HARLAN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Dustin Goldie is shouting — one hand pointing directly at a camera while the other hand holds a sirloin steak.
"That's what I'm talking about," Goldie said. “Small-town pace. Big-time taste.”
He's speaking for a video posted on his website. Something that wouldn’t look out of place on your television at 2 a.m.
Goldie is an intervention specialist at Little Miami High School. He’s also a cattle farmer. And right now, he’s a salesman.
This is the kind of video he might not have to make if beef prices weren’t the highest they’ve ever been. That's why I'm there, to see how it's impacting small farmers like him.
Go onto the farm in the video below:
When I get to his small farm near the border of Warren and Clinton counties, Goldie is holding a pitchfork.
“We kind of consider our farm a micro-farm,” Goldie said. “We try to have as little overhead as possible so we can stay in business."
He points to a few of his cows grazing on untouched grass. A few years ago, he could have bought each of them for about $600. Now, he says, they cost as much as $2,000.
“We have to raise our prices,” Goldie said. “Or I go out of business.”
His dad started Goldie Beef in 2009, and his parents still live in the small house on the farm. When I visit, his parents are watching cows at a different farm in Kentucky, so another family member can take a vacation.
But Goldie says this business started with his dad, so he calls him so that we can talk about the price of beef — nearly $8 a pound in some places.
“I’m 72,” said Rick Goldie. “And I never dreamed I’d ever see anything like this in cattle. I don’t see it coming down either.”
One research firm says demand has begun to plateau. And Goldie worries about that.
“That’s going to be a problem,” Goldie said. “If we price ourselves out of business, then guys like me are going to go by the wayside.”
One afternoon, Goldie feeds the cows. Many have their own names — Tank, Sweet Girl, Betsy.
This is what he says makes small farms like his important. He explains by telling me the most common question he gets: Is it easy to take those cows to what he calls processing?
“The answer is no. You become attached to these animals, and you love them,” said Goldie. “And that’s one thing the big packers and industry can’t duplicate — the love that us farmers have for our cattle.”
