Established in 1964
HOME OF PRIME ANGUS BEEF
-About Us -
The Witte family has been involved in the beef industry for over 70 years when Clem Witte started purchasing, raising, and trading beef cattle in the 1940s. As the years progressed, Clem’s sons, Jim, Harry and Joe carried on the family practice on a much larger scale. While Jim purchased cattle from around the country to sell to area farmers, Harry operated the truckline to haul the livestock and Joe ran the family feedlot southwest of Troy, Missouri. One of the focuses was purchasing feeder cattle to raise and fatten at the feedlot, which were sold to slaughterhouses for meat processing. At their peak during the 1970s, the Witte’s were feeding over 5,000 head of cattle at any given time.
During the 1980s the cattle industry became quite volatile and markets shifted. The Witte’s reduced their cattle herd greatly during this time and turned their attention to interstate trucking for the next twenty years. To ensure they never forgot where they came from, they always maintained a small herd of cattle.
In the mid-2000s, the current generation of the Witte family decided it was time to bring back some of the glory from the family’s golden years of cattle. Instead of focusing on quantity as in years’ past, the Witte’s shifted all their focus to producing quality beef. With a goal of raising a high-quality animal that would yield Prime-grade steaks along with the other exceptional cuts of beef, the Witte Beef brand was born. Since then, Witte has been focused on finding the best genetics that produce consistent high-grade beef.
Witte Beef raises black Angus cattle, known for their gentle nature, adaptability, and low maintenance. Witte cattle are provided an environment where mother and calf can be nurtured during their birthing and nursing stages. Then, at weaning, calves are evaluated and placed in either the finishing program or breeding program.
The finishing program consists of a diet of locally produced hay, haylage, corn and other nutrients that are mixed daily to maximize the health and growth of each animal. The animals selected for the finishing program are monitored daily to ensure their progress toward the goal of top-quality beef production. Each animal stays in the finishing program for a minimum of 300 days, or until they reach a weight of 1250-1300 pounds. At this time, they are then ready for sale to customers as Witte Beef.
The breeding program picks the animals most viable for the reproduction and growth of the herd. These animals will be raised to birth more calves through the select genetics program. On average, the brooding cows are bred and birthed for only five years to ensure top quality offspring. After this time, they are sold to other cattle ranches for their secondary production lives.
By following these practices, the Witte family has been able to produce consistent high-grade beef that is tender, juicy and flavorful. Witte Beef, particularly our steaks, are the same prime quality found in the top steakhouses around the country. There are many producers of beef, but there is only one producer of Witte Beef.
