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Old Grain Bin Used As Beef Store
Colfax Farms Beef Bin once held 1,000 bushels of grain. Today, it holds a freezer with a few hundred pounds of beef. The self-service setup is the Anderson family’s way of selling their beef directly to consumers.
“We opened in August, having just butchered two beef steers,” says Deb Anderson, the family matriar
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Old Grain Bin Used As Beef Store
Colfax Farms Beef Bin once held 1,000 bushels of grain. Today, it holds a freezer with a few hundred pounds of beef. The self-service setup is the Anderson family’s way of selling their beef directly to consumers.
“We opened in August, having just butchered two beef steers,” says Deb Anderson, the family matriarch. “We thought it would be enough for a year. We sold out by November.”
Deb and her husband, Dale, son Justin, and daughter-in-law, Mandy, raise crops, feed hogs, and run about 100 head of beef cows. They’re now feeding out the calves. Although they had occasionally sold a beef quarter or half on request, Deb credits Justin with wanting to take the next step.
“The old bin had been on the farm as long as I can recall,” says Justin. “It looked so neat; I wanted to do something with it. We’d been talking about an on-farm stand. The bin was weatherproof and not too big.”
The family went to work, digging out dirt, hauling in fill, and pouring the concrete.
“The whole family worked on it,” recalls Deb. “Even the 10 and 12-year-olds.”
“I put a chain on the bin with our excavator and walked it down,” says Justin. “We brought in electricity and plugged in the freezer.”
The Andersons had lucked out by finding a new federally inspected meat processor that had just opened. They filled the freezer with meat, labeled each package with the price, set up a cash box, and mounted security cameras inside and out.
“The honor system has gone well,” says Justin. “We have a cash box, and people can pay with cash, checks or Venmo.”
Marketing has been word-of-mouth, with stories spreading as soon as the bin was in place.
“Stories started going around; folks wondered what it would be used for,” recalls Justin. “In addition to beef, pork and poultry, we also sell honey from my parents’ hives, soap, bacon and eggs. We’re also starting to get people asking about buying beef quarters.”
Justin notes that the Beef Bin is just the latest thing the farm family has tried.
“We have a very diverse operation and aren’t afraid to try things,” he says. “We have younger kids and want to keep them interested.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Colfax Family Farms, 1560 285th Ave. NE, Belgrade, Minn. 56312 (Facebook: Colfax Farms).
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