December 4, 2015
CapitalPress.com
Sheep breeder uses science
to make right choices
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
Anderson All Natural continues
its family’s cattle tradition
By ERICK PETERSON
For the Capital Press
Brenna Wiegand/For the Capital Press
Brian Dietrich of Silverton,
Ore., has one of four Siremax
operations in the U.S. He also
is a veterinarian.
“Ours is not a purebred;
it’s more of a composite with
two or three different breeds
they’ll be analyzing as a po-
tential sire,” he said.
Technological develop-
ments make further compari-
son possible.
“A couple of the big
slaughterhouses are putting in
digital machines that scan and
evaluate carcasses to estimate
their retail yield and the opti-
mal way to make use of it,”
Dietrich said. “The slaughter-
house gets paid by the amount
of retail product they can sell,
and they’re generally a lot
happier to see our lambs com-
ing through than lamb without
a lot of genetic selection be-
hind it.”
Watching over Dietrich’s
400-ewe flock are guardian
dogs he breeds — a three-way
Maremma, Great Pyrenees
and Anatolian shepherd cross
that suits him well.
“If it wasn’t for those dogs
I probably wouldn’t be rais-
ing sheep; there are enough
coyotes and dogs that people
don’t keep under control to
make it very difficult; even
bald eagles can be a signifi-
cant threat to little lambs.”
When alarmed the dogs
give a warning bark, bunch up
the sheep and position them-
selves between the flock and
the perceived threat.
Zillah, Wash. — As or-
chardist and rancher Jerry An-
derson walks his property and
oversees cattle being raised
for Anderson All Natural, he
beams with pride for his son,
Kelly Anderson, who founded
the company.
The father was an indepen-
dent rancher for many years,
and recalls raising cattle along-
side his children. He got to see
his children grow up raising
cattle, sheep and hogs for 4-H
competitions. Now, he is work-
ing alongside his son as he con-
tinues the tradition.
“Kelly went to Seattle and
has done really well in finding
a niche market,” Jerry Ander-
son said.
Kelly Anderson has market-
ed grass-fed beef since 2010.
“In selling the beef ‘on the
hoof’ throughout Seattle, I real-
ized the potential for the product
to be sold as retail cuts,” Kelly
Anderson said. “A retail beef
business was created using our
all-naturally raised Black Angus
cattle and a USDA inspected
butcher and processing facility
in Basin City, McCary Meats.”
He explained that the com-
pany was built “under the ini-
tial business plan to offer an
effective ‘online meat locker’
situation where customers could
purchase farm-to-table beef in a
streamlined fashion and in vol-
umes small homes in the Seattle
Metro area could handle.”
From there, the company
has pivoted more toward di-
rect-to-consumer sales at area
Erik Peterson/For the Capital Press
Jerry Anderson walks a field in Zillah, Wash., and talks about
Anderson All Natural, a company started by his son Kelly Ander-
son. The father, an orchardist and rancher, supplies his son with
grass-fed animals.
farmers’ markets and through
retail grocery outlets in the area,
he said.
“In addition to expanding
these avenues of sales, we are
currently pursuing restaurants
with the same commitment to
sustainable farming practices
that we adhere to,” Kelly Ander-
son said.
Anderson All Natural’s cow-
calf cattle operation has been op-
erating in Zillah on a couple dif-
ferent pastures totaling around
35 head on around 35 acres.
The company sold much of the
herd this past summer and has
approximately 17 steers left.
Around 20 acres were recently
bought just outside Zillah, and
it will be transitioning to a sus-
tainable steer-finishing opera-
tion over the next year, he said.
“We will be purchasing
steers from a few different cow/
calf operations in the (Yakima)
Valley that had previously sup-
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plemented their herds with our
cattle and have the same com-
mitment to our proven sustain-
able practices,” he said.
Kelly Anderson espouses
high standards for herd qual-
ity, genetics and the finishing
process, which distinguish his
operation.
“We purchase only steers
from trusted producing part-
ners that we have had the op-
portunity to thoroughly vet
their entire operations and
bloodlines, and after a full 16
months on mother and full
lush pasture we assess each
steer individually to determine
anywhere from 45- to 60-day
grain finish (while they remain
on pasture),” he said.
He said the grain is “basical-
ly spoon-fed to the animals, and
never exceeds 4 percent of their
overall diet. In addition, our
cattle never receive any form of
growth additive of any kind.”
“We know our strict and
lofty standards regarding steer
quality and growth-finishing
schedule sets us apart from
many options currently avail-
able for well-educated consum-
ers looking to purchase farm-
to-table beef,” he said.
Distributing the beef in the
greater Seattle area, he sells
every retail cut from his steers,
including ground beef, tender-
loin steak, ribeye steak, New
York strip steak, top sirloin
steak, flank, skirt, tri-tip, sirloin
tip roast, rump roast, short ribs,
brisket, soup bones and offal.
He is currently developing
a smoked product line using
round and chuck cuts.
“Our products are distin-
guished by our standard cut-
and-wrap instructions we’ve
developed through customer
feedback over the past five-
plus years, as well the way in
which they’re combined into
our online packages creating
perfectly sized and portioned
packages for every household,”
he said. “Also, our price point
is incredibly competitive with
our direct competition within
the market.”
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SILVERTON, Ore. —
Work is underway in the
sheep industry that its propo-
nents hope will help return
lamb to a featured position on
menus across the U.S.
Sheep have traditionally
been bred for their show ring
appeal, but now they are be-
ing scientifically bred for their
commercial qualities.
In 1993 Siremax was
formed when Columbia-type
ewes were bred to Texel cross
rams in an effort to breed
composite sires superior to
established breeds in lean
growth, commercial fitness
and longevity. The rigorous
genetics program includes an-
nual ultrasounds of all lambs.
No one in North Ameri-
ca analyzed such data at the
time and Siremax partnered
with Sheep Genetics Austra-
lia. America’s National Sheep
Improvement Program has
since followed suit.
Siremax has four franchi-
sees across the U.S.; two herds
in Minnesota, one in Montana
and the one owned by Brian
and Amanda Dietrich of Sil-
verton, Ore., where Brian is
a veterinarian and owner of
Abiqua Animal Clinic.
“There are a lot of peo-
ple who produce commercial
lamb, but they do most of
their selection by eye or a few
easily measured things like
weight,” Brian Dietrich said.
“We select our genetics using
complicated formulas that al-
low us to do consideration of
their loin muscle and back fat
as well as weight and other
parameters.”
Dietrich, who started his
first flock of sheep in high
school, is on the boards of
the American Sheep Industry
Association and the Oregon
Sheep Growers Association.
This year he will be sup-
plying rams to the U.S. Sheep
Experiment Station in Idaho
as part of a three-year breed
comparison study.
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