NFL legend Joe Thomas is tackling a new challenge: Beef

Title: NFL legend Joe Thomas is tackling a new challenge: Beef URL Source: https://www.farmprogress.com/cattle-news/nfl-legend-joe-thomas-is-tackling-a-new-challenge-beef Markdown Content: While Joe Thomas was starring in the NFL for 11 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, he would eat about five meals a day, fueling the 320-pound body of one of the best offensive linemen ever to play the game. Now eight years removed from a Hall of Fame football career, Thomas is treating his beef herd much the same way as he honed his body as a professional athlete. He and his farm crew focus on nutrition and providing individual attention to the animals in the beef herd on his southwest Wisconsin farm. It’s all part of the Hall of Fame Farms brand he is building with his farm and integrated businesses. Thomas has a mix of cattle breeds on his farm. He started with Angus and Simmental but has begun to put most of his focus on building a herd of Wagyu, a beef breed known for its tenderness, marbling and melt-in-your-mouth taste. He believes he is onto something special. “What we’re doing with our Wagyu cattle is something you wouldn’t be able to do in a big feedlot,” Thomas said. “We’re taking an individual approach and giving the cattle a lot of attention. I hope what we’re doing here inspires other producers in the area to realize that they can do the same amount of work and make a little more money for every animal they sell by raising Wagyu cattle.” Related:What’s making your cow breathe so hard may surprise you ## Long-term farming goal Thomas is a native of Brookfield, Wis., where he earned All-State and All-American honors while playing on both sides of the ball for Brookfield Central High School. He next starred at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a three-year starter and consensus two-time All-American while winning the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman as a senior. Thomas’ football career took him to the NFL, where he played 11 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, recording 10,363 consecutive snaps and earning 10 All-Pro selections. He became eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023 and was inducted in August of that year. Thomas met his wife, Annie, in Madison, where she played basketball for the Badgers. They married in 2007 and have four children: Logan, 13, Camryn, 11, Jack, 9, and Reese, 7. While he grew up in the city, Thomas said he always had a love for the outdoors and a long-term goal of owning a farm. “When I left college and had a chance to go to the NFL, I really didn’t have a grand vision of anything more than wanting to make enough money so when I retired, I could have a farm that was paid off and that could be our getaway,” he said. “I always wanted that piece of ground that I could bring the family to and maybe have some livestock.” Related:Smart grazing saves money this fall The couple looked at several Wisconsin properties before coming across the farm they bought near Muscoda in Grant County. In 2012, while vacationing in Japan, they got a call from a friend who said they needed to see the 1,204-acre Studnicka farm — it had everything they were looking for in a property. “As soon as we got back, we came out here and got a tour of the farm from the Studnicka family,” Thomas said. “As we crossed the Blue River, we knew we were sold. During our tour we saw an eagle’s nest, shed antlers, deer and turkeys, and knew it was something we couldn’t walk away from.” They initially called the farm Six Springs Farm because of the six springs that feed the Blue River, which runs through the property. ## Starting small, growing quickly Thomas played in the NFL for another six years after they purchased the farm. When he retired in 2018, the family moved back to the Madison area, and he began spending more time on the farm. At that time, they started a beef herd with five Simmental-Angus-cross cows and a bull. They raised their first couple of steers two years later. “I bought a chest freezer, and we had like 800 pounds of beef in there,” Thomas said. “I thought that would be enough beef for the rest of my life. Every time we had friends and family out here, I would tell them to help themselves to some meat when they left. Two months later, it was all gone. People were telling me it was the best beef they ever had. At that point, I thought, ‘Clearly, there is something to this farm-to-table thing.’” Related:Summer planning cuts winter hay costs Thomas started raising a few more steers and connected with a chef friend who put small portions of the beef on the menu and then quickly requested more. So, Thomas expanded his Simmental-Angus herd but took it to another level after discovering Wagyu beef at a restaurant in Germany. “Annie and I had a Japanese Wagyu experience where they bring out hot stones and sear the meat right at your table,” Thomas recalled. “You take the first bite and it’s like butter melting in your mouth. I didn’t even know what it was. They told me it was beef. I called my herdsman [Brandon Kinney] and told him we needed to get some Wagyu animals. This was different.” Thomas started small with his Wagyu herd, but as the demand for his beef grew, so did his number of animals. Thomas connected with Sheila Patinkin, a renowned Wagyu breeder from Vermont who retired from the beef business last year. She sold the majority of her herd to him. In a video announcing the sale, Patinkin said she was pleased to sell her Wagyu herd to Thomas because she had seen his “incredible dedication to anything you put your hands on.” “I see in you the drive and passion to be the best of the best and to build this herd to be even better than it is today,” she said. With the addition of the animals from Vermont, Thomas was able to quickly scale up his herd size. ## Partners help business grow Within the past year Thomas began partnering with Ken Sizemore, a Wagyu producer from Minnesota, who now finishes out the animals that Thomas raises to about 1,000 pounds. Thomas and Sizemore feed the animals a special proprietary diet of whole corn, whole oats, protein, minerals, a balancer and free choice hay, taking them to a finishing weight of between 1,750 and 1,800 pounds. Thomas and his four Muscoda farm employees — Kinney, Hayden and Sawyer Conner, and Tony Bolini — now manage a farm that has grown to about 4,000 acres with the purchase of neighboring farms. They currently have about 300 steers on feed along with about 200 cows and 180 calves on the property. They also work closely with cooperator farms that agree to meet the Hall of Fame Farms’ standards for how they raise their animals and the genetics they use. The meat is portion cut and distributed by Fortune Fish & Gourmet of DeForest, Wis. The Hall of Fame-branded beef is sold through grocers and restaurants across the country, with a growing number of Wisconsin restaurants featuring the farm’s Wagyu beef on their menus. ## Hall of Fame career led to branding The idea to name the business Hall of Fame Beef came from another former Wisconsin football player, Mike Lenzendorf, who is now Thomas’ chief financial officer. “He said, ‘Dude, you’re in the high school hall of fame for track, basketball and football, the College Football Hall of Fame and the NFL Hall of Fame — why don’t you name it Hall of Fame Beef?’” Thomas recalled. “I said that sounds like a good idea. Six Springs Farm was not bad, but Hall of Fame, that means something.” Thomas, now 42, said southwest Wisconsin is a perfect place for his beef business because of the small-town values, friendliness and beautiful countryside. “We have some of the most fertile soil in the world here in the Driftless Area,” he said. “We can create some of the highest-quality agricultural products on earth. The reason you don’t see big beef farms here like you might see in Nebraska or Colorado is because of our hills. But if you take your time and keep your animals in a low-stress environment, they’re going to put on some great marbling and be really good quality.” Thomas’ beef is direct-marketed through Hall of Fame Meats, a subsidiary butcher shop in Prairie du Chien, as well as Prem Meats in Spring Green and Prairie du Sac (beef sticks and value-added products). Fortune Fish & Gourmet handles national distribution while also shipping products directly to customers’ doors at halloffamefarms.com. Thomas said he’s taken a “crash course” in agriculture over the past 14 years since he bought the farm, and especially the last eight years since he and his family moved back to Wisconsin. “I don’t have guardrails on what I’m doing here because I don’t have a dad or grandpa telling me this is the way I have to do it,” he said. “I have a blank slate. My goal is to raise some of the healthiest beef on the planet.” ## Wagyu beef a healthy option Thomas said Wagyu beef is just as healthy as grass-finished beef — with high levels of omega-3 and monosaturated fats — “but tastes 1,000 times better.” “For me as a pro athlete, I realized that food is fuel,” Thomas said. “The things I put in my body give me energy, so long term, do I want to pay my farmer or do I want to pay my doctor? Spending a little more on higher-quality food and learning how to cook it at home pays for itself in the long run.” He noted that Wagyu is a small percentage of the cattle herd in the U.S., but he sees it increasing. “I hope it continues to grow because if it does, there is an opportunity for small family farmers around here to make some money,” he said. “They are more expensive to finish — they take about 28 to 30 months to finish compared to an Angus at 16 to 18 months — but you get a premium for your meat in the end because the beef quality is so much higher.” ## Wagyu beef brings premium price Wagyu cattle from Japan were introduced to the U.S. in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the 2000s that its beef became popular in high-end restaurants in this country. Wagyu beef is prized for intense marbling and tenderness, so some customers are willing to pay more for that special piece of meat. Thomas sells his beef to a growing number of Wisconsin restaurants that are featuring the meat on their menus and mentioning the Hall of Fame brand. He said the Wagyu burger program is becoming increasingly popular with sports bars, and in some cases, the price isn’t that much higher than an Angus burger. “At the Nitty Gritty [in Madison, Middleton and Sun Prairie], the burgers are only a couple bucks higher than the other burgers on their menu,” he said. But when it comes to the prime cuts of meat, customers often pay considerably more for a Wagyu steak. For example, Johnny Delmonico’s Steakhouse in Madison lists its Wagyu Hall of Fame bone-in 20-ounce ribeye for $190. It’s not uncommon for an American Wagyu steak to cost more than $100, while the price for an imported Wagyu steak from Japan could be considerably higher. A prime cut of Wagyu beef exported from Japan can cost up to $250 per pound. Thomas said top-end Wagyu carcasses are sold hanging at auction and might sell for as much as $20,000 to $30,000. “In the U.S., our perspective is often where can I get the cheapest food possible,” Thomas said. “But I think that’s slowly changing. More people are willing to spend a few extra bucks for high-quality food raised locally.” Because Wagyu beef costs more on the menu, consequently, farmers are paid more for their finished animals — sometimes double or more than they might get for another beef breed. But Thomas noted it takes farmers longer to get Wagyu cattle to market weight, thus accounting for some of the price differential. ## Thomas still involved in football While Thomas has been retired from the NFL for eight years, he is still peripherally involved in football. He works as a TV color analyst for preseason Cleveland Browns games and does a weekly radio show on a Cleveland station during the football season. He also helps with special events to assist the team he played with for 11 seasons. “Every time the Browns fire a coach, people ask me if I’m going to be a coach, and every time something opens up in Badgerland, I’m asked if I have interest,” Thomas said. “Maybe I’ll want to coach at some time in the future, but for now, I have four kids in school, and I coach them in track and football. I love that. I want to make sure I can focus on my farm and kids until they’re gone. “Two years ago, our family lived in Germany for the year, and I was an offensive line coach [for the Munich Ravens of the European League of Football]. I loved it. But it reminded me why I didn’t want to go into coaching when I retired from football, because it’s a big time commitment.”