By Angela Lovell
Maximizing profit per acre is the focus of the Doerksen family cattle operation as the fourth generation continues to look for opportunities to secure the most value from each beef carcass, while expanding into diversified markets and better controlling the price to the end consumer through unique direct marketing strategies.
Brothers Daniel, Lorin and Barry represent the fourth generation on the family farm near Gem, Alberta, about 150 kilometres east of Calgary. Eldest brother Daniel returned to farm full time in 2006, joining his dad, Arno, and uncle, Tim, and was joined by Lorin and Barry over the last 10 years.
Doerksen Farms is the parent company owned by the five families, which includes two sub-companies: Gemstone Cattle Company and Gemstone Grass Fed Beef. The farm has slowly grown over the years to its current 3,000 acres of irrigated crops and 2,500 acres of dry native prairie, with access to community pastures and leased pasture lands to accommodate its 1,000-cow breeding herd. Calves from the commercial cow herd go into the grass-fed, grass-finished side of the operation.
They also raise purebred Hereford and Angus seed stock, focusing on developing bulls that are forage-fed and cows that do well in a low-input environment.
“We put a lot of focus on making sure the mother cows have sound udders and good feet,” Daniel says. “We’re really focused on profit per acre, not profit per cow.”
A market for grass-fed beef
When Lorin came back to the farm in 2016 with an environmental science degree, his interest was in cropping systems and regenerative agriculture practices to build soil health, prompting the family to add a grass-finished herd.
“We felt that our purebred cattle genetics were already geared towards finishing cattle on a grass only diet, with no grain,” says Lorin, who manages most of the grass finishing through the spring, summer and fall, and has recently introduced polycrops for grazing and silage.
The brothers’ first foray into direct marketing of their beef products occurred through an online store. They’d been selling wholesale cuts to retailers, but wanted more control over the processing and end product. Their chance to do so came in late 2020, when they discovered the Calgary Farmers’ Market was building a new location on the west side of the city, and they applied for a butcher shop space to sell their own farm-raised, grass-fed beef.
“We just felt that having full control over, and being able to expand, our product line by having our own team of Gemstone artisan butchers would give us more opportunity to serve our customer base,” Lorin says. “It’s not done often where a farm brand takes it right to a butcher shop, and we saw an opportunity to do something a bit different.”
The operation includes Gemstone Kitchen, a food kiosk at the market where they sell smash burgers and tallow fries using their own beef fat. The kitchen is also used to produce fully prepared frozen meals, and their own line of smoked deli meats, meat sticks and sausages.
Barry, who came back to the farm four years ago after 10 years in the agriculture finance sector, heads up the direct marketing side of Gemstone Grass Fed Beef, handling all finances and logistics and managing the butcher shop and restaurant at the Calgary Farmers’ Market.
Consumers conscious of nutrition
The Doerksens have learned what is important to their customers and lean heavily into providing what they want, as more consumers seek to get their nutrition through whole foods.
“There is a lot of talk about nutrient density and grass finishing beef, so we’re really focused on producing the most nutrient dense, flavourful product that we can,” Lorin says. “An underlying goal is to meet the market demand for the product. Going directly to the customer to us seems to be the most secure market because we can control the end price by connecting directly to the end user. And they are always the ones that value the story and value what we are doing differently, like with the grass finishing, or no added hormones or antibiotics.”
Partnerships vital to success
Partnerships have been a huge part of the Doerksens’ success and enabled their growth. A good example is their recruitment of executive chef and butcher, Andy Sedlak, who manages the team of artisan butchers and other staff at the Calgary sites. Sedlak has over 15 years of experience in the industry and was looking for an opportunity to work directly with a ranch where he could use his expertise to help move full carcass animals.
“He was also aware of regenerative agriculture and grass-finished beef and understood the nutrition and flavour opportunities there,” Lorin says. “We made the decision to work together as a family business, so the idea of working together is already ingrained, and it helped with the way that we interact with Andy and with the other staff. We have been able to do a lot more by working with people and giving them a fair bit of autonomy to manage the butcher shop and the kitchen.”
Adding as much value as possible to every carcass
One of their other primary goals is to get the most value they can from every beef carcass, and towards that end they have developed a tallow program. They began by selling rendered tallow and raw suet to the food industry, but with increasing interest from the skincare sector, they decided to develop their own line of artisan skincare products, with Daniel’s wife, Kimberley, heading up the project.
“We started out in our kitchen just doing some sample batches and liked using it ourselves so then we started mass producing in a separate facility on the farm and it’s been going well,” Barry says. “We are hoping to get it on store shelves in the future.”
Now that they have capabilities to freeze dry, they have also developed a line of pet treats sold through their Calgary store, which will soon be available online with the possibility of selling to retailers in the future.
“Utilizing the whole carcass is a huge thing for us because if you don’t, you’re leaving money on the table,” Barry says.
Preparing for the next generation
The grass-fed side of the business has grown significantly over the past four years to the point where the team is now harvesting 18 grass-fed animals a week, as the Doerksens’ vision for the business continues to evolve.
“Right now, we’re focused on beef,” Daniel says. “Our goal is to become experts in raising gourmet grass-fed, grass-finished beef, but because we have our own butcher shop, we’re also getting a lot of requests for other species like lamb, pork and chicken, so those are things that maybe, long term, we could get into.”
The next generation of Doerksens range from age one to 16. Daniel and Kimberley have three children, Gradey (16), Kyleah (14) and Bowden (12). Lorin and wife, Katie, have three daughters, Lucy (10), Josie (8) and Norah (6). Barry and wife, Karla, have three sons, Jake (6), Stanley (4) and Cruz (1).
So, while there are no guarantees that any or all of them will want to follow in their parents’ footsteps, the Doerksens’ ultimate goal – as it is with most farm families – is to build a business that provides options.
“We want an operation where our kids … have an opportunity, whether that’d be in the day-to-day running of the farm and ranch, or working in sales, or working in the meat shop, or in the skincare and cosmetics side,” Daniel says. “It’s about creating a business that the next generation can carry on if they want to.”
