Ranchers and Entrepreneurs Mary and Brian Heffernan Teach Other Producers How to Go From 'Ranch to Retail' With New Workshop
Lack of available butcheries across the country to process meats inspires California cattle ranchers to teach others how to do it themselves
FORT JONES, Calif., June 16, 2022 (Newswire.com) - California cattle ranchers and entrepreneurs Mary and Brian Heffernan, owners of Five Marys Farms, Five Marys Burgerhouse and Five Marys Custom Meat Co., know the challenge of growing and harvesting meats for direct-to-consumer sales.
While issues like drought are a commonly known problem, consumers might be surprised to learn that there has been a significant decline in available animal harvesting and butchery facilities across the country. This decline has left many meat producers with little to no options to process their animals for food consumption.
The Heffernans decided to take this concern head on and in 2021, after years of research, planning and building, opened their own USDA-approved custom butchery, Five Marys Custom Meat Co., in Fort Jones, California.
Knowing the lack of harvest and butchery facilities is not unique to their area, the Heffernans have decided to begin offering a course, Ranch to Retail, teaching other ranching entrepreneurs how to develop, build and manage their own butcheries.
The course will be available to a small number of in-person attendees hosted at Five Marys Ranch in far northern California, as well as in an online course available through the educational arm of their business, M5 Entrepreneurs. For more information on the course, please visit https://www.m5entrepreneurs.com/m5-workshops.
The Heffernans' hope is that by sharing their knowledge and expertise, they will be able to help other ranchers build sustainable operations that keep ranch-raised meats available for consumers to purchase directly from the producer.
Five Marys Farms is a direct-to-consumer California ranch offering pasture-raised beef, pork and lamb to consumers throughout the United States. Owner/operators Mary and Brian Heffernan also operate Five Marys Burgerhouse, Five Marys Custom Meat Co., Five Marys Supply Co. and M5 Entrepreneurs.
Source: Five Marys Farms