Business notebook: Area farmer goes green with pork, beef products

Joshua Buchheit has been raising cattle in Lick Creek, Illinois, since 1996 and has served his products to Southern Illinois since 2006.

His goal, he said, is to raise the highest quality pork and beef in a sustainable environment.

Buchheit is the owner of Lick Creek Pork and Beef, which offers grass-fed beef products and pork products from forage-fed pigs.

Though he has been in business for over a decade, Buchheit only recently brought his products across the river.

"I've been doing farmers' markets for years," Buchheit said. "And in the last year and a half, I started using a USDA butcher instead of a state-inspected butcher."

Josh Buchheit, owner of Lick Creek Beef, holds a pork shoulder Boston butt available from his booth Thursday at the Cape Girardeau Farmers Market.Laura Simon

It was this change that allowed him to bring his product across state lines and join the Cape Girardeau Farmers Market.

Buchheit takes his cattle seriously, working with the same closed herd for nearly two decades on 425 acres. His family acquired 20 Hereford cows two decades ago; he replaces only the bulls when they are retired. "Basically, all our cattle can be traced back to those cattle we bought back in 1996 and 1997. We've done all of our own selective breeding and culling of our herd," he said.

The cattle at Lick Creek Pork and Beef are raised on the farm from birth.

"We don't go to auctions and buy cattle to meet market demands," Buchheit said.

Those cows are grass-fed and finished, Buchheit said.

"We don't serve any grain or corn whatsoever to them," he said. "No feed-grade antibiotics or growth hormones or chemical fertilizers or pesticides or herbicides have been used on the farm."

More recently, Buchheit began raising heritage hogs on his farm. Those hogs are mainly pasture and woodland forage-fed, not confined to pens. But unlike cattle, pigs have to receive a supplementary diet, he said. What he feeds them is non-genetically modified organism feed.

"It's important to us, and it's important to our customers," he said.

Buchheit's products are not certified organic, but that's not a priority for him. The certification requires considerable paperwork, and after working 12- to 14-hour days, seven days a week, he doesn't have time.

"It's more important to tell people what I do and don't do, rather than being certified," he said.

Lick Creek Pork and Beef offers a selection of products at farmers markets and to stores and restaurants in Illinois. From ground beef to sirloin steaks and pork chops to chorizo, Buchheit carries as much of a variety as he can until the product runs out.

Because of the diet they're fed, Buchheit's cattle take twice as long to raise to full size, compared to factory farms, he said.

"It's because we're not pumping them full of hormones," Buchheit said.

A goal of the industry is to get the most amount of weight on an animal in the least amount of time. This is not Buchheit's goal.

"With age, you get flavor," Buchheit said.

Two water companies in Cape merge

Schaefer Water Centers has announced a merger with Culligan of Cape Girardeau.

After 40 years coexisting in the market, the two companies have joined forces to serve the region as one entity. Current Culligan customers will transition into a dealership with a broader range of services than they had, and Schaefer Water customers will benefit from Culligan's use of technology, expanding the number of product and service choices available.

After the merger, Culligan customers will relocate to the Schaefer Waters Centers location at 2021 Themis St. The location will assume the name of Culligan of Cape Girardeau.

SoutheastHEALTH hospice honored

SoutheastHEALTH's hospice service has been named a 2016 Hospice Honors recipient by Deyta Analytics.

The Hospice Honors program recognizes hospices providing the highest level of care as measured from the caregiver's point of view. Award recipients were identified by evaluating the facilities' performance based on 25 quality-indicator measures.

Stev-Mark to host Benjamin Moore rep

Stev-Mark is hosting Jason Walker, an architect and designer representative from Benjamin Moore Paints, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at its William Street location.

Walker will present a continuing-education course for regional architects and interior designers, keeping them apprised of new technologies to produce Benjamin Moore products and how these technologies affect the industry and environment.

Business licenses

• VP's Appliance Repair LLC is a home-based appliance-repair company owned by Brandon Vanpool. The business start date was May 2.
• Wanda Coiffures, 1109 Patricia St., is a beauty salon owned by Wanda Anderson. The business was owned by Anderson and later leased by her. Ownership of the business has been returned to Anderson.
• Tom Smith Insurance Agency, 1928 Golden Eagle Court, Suite 3, is an insurance-sales business owned by Tom Smith. The business opened April 1.

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630