Farmer Supplies All-Natural, Locally Raised Beef to Brighton-Area Customers

Veteran farmer Ray Moses prides himself in his all-natural retail beef operation.

He expanded his business to include the retail beef side about seven years ago. Not only are the cattle locally raised in the Brighton area and pasture-fed with grass in summer and hay in winter, they never receive growth hormones or antibiotics.

His cattle are left in pasture lands year-round as well.

"That way, nutrients are recycled back into the pastures, where they will be used to grow better pasture this spring, avoiding the need to buy commercial fertilizers," Moses said about his cattle management.

"I'll do a little frost seeding in March, where I"ll go over the land in an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) with clover seed to improve the pasture. Then the frost and the cattle hooves will massage the seed into the ground, but I only do a small part of pasture acreage a year," he said. "Good pasture management means the pasture will grow consistently on their own."

Moses has about 160 acres of farmland in Brighton Township. He currently has about 50 cattle, which he splits onto four pastures. He calls himself a small-producer farming operation.

"I keep Black Angus and Hereford brood cows and maintain a closed herd," Moses said. "Meaning I don't go to auctions and buy cows there. That way, I can keep my herd disease-free."

Moses said when his cattle get to be about a year and a half old, he takes them to C Roy & Sons Meat Packers in Yale for processing.

"It's a great family-run business, and I've been using them since I started the retail beef side of my business," he said.

Moses said he takes about one cow a month to be processed. He then sells the processed meat in assortment bundles or individually, by the cut. He also delivers the meat to his customers' doorsteps.

Moses estimates that 50 percent of his business comes from local advertising and the other 50 percent from word of mouth.

"Ninety percent of my business is repeat customers," he said. "That's key in any business."

Brighton resident Kate Lindenmuth discovered Moses' business through an ad in The Marketeer. She decided to order for the first time about two weeks ago.

"It's the most delicious beef I've ever had, it's incredible," she said. "Even the ground beef is flavorful and juicy. It's just the best I ever had.

"It's so hard to find free-range meat that is a reasonable price," Lindenmuth said. "I love the idea that he raises them on a real farm, not a factory farm. Because I don't believe in satisfying my own hunger with an animal that has lived its life in a terrible situation."

Lindenmuth said Moses is a nice, friendly person, and she is happy to help a local business.

"Especially someone who cares about his animals," she said. "They're not just a product to him."

Lindenmuth ordered a quarter of beef — 75 to 100 pounds — to split with her mother, Charmaine Stangl of Tecumseh.

Stangl agreed with Lindenmuth, saying the beef was exceptionally delicious.

"Another thing I thought was great is that he (Moses) told my daughter that people could visit the farm anytime they wanted," Stangl said. "I'm sure there aren't very many people who raise meat who would say that to a customer. I just feel like it's a really great situation, and I'm just happy that there's someone doing it."

Moses said he's always been around farming to some degree because he grew up on a hobby farm — a small, part-time farm with a few animals that does not make money.

"I had a desire to always be outdoors," Moses said. "I grew up hunting and fishing and actually wanted to be a wildlife biologist — that's actually what I went to school for. But I realized I had a strong desire to be an entrepreneur or self-employed. And farming fit into that."

In addition to his beef operation, Moses also grows and sells his own hay. He said he bales about 800 tons of hay per year — 90 percent of which he sells. The rest he keeps to feed his own cattle.

For more information on Moses' free-range beef farm, visit premiumqualitybeef.com.