16 OctOber 31 - NOvember 6, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents doubt. For Jarrod Payne, 44 Farms’ director of cattle opera- tions, this is his Super Bowl. “We started planning for this day in May. We’ve been busy every day for months, and this will all be over in 10 hours,” Payne says. The fall bull sale (there’s another sale in the spring) is the opportunity for cattle ranchers from across the country to leverage 44 Farms’ experience in raising high-quality Angus cattle and to incorporate those genetics into their own herds. When I arrived just before dawn, the glow of klieg lights reflected in the morning fog as ranch hands fin- ished bringing almost 700 bulls into the pens adjacent to a barn where the auction would begin at 10 a.m. Payne says the bulls for sale this day are all less than 2 years old. Copies of a 300-page catalog are on every table in the main building, detailing traits like temperament, carcass marbling and lineage of each bull for sale. As the auction nears, every rancher has either the catalog or a cheat sheet in front of them. Attendees fill up on breakfast tacos stuffed with brisket and eggs, plus plenty of coffee, before heading next door to the auction barn. The data on each bull allows 44 Farms to offer cattle that meet the needs of each rancher, which might change de- pending on where their ranch is located, the age or the pur- pose of their herd. At a dinner hosted by 44 Farms the evening before the auction, I met cattle ranchers from West Texas, California, Nebraska and Wisconsin, each looking for something unique to their operation. “No animal sold today is ending up on someone’s plate,” Payne explains for the layman. “These bulls will go out to breed with other cattle, which produce beef for consump- tion.” Through a subsidiary called Prime Pursuits, 44 Farms maintains relationships with ranchers who purchase their bulls and then buy calves that have been bred from their stock. Prime Pursuits’ largest partner is Walmart, which works hand in hand with 44 Farms and Prime Pursuits to sell Angus beef in over 500 Walmart stores across the South- east under the McClaren Farms brand. Breeding high-quality cattle brings big money, and many of the bulls sold at the fall sale will fetch $10,000 or more. Lot No. 1 in this year’s auction is a bull known as 44 Razzle Dazzle L909. He’s the prized bull of the sale, with a lineage from other high-performing bulls at past auctions. When the auction starts, there are shouts from bidders as the auction- eer’s cadence shifts into high gear. In less than a minute, Razzle Dazzle sells for $120,000 with the bang of the gavel, and the auction is underway. J ohn Tesar was still in the planning stages of his res- taurant, Knife, in early 2014. But after trying 44 Farms beef for the first time, he knew what he wanted to serve in his restaurant. “In Texas, there’s so many steakhouses, and when I did this research around the country, the most average part of the meal at most steakhouses is steak, to be honest,” Tesar says. “So when I found 44 Farms, there was a unique flavor in it.” Tesar’s first experience with 44 Farms beef was a 72-hour short rib from CBD Provisions in Dallas, which Tesar found to be phenomenal. The next week, he was at a meeting with the business partners from the hotel where Knife would be located, and they took him to dinner at CBD again. “So they take me to dinner at CDB, and I order that 72- hour short rib again just to taste it. And that flavor is still there,” Tesar recalls. Tesar had already decided that his restaurant would implement a dry-aging steak program. He had learned about dry aging from fellow chefs Daniel Perry Lang and Mario Batali and knew he would need consistently flavor- ful beef. “I had found this dry-aging process with Adam and Ma- rio, then I found 44 Farms and it was magic,” Tesar says. “I like to think it’s been the secret to both of our successes.” 44 Farms had launched a steak program in 2011, but its reach into restaurants was still small. Tesar recalls the ranch was processing perhaps 20 head of cattle a week to supply restaurants directly. Today, McClaren says that the number to supply restaurants directly with beef is closer to 400 head of cattle a week. I mproving Angus’ beef genetics and working with other ranches nationwide make up a lot of what 44 Farms does day-to-day, but the supply to restaurants feels like the apex of 44 Farms’ knowledge in producing great steak. The business has grown significantly in the years since Tesar discovered 44 Farms, and more than 100 restaurants across Texas are serving the ranch’s beef. McClaren distills the quality of the beef down to two factors. “Number one, it’s the genetics. Number two, it’s how we develop them on these wide open pastures with fresh wa- ter,” McClaren says. Tesar expands on how he can taste the difference in beef. “Yeah, there’s integrity of the breeding, but it’s the feed. The corn is so minimal. It’s grass and roughage, it’s sor- ghum and molasses, which is your sugar substitute that de- velops the marbling later on in the process,” Tesar says. “You can’t deny it because it’s in the flavor, and you see the popularity of other people using it.” T he image of a dusty rancher raising cattle on a farm is easy to picture, but today’s ranchers and producers are much more in tune with the ways of science and sustainability that go with the hard work of being a cattle rancher. The 44 Farms team includes people with titles like chief genetics officer and director of sustainability. There’s even a director of farm operations who previously worked on providing turf grass for Super Bowls and other athletic teams. He now oversees the natural grasses that feed 44 Farms’ own herds. The auction was perhaps a third of the way through when I walked over to the 44 Farms office to grab some lunch: chicken-fried steak with a jalapeño cream gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans. Tables fill quickly in the main room while the auction next door is broadcast on TVs. I caught up with McClaren, who couldn’t walk more than a few feet before chatting up a rancher he knows. “I still can’t believe people take the time to come to Cam- eron, see our cattle and be a part of all of this,” McClaren says. But it’s obvious that 44 Farms is working on all fronts to add value for fellow ranchers and restaurants alike by devel- oping relationships that benefit everyone involved. For Mc- Claren, the circular nature of the business couldn’t be more clear. “We take care of the land and the cattle, and they’ll take care of us.” Nathan Hunsinger Overlooking the auction at 44 Farms on Oct. 26, 2024. Nathan Hunsinger 44 Farms works with many ranches to improve cattle genetics. City of Ate from p15
