By Patti Brumbach
No one is immune from the impacts of COVID-19, especially our beef community. With temporary plant closures resulting in decreased cattle harvesting and limited offerings at the grocery store, many consumers and beef producers are searching for alternatives. So, it is times like these when your Beef Checkoff-funded Local Beef Directory on wabeef.org has become a great tool.
The Local Beef Directory was created about five years ago in response to consumers calling the Beef Commission office to locate producers willing to sell their beef directly. The Directory allows consumers to search for ranchers and butcher shops by county and provides essential contact information to connect consumers directly to producers.
The Directory also educates consumers about buying beef direct and gives advice on about how much yield consumers can expect from a 1,300-pound steer, shows the various cuts of beef and the sub primal location. Further, delicious beef recipes, proper storage and freezing information and cooking videos are just a click away on wabeef.org.
Over the years we have typically averaged about 500 monthly visits to the Local Beef Directory. But in January those visit number began a steady climb. In March, just as consumers began to panic buy everything from toilet paper to ground beef, we saw a jump to 1,172 visits, in April site visits climbed to 2,938 and we are well on track to achieve over 5,000 visits to the Local Beef Directory in May. On average, consumers are spending about 11 minutes searching the site indicating that they are taking the time to explore their local beef buying options. The Directory is clearly being put to work by consumers as the WSBC is starting to hear from producers that are receiving many requests because of the Directory and that the custom butchers are struggling to keep up with the demand for your product.
If you, or any other Washington beef producers would like to be included in the Local Beef Directory, please contact KGilkey@wabeef.org and provide your contact information including: Farm/Ranch Name, City and County location, Phone Number, Email, Website and/or Social Media Handles.
Wabeef.org, your Beef Checkoff-funded website, is a treasure trove of helpful information about beef. Whether you are looking for the weekly retail price reports, beef cuts charts, beef recipes, local rancher profiles, links to Beef Checkoff-funded research or need to clarify a question about modern beef production practices, the wabeef.org provides accurate, science-based information that you can trust.
For more information about any program funded with your $1.50 Beef Checkoff investment, contact Patti Brumbach at 206.444.2902 or e-mail her at pbrumbach@wabeef.org. Visit wabbef.org or beefitswhatsfordinner.com to learn more about the Checkoff-funded promotions. Follow our activities targeting millennial consumers on social media at Facebook.com/WABeef, Twitter@wabeef, YouTube@WABeef, Instagram@WABeefLove or pinterest.com/wabeef/.