January 7, 2003

C.F. Green workers currently process an average of five head a day.

By Rebecca Dudley

Journal-Advocate News Editor

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C.F. Green never laid eyes on the new 10,000 square foot meat packing plant that bears his name. In fact, he probably never would have dreamed of the heavy machinery and high-tech gadgetry that would one day dominate the meat packing business.

But, he would certainly recognize the way Brad and Jolene Green feed the 200 or so head of cattle they raise each year for the all-natural beef they sell.

The Greens -- along with their partners Brad Green's parents, Frank and Shirley Green -- opted to name the business Charles Fulper Green, as a tribute to the way the family patriarch shunned treating beef cattle with either growth hormones or antibiotics.

"It takes longer and costs more to raise a steer on a natural diet -- plus, we cull the ones who get sick instead of injecting them with antibiotics -- but we believe it makes for a better, healthier product," said Jolene Green.

Lifelong farmers and ranchers, the Greens began selling their all-natural meat products over the Internet as a side business three years ago. After just a year, the products became so popular the Greens expanded by opening a storefront operation in Sterling.

State of the art butchering

"The problem was we had to depend on other packing plants to do part of the work. They were busy so, as our business picked up, they just couldn't accommodate us in the timeframe we needed any more," Jolene Green said, of the circumstances that led her family to open its own packing plant.

Having broken ground mid-2002, the new C.F. Green's is all but finished. The Greens closed their Main Street store Dec. 31, and are now operating totally out of their new facility at 18501 County Road 27. Additionally, Bauer's Market, located at 1912 Highway 6, is handling a lot of the Green's retail sales.

"So people have a choice. They can come out here. But, if the drive is too long, they can go to Bauer's," Jolene Green said.

At a cost of more than $500,000, the new plant features a state-of-the-art kill floor for humane destruction of the animals, as well as a large production room where the meat is cut, a cooling/aging room (all C.F. Green meat is aged at least two weeks), two large freezers, and a rail system to move the hanging sides of meat efficiently.

The building was constructed by Industrial Welding, with Brad Green serving as his own general contractor and landscaper.

Online sales up 850 percent

"We really are changing the image of slaughter houses," Brad Green said, highlighting brightly lighted, clean environment in which C.F. Green's 10 employees do their work.

Currently, with only one cooler on-line and hanging capacity limited to 22, the Greens are slaughtering about five head a day. As soon a their second cooler is up and operation, production will increase to 15 to 20 a day.

"With this new facility, we will have total control over our own natural beef product. But, the growing part is custom processing for other ranchers -- and even other packing operations that don't have their own kill floor," Jolene Green said, noting that, in addition to cattle, they also process hogs, lambs, goats and buffalo for customers in a four-state area.

"Since our first year operating on the Internet, we have grown 850 percent. So, it is not unreasonable to project growth of 300 percent in the next couple of years," Brad Green said, noting that his long-term plan includes hiring more workers, adding on space as needed and running more than a single shift per day.

He also plans to convert a portion of the operation's byproduct into a dried blood fertilizer, which he expects will be ready to market within the next six months.

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