Manchester Market no longer carrying Noggle’s beef but there are still plenty of ways to purchase it!
Noggle Farms. Photo courtesy of Noggle Farms.
by Sara Swanson
Since it’s opening Manchester Market had a partnership with Manchester Township’s Noggle Farms, processing the steers in-house and selling the local beef to their customers. At the end of May, the Manchester Market announced that they would stop carrying Noggle beef stating, “The amount of labor we were spending on handling and processing exceeded our income results regularly and we determined that continuing to raise our retail prices was not advantageous in a market that has become price sensitive.”
The Market emphasized that they still have a great relationship with the Noggles, and recognizing that some of the market customers are specifically fans of the Noggle beef, they still partner with Noggle Farms to serve as a weekly pick-up location for beef purchased through Noggle’s own retail beef program, and have a brochure at the butcher counter with all the information necessary to make a purchase on the spot through the Noggle’s online store at https://www.nogglefarms.com/ (click on “shop” in the top right corner.)
Kathleen and Matt Noggle are co-owners of the farm along with his parents, Jenny and David. Matt grew up on the farm and is sixth generation for their farm. Kathleen grew up in Colorado raising sheep as a third-generation farmer.
Kathleen explained that while their primary focus is cattle, they also grow hay, corn, and wheat which all are to feed the cattle or provide bedding in their barns. Their cattle operation consists of 2 different programs: the cow-calf, and the feedlot. She stated, “Our cow-calf operation is made up of our mama cows that you see out in pasture grazing with their babies. We just finished calving (cows having their babies) and ended up with a total of 84 calves! In the fall when we wean our calves all of the steers will go into our feedlot along with a small number of heifers (female calves). The rest of our heifers are kept back as “replacements” meaning they get to become mama cows.”
She explained that their feedlot operation has 3 different groups of cattle that they feed, all at different stages of weight and each have a different ration of feed made up of a mix of cracked corn, corn silage, distillers grains, and a custom mineral mix. They also have access to free choice hay all the time. Kathleen stated, “We work with nutritionists through Napoleon Feed Mill to help us properly balance our rations for the cattle to ensure that they grow efficiently and safely. This is something that plays into the final beef product that we sell. We believe that the grain finished beef just has a flavor that can’t be beat. Our beef has a tremendous amount of marbling (intramuscular fat) and is incredibly tender and juicy.”
She added that when they select bulls to breed with their cows, they have access to genetic data that gives them scores for things like “ribeye area”, “marbling”, “growth” and many other things. “So when we choose a bull,” she stated, “we like to make sure they have adequate ‘carcass’ traits to pass along to their calves.”
Kathleen emphasized that they also pride themselves in humane handling. “We know that the happier the cattle are, the better they are going to taste (this is scientifically proven),” she stated.
Like many other farmers in southeast Michigan, proximity to a USDA processor is an issue for Noggle Farms. In 2019 they began selling beef direct to consumer. In 2020 their business really took off and Kathleen explained that they were lucky that they had spots reserved at processors ahead of time because that became very tricky for a lot of other farmers. She stated, “Distance of processors is also a big challenge for many folks as well. Currently, we are driving an hour and a half one way to take our cattle to a USDA inspected processor.”
If you are a fan of Noggle beef, there are still a lot of ways to purchase it. Kathleen stated, “Although we aren’t at the Manchester Market anymore people can still find us at the Saline Farmers Market every Saturday, or order from our website. If you order through our website customers can purchase beef shares or frozen cuts. We offer deliveries and pick ups at Manchester Market on Mondays, Mama’s Mercantile on Fridays, and the Saline Farmers Market on Saturdays. We would also like people to know that even though we aren’t selling through the Manchester Market anymore we still encourage people to shop there! They are a local business with so many incredible things to offer!”
Photo courtesy of Noggle Farms.
Kathleen and Matt Noggle. Photo courtesy of Noggle Farms.
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