Meat Marketing in the Digital Age

Travis and Kendra Paulton have always held back for their own freezer a few steers from their commercial Angus cow-calf operation. When friends in town asked if the Paultons would consider selling their beef, the couple began feeding out one or two more steers. 

First, they sold halves and quarters to friends, then friends of friends. About five years ago, they started selling individual cuts at the local farmers market. Soon came the next step: shipping beef nationwide. 

Dakota Canyon Ranch, just outside the southwest corner of the Black Hills National Forest, in Dewey, South Dakota, is about an hour and a half from a UPS drop-off location. But that has not deterred the Paultons. The couple’s fourth-generation ranch also supports Travis’ parents and his sister’s family. Millie, the oldest of the Paultons’ seven children, owns her own cow and chose to keep its calf to raise as a show steer this year, and market the beef direct-to-consumer. 

“Our kids are very involved,” Kendra Paulton said. “There’s a good chance [several] are going to want to stay on and continue ranching on our family operation.” That means diversifying is a must, she said, with rising costs, and little opportunity to expand, land-wise. 

Although the Paultons are relatively new to the direct-to-consumer meat marketing business, they have experimented with various approaches and believe tools, such as the online platform Range Market, have potential to help them turn a side business into a viable future.

Going Local 

The Paultons live and ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota but consider Newcastle, Wyoming, half an hour northwest, their hometown. To sell individual cuts of beef across state lines or at farmers markets, their animals must be processed in a USDA-inspected facility. 

All meat sold must go through inspection, though specific requirements differ, state to state. There is one way around this: When a consumer (or multiple) is sold a live animal, the livestock producer can deliver it to a custom-exempt facility, where the consumer pays for processing and picks up the meat. It’s important to look into and follow local and federal laws. 

Not every customer is ready to buy in bulk, which is why the Paultons started selling individual cuts of beef at their local farmers market. This requires a great deal of time and effort, Kendra Paulton said, but it has become one of her children’s favorite activities. Besides selling beef, her boys sell produce from their gardens, and Millie has become known as “the granola girl” for her table of homemade treats. 

“We look at the farmers market as a marketing opportunity and way to build community,” Kendra Paulton said. “When people would taste [the beef] and get to know the producer, then they would be a lot more prone to plan ahead to get a half cow to fill their family’s freezer for the year.” 

As of January 2024, the Paultons had nearly sold out of their bulk beef for the year with preorders. They plan to keep back some beef, in their on-ranch walk-in freezer, for shipping and farmers markets. Every year, they finish out one or two more steers, a trend they hope to continue by expanding their market beyond their local community.

Going Online 

The best thing to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kendra Paulton said, was the shift she saw, even in her small community, of people wanting to reconnect with their food and the farmers who grow it. 

“People want to buy your story,” she said. “They want to feel like they’re supporting your family, even if they don’t know you personally.” 

But they also want convenience. A survey of 1,000 meat and chicken consumers, conducted by Midan Marketing in March 2021, found 57% of consumers purchased meat or chicken online in the past month. Kendra Paulton noticed, and created a website in December 2022. In January 2023 she found Range Market. 

The online meat wholesaler, based in south-central Montana, was also born in the COVID-19 era. Founder Cassi Hammerness grew up on a cow-calf operation in western North Dakota, where her mom, Jodi Schriefer, was also seeing increased interest in from-the-farmer beef. Looking to widen tight farm profit margins, Schriefer started selling beef locally. She recognized demand for online beef sales, but building a website and shipping the meat seemed overwhelming. So, Hammerness stepped in. 

“I thought, ‘What if I created a way for people like my mom to just be on a site where everything’s done for them?’ ” recalls Hammerness, who was pursuing an MBA from Colorado State University. 

Hammerness and three other students took on the idea in their capstone project. They developed a plan for what is now Range Market, a website Hammerness describes as “Etsy for livestock producers.” The site launched in fall 2022 and hosts about 20 livestock producers across the U.S. That number is growing, Hammerness said.

Range Market 

Currently free to join as a producer, Range Market provides a plug-and-play online store for each producer, processes payments, generates shipping labels, and sends customizable automated messages to customers. The company takes a 12.5% sales commission, including a 3% credit card processing fee. Hammerness, who still ships beef for her parents, also provides advice on how to ship and find the best prices for shipping supplies, like liners, boxes, and dry ice. All production types, including grain-finished beef, are welcome, as long as producers follow standard animal welfare guidelines, such as Beef Quality Assurance (BQA), and have their meat processed at a USDA-inspected facility. 

The best part of Range Market, Kendra Paulton said, is its ability to give an individual group shipping rates. Hammerness said one producer’s shipping cost as an individual was $160 compared with $40 for the same box through Range Market. 

“Through my website, I have to eat a lot more shipping costs because I’m just one little producer vs. going through Range Market, where we’re a collaborative group of ranchers pulling together,” she said. “There’s a lot of savings there that we’re able to pass to our customers.”

Share Your Story 

It’s important not to downplay the amount of work it takes to sell meat directly to consumers in any scenario, Hammerness said. Range Market offers producers publicity through its social media channels and newsletters, but the most successful producers are consistent with their own social media marketing. 

Kendra Paulton’s advice is to know your numbers and not compare your journey with anyone else’s.

 “One of the most wonderful and unique things in the agriculture world is that, as a general rule, we love to see our neighbors succeed,” she said. “I have talked to multiple other producers who are doing or starting to do the same thing we are, and it’s been so encouraging to network and share ideas, successes, and failures with each other. We each bring different strengths to the table, and your customers will find you when you stick to your values, share your story, and are consistent.”