LJWorld.com

Tom Tootle savors the taste of a good bargain.

And for a man who shops at "megameat" sales for uncut beef slabs to fill his freezer and satisfy his carnivorous cravings, this latest deal simply was too good to pass up.

A 2.5 pound chuck roast.

Locally raised and butchered.

For $4.50 a pound.

"It's a lot better than hamburger," Tootle said, stocking up on the sale-priced buffalo meat last week at the Lawrence Farmers Market. "It's less fat. More flavor. I just wish the prices were (always) lower. It needs to be more popular, so the prices will come down."

Tootle's wishes - that such flavorful, alternative meats can move closer to mainstream meat prices - very well could be coming true, according to local agriculture officials, producers and others who follow the industry.

With slaughter cattle prices in Kansas up a third from three years ago, consumers this summer are seeing higher beef prices in meat counters in area stores and are warming to alternative meats.

Photo by Jared Soares

Don Gibbs watches his herd of 32 bison at his Overbrook ranch. He runs the Lone Star Lake Bison Ranch & Meat Sales with his wife, Terri. Bison meat is growing in popularity because of high beef prices.

And while the prices don't appear to be cutting into beef demand - there still are plenty of people adhering to the Atkins diet, and opting for home-cooked "comfort foods" such as meatloaf and rump roasts - the narrowing price gap between beef and alternative meats is helping convince more people to give something different a try.

"If beef steak gets really high, oftentimes a lot of people will buy pork, because it's more cost effective," said Bill Wood, ag extension agent for K-State Research and Extension in Douglas County.

Added incentives

But now there also is more incentive to try other meats.

"With the elk and buffalo, at one time they had to sell for more per pound to make money because of all the (extra) effort it takes," Wood said.

With the higher prices becoming less of a factor, Wood said, the barn door is open to see more consumers give such alternative meats a go.

• 6News video: Popularity of alternative meats increases
• Meat business focuses on lean product (04-23-05)
• Health-conscious meat lovers boost demand for bison (03-08-04)
• Family starts sideline business in raising bison (11-21-01)

That is good news for farmers such as Terri and Don Gibbs, whose Lone Star Lake Bison Ranch & Meat Sales is branching out after five years in business.

They have 35 head of buffalo on 50 acres along the north side of U.S. Highway 56 west of Baldwin, but the operation is growing. Terri Gibbs this year is dedicated to the work full time, instead of squeezing in marketing and other paperwork duties in the mornings, evenings and on weekends.

Don Gibbs is planning to put up a separate building to accommodate a cooler, retail shelves and other equipment necessary to enable the place to become an actual store.

No longer will they have to rely as heavily on farmers markets and phone orders to sell their bison jerky, bison summer sausage, bison burger and other bison cuts - just as the bison market appears to be picking up customers.

Photo by Jared Soares

Terri Gibbs, of Lone Star Lake Bison Ranch, gets ready to sell bison products Thursday at the Lawrence Farmers Market. The number of producers raising bison has grown steadily in the past few years.

Terri Gibbs isn't sure how much the rise in beef prices is contributing to their good fortune, but she isn't complaining.

"We're having our best summer ever," Terri Gibbs said, as she offered samples of buffalo jerky at the Farmers Market. "Bison is becoming more mainstream."

Other alternatives

As are elk, emu, and other so-called "alternative" meats, said Dan Nagengast, executive director of the Kansas Rural Center. Even grass-fed and hormone-free beef is building popularity as other beef prices rise.

"It's still growing," said Nagengast, a Lawrence resident. "It's still boutique, and I think it's going to be 'boutique-plus' at some point. There always will be this enormous, zillions-of-pounds of beef protein industry out there, but there's definitely room for something different."

Amy's Meats started a no-hormones-added beef business with three head of cattle three years ago in rural Jefferson County. Now it has 27, with plans for more next year.

Even as Amy's Meats keeps its prices above the traditional beef market - a filet sells for about $17 a pound, compared with about $14 for a supermarket cut - a growing number of Lawrence-area buyers are willing to pay a little extra for knowing where their beef comes from, said Amy Saunders, co-owner of Amy's Meats.

"Having a health-conscious community is definitely driving it," she said.

Eldon Thiessen, director of Kansas Agricultural Statistics Services, said that the relatively high prices for beef might very well be helping bison businesses and others dabbling in alternative meats.

"Whether it happens or not really depends on how well the folks in these industries do in using this factor to sell their products," said Thiessen, who has been following pricing, production and/or agricultural patterns since 1974. "Marketing - selling your product - is far more important than the quality of your product."

Tootle, the man who bought the roast last week at the Farmers Market, said he was anxious to add the fresh meat to his grilling repertoire. He recently had a chance to sample buffalo burgers during a driving trip through the Black Hills and left the region impressed - not only with the meat's taste and health benefits, but with how widely it was available there.

"I didn't go into a store or a restaurant up there that didn't have some kind of buffalo," he said. "It has to be catching on."