Farm406

40 farm406 Jones' business protocol includes purchasing Non- Hormone Treated Cattle (NHTC) that are age- and source-verified from Montana to feed and ship to his Alaskan facility. "I am counting on Montana cattle to make this happen," he says. "Montana has good quality beef and the NHTC program is bigger there than in other states." The logistics of transporting Montana cattle through Canada has proven to be more complicated than expected. "We had to prove the cattle were fit for the trip and treated humanely, as well as obtain all the proper permits," explains Jones. "We had to go through three states and Canada to get to Alaska." Wines coordinated the cattle transportation and obtained the required permits and tests. "We had to test the steers for anaplasmosis and blue tongue for Alaska and brucellosis and tuberculosis to get into Canada," says Wines, noting each state has its own requirements for entry. "We had some suspects show up with the TB, which is common, and that set us back 14 days." Jones says he had to go to China and establish a trademark before his beef would be allowed in the country. He also had to create special labeling including bar codes that include tracking information to prove the beef is not from the black market. Jones says he prefers to use Montana cattle because they produce good quality beef with good marbling and is traceable. In order to ship to China, the beef products must be uniquely identified and controlled up to the point of shipment. Once the tests were completed and the suspect cattle eliminated, Wines obtained health papers for each state crossing and the Canadian entry permits. "There were a lot of steps and vet checks," she explains. "Our plan was to go through the Shelby-Sweet Grass border, but they had mechanical issues." Instead, Wines had to reroute the cattle through Washington, 400 miles out of the way. On the way, one of the required permits expired, further delaying the shipment. The cattle were off-loaded at the Bos Terra feedlot near Hobson, Mont., for five days. "One of our challenges is there are not many finishing yards in Montana," says Wines. "We were lucky the people at Bos Terra took the cattle and knew how to feed them while we were waiting on the permits to come through." In the end, all the cattle were delivered with no damage to themselves or the trailer. "That's pretty amazing considering they'd traveled 3,800 miles in 93 hours," says Wines. Jones estimates he can get 13 60-pound cases of fresh beef cuts from each animal. His state-of-the-art packaging will keep the beef chilled for 24 hours, though Jones says he plans to have the beef delivered within 14 hours of leaving his facility. The political dynamics of trade with China has slowed progress. In July, China's beef tariffs went into effect, creating another hurdle.

• Cover