureau annual meetings.
“That was a great experience,” says Deisher, who is the Farm Bureau Young Leader Committee representative for District 17. “I was told the first words out of the chef’s mouth raved about our beef, which was a huge compliment.”
His next venture is a website linking producers selling local meat with the customer. Consumers want good beef, and many local people raise fantastic beef, he says. The key is connecting them.
“In today’s society, people want their products immediately,” he says. “You go online, click, and it shows up on your doorstep. Why not do that with beef? My whole goal is to help more people buy good beef from the local farmers who are raising it.”
Processing protein
Curtis Kelsey, his son, Jaxon, and his father, Ronnie, work together raising Angus cattle. In 2020, Curtis and his wife, Erica, along with their daughter and son-in-law, Taylor and Tyler Bodnar, purchased a meatpacking business, Country Home Processing, in Albion.
“It’s because of Tyler,” Erica says. “He is a third-generation packing plant owner in North Dakota and still owns and operates that one. When he wanted to buy this one and have us go in on it with them, we said sure.”
Running the business is a family affair. Daughter Rilee Valette and her husband, Stephen, manage the retail shop where they sell pork cuts and beef from Kelsey-raised cows. Tyler leads harvest operations while Stephen runs the cutting room. Erica says they process 60 to 70 cattle and 30 to 40 hogs on average every month. Erica’s mom and sister, Stephen’s mom, and Curtis and Erica’s high school-aged kids all help, as well.
The family’s pork burgers are now carried in local Walmart stores.
“Pork burgers are a big thing in Edwards County, and we are kind of known for ours,” Erica says. “We have customers who buy a bundle to take with them when they visit family who don’t live in this area.”
Their smoked beef and pork bologna is like a German bologna, and Erica says it’s good warm or cold.
“Our community has embraced us,” she adds, noting the company employs 14 locals. “People want to know what’s in their food and how it was raised.”
A cut above
For more than 70 years, the Eickman family has served the Seward community. Fourth-generation Tom Eickman now owns Eickman’s Processing Co. with his wife, Katie. Their custom meat processing includes whole or half hogs and whole, half or quartered beef.
Eickman says cooking programs on television and YouTube have influenced customers to try fancy cuts such as double chops or porchetta.
“We can do all sorts of different cuts, but the ultimate goal is to give what you as a consumer are going to use,” he says. “Every week, we’re processing 40 to 50 head of cattle, 60 to 80 hogs, a couple of lambs and then a few exotics – bison, deer, elk – any four-legged creature that’s legal.”
In their retail space, the Eickmans sell a variety of beef, pork and lamb cuts, including cured meats such as their award-winning ham, bacon and dried beef. Eickman notes their bone-in ham has won Champion Ham at the Illinois State Fair several times and received numerous other awards.
“We have customers who tell us they are not allowed to have Christmas dinner if they don’t have an Eickman ham,” he says. “That’s a cool feeling to know that we are invited to many holiday dinners by having an item we produce on the table.”
Eickman serves as president of the American Association of Meat Processors, a position once held by both his grandfather and his father.
“I am the first third-generation president of the national organization,” Eickman says.
From this and leadership positions with the Illinois Meat Processors Association, he observes the local food movement gaining momentum.
“More people want to know where a product is coming from, what it has been fed and how has it been handled,” he says.
He notes Eickman’s produces enough food to feed about 22,000 people every day.
“We have a vitally important job,” Eickman says. “If we are not producing food, we are not feeding people.”