In the business world, those who take an unsuccessful company or venture and make it an overwhelming success are often referred to as turnaround artists. This terminology is used rarely in the farming world, but if it was Ben and Carolin Vandenboogaard would certainly be prime candidates.
Operating B and C Farms at 72 McDowell Rd. W., just south of Langton, the couple purchased 50 acres 14 years ago that was in a state of disrepair.
“Every building on here was dilapadated and on the verge of falling down,” Carolin said. “It’s not ideal property for farming. It’s hilly and not rectangular fields, but we saw it for what we wanted – cattle.”
The couple raises their cattle on the farm’s pasture, and sells their beef off the farm. Part of the acreage is rented out for cash crops while the remainder is in pasture and ravines.
The couple has a background in raising livestock. Carolin was raised in Burgessville on a farm where her parents had veal and dairy. Ben grew up on a veal farm near Chatham.
“We started out with Holstein-beef cross cattle,” Carolin said. “We were just outside Tillsonburg and quickly outgrew that property.”
Moving to the larger farm in Norfolk with the dilapidated buildings meant some sacrifices had to be made. The couple lived in the shop for two years while planning for what their farm operation and home would eventually look like. At the time both worked off the farm.
The formula they ended up with for raising cattle is starting with stockers seven or eight months old and raising them to 16 to 20 months when they are ready for the butcher. The cattle are pasture fed and finished on grain to give a nice marbling and structure to the meat.
Usually, B and C Farms has 40 to 50 head on the farm in various stages of growth.
“People like we don’t put any hormones in it,” Carolin said. “Our animals aren’t stressed and it give an amazing flavour to our meat.”
The cattle spend the nights in the barn and have food and water in front of them at all times. Carolin said their customers like knowing where the meat comes from, how it’s raised and how the animals are treated.
Then when COVID hit in 2020, B & C Farms shop suddenly got a lot busier, which was amazing, until the butcher shops were too busy, and unable to offer custom processing. This lead them to be shut down for several months as they had no beef to sell. In 2021, they built their own butcher shop and hired a butcher. The following year, Carolin stopped working off the farm.
“It’s been a progression and when one door closes, another opens,” she said.
With a full-time butcher, custom butchering is offered for other customers and beef, pork, lamb and deer are cut for customers. The pork, which comes from a neighbouring hog farm, is cut on site, as is the beef that is raised on the farm.
“We put a lot into raising our beef so we want to ensure it’s cut well,” Carolin said. “If it isn’t cut right, you could potentially wreck a good piece of beef.”
Ben works part time off the farm and assists with all the trucking along with looking after the cattle. Carolin is kept busy in the shop, either assisting the butcher with packaging and labelling, or working in the retail shop and on Saturdays she goes to the St. Thomas Horton Market. As their business is growing, they also feel that it is time to grow the shop foot print.
They are expanding the retail store to give space to display their frozen product for customer to see with their own eyes. Outside of locals, cottagers and tourists are becoming big customers for them.
“People like when they come in here next week, next month or down the road, it’s our beef,” she said. “The pork comes from a farm around the corner. The chicken comes from Poultry
Specialties in Tillsonburg and it’s awesome. It’s the uniqueness and constituency of it.”
Today, most of the cows are Limousins, and some are Charolais crosses.
“We like the limos for our feeding program,” Carolin explained. “They are a little leaner but still get marbling. The Angus, for our feed program, they get too fatty.”
Presently, the cows are taken off site to an abattoir and then brought back to their facility to be hung for 10 - 12 days before they are processed in their shop. Typically, one cow is processed per week but grows to two during the busy months of the year. Butchering is done on site along with fresh sausage, and all smoked items are sent out to Vanessa Meats to be processed.
The farm has come a long way from the run-down buildings that were there initially. Besides the Vandenboogaard’s house, there is a butcher shop with freezer and cooler, a building that serves as the retail store and farm storage and a barn for the cattle. The logo was recently updated from B and C Farms to B and C Farms and Butcher Shop to better reflect the changing business.
Hours are presently Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. However, Wednesdays will possibly be open after the expansion takes place.
B and C Farms and Butcher Shop is a big turnaround from the farm it once was.
Commentaires