Now, that’s a farm system!
Dana Cavalea used to coach Yankees because the staff’s director of energy and conditioning, even serving to to clinch the World Sequence in 2009. Now, he’s cultivating his personal Subject of Desires.
“For years, my background in sports was helping athletes source good quality food,” Cavalea, 42, instructed The Put up. “I just thought, ‘Well, what better way to source quality food than raise your own?’”
Regardless of no prior agriculture expertise, Cavalea and his spouse, Lauren, bought 180 acres within the tiny upstate city of Greene and function a rising direct-to-consumer meat enterprise.
Freedom Farms is fielding an inflow of orders because of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” motion, which emphasizes pure and complete meals.
“I’ve run other businesses before, and I haven’t seen anything take off quite like this,” stated Dana, who labored with the Yankees from 2002 to 2014, coached enterprise executives and wrote “Habits of a Champion.”
An natural journey
The couple, who grew up on Lengthy Island and relocated to Florida, got here throughout the farm whereas testing native actual property throughout a 2020 trip.
“We met this woman that was the owner of the farm, who was in her 80s, who was looking to pass the torch,” Dana recalled. “She gave us a three-hour walking tour of the property.”
Three months later, the land was theirs.
The dream of a summer season dwelling ultimately developed because the Cavaleas noticed enterprise potential — despite the fact that they didn’t have sufficient cows for a house staff.
“I’ve sort of used this whole baptism-by-fire method my whole life,” Dana stated.
The couple labored the land, rebuilt the barn and the amenities, collaborated with native farmers and sourced 150 heads of cattle. The meat enterprise launched in 2022.
Now, Freedom Farms boasts over 15,000 clients, principally conservative blue-collar employees and navy veterans. A supply van companies NYC, Lengthy Island, Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey.
They focus on grass-fed, grass-finished prime beef with no added hormones.
Grass-fed beef tends to have the next focus of vitamins like omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), vitamin E and beta-carotene than grain-fed beef — with fewer energy and fewer fats besides.
Whereas farm-to-table is commonly costlier than grocery-store cuts, the Cavaleas stated the excellence is obvious.
“We never really bought meat off of a farm,” Dana stated. “So, to our surprise, when we first did, the taste was certainly much different. And … when you cooked the burgers and when you cooked the meats, they held their size and they held their shape.”
Rising pains
As with each start-up, and in baseball, there have been highs and lows.
“I’ve actually turned into Beth Dutton sometimes,” stated Lauren, 42, referring to the protecting “Yellowstone” antihero.
The “city slickers” have, at instances, run afoul of the “very-cutthroat, very-old-boys-club” upstate farming group.
However their “contrarian” advertising and marketing technique, which incorporates sharing pro-Trump messaging and posting emails penned by “rogue vegans,” has helped them retain over 70% of their clients.
Politics apart, the unpredictable climate and sky-high working bills have proved troublesome. The Cavaleas estimate they shell out $250 each day to feed their cows, $1,350 weekly for pigs and $500 month-to-month for egg-laying chickens.
“When you start to put all these costs together, it would be like feeding a big family, except our family is livestock,” Dana stated. “We basically feed a family of like 500 every day.”
Meals manufacturing prices are additionally astronomical, from the transporters to the native feed mill and the order handlers.
“So when you start to see meat at the store for like $4, $5, $6, you’re like, ‘How do they do it?’” Dana mused. “And that’s what I think has priced a lot of small farms out of the game.”
On the horizon
Buying a US Division of Agriculture slaughterhouse was not a part of the Cavaleas’ preliminary imaginative and prescient, however now they wish to “control the process even more from start to finish.”
“That is, and will continue to be, our biggest bottleneck in the business, because these slaughterhouses, they’re not going to eliminate all their other customers in order to meet your needs,” Dana stated.
Within the meantime, they’re engaged on feeding and constructing their loyal base.
The free third-annual Freedom Fest, set for Sept. 13, will function a pig roast, BBQ, stay music, excursions, rides and video games.
“The goal is to continue to bring new customers into the system, service those customers well, grow year over year, watch the business create value and the brand become valuable,” Dana stated.
When you until it, they are going to come.
