Behind the Business: Hat Brand Beef

OAKLEY, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) —“My family has been here in the Oakley area since 1878,” Ryan Bedke one of the owners of “Hat Brand Beef,” said.

The company is family-owned and operated, with each generation taking part.

“If you’re in agriculture, you seem to be really tied to the land, and especially if you’ve been doing it for...for generations, it seems like you’re more and more tied to the land and tied to the community, and it just seems like with each generation that comes just makes it that much more special,” Ryan explained.

He says a few years ago, the business made a big change from just raising calves, “We decided we would start marketing our beef directly to consumers we’ve been building that over the last three years and we sell beef locally here in the Magic Valley area. And then we also ship it nationwide.”

There’s a special meaning behind the name “Hat Brand Beef”...it’s a tradition that’s been kept in the family business, “We named it Hat Brand Beef because the hat brand was my great grandfather’s brand that he branded his cattle with and we still brand our cattle with that today.”

When it comes to the cattle they raise, the company makes sure they’re the highest quality, “We want them to be of the right age and be old enough, that they’re mature and grown. We want them to have plenty of days on good feed, some grain that so they can get fat and have good marbling in the in the meat.”

Ryan said adding on the beef venture has helped the family business grow, and they’re always looking for ways to improve.

“We’re trying really hard to have good marbling in our beef, we dry age everything that we do and we try to be really accessible,” Ryan stated.

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