When Emmet Meissner came home to Norm E-Lane Dairy in 2023, he didn’t plan on building a direct-to-consumer beef business from scratch.
But after spending a year at Black Leg Ranch in North Dakota, where beef, bison, agritourism and a branded meat program worked side by side, he returned to his family’s 4,000-cow Wisconsin dairy with an idea that stuck.
What if a few of Norm E-Lane’s beef-on-dairy calves stayed home and were finished for beef?
Just three years later, five calves a month are staying on the dairy, grazing pastures and using leftover refusal feed before becoming beef sold directly to consumers. Meissner plans to raise more next year as demand grows, giving Norm E-Lane another way to use resources already on hand while building its own beef business.
Four Generations Grow Norm E-Lane
Norm E-Lane traces its roots back to 1946, when Meissner’s great-grandparents, Norman and Elaine, purchased 160 acres and started the herd with 18 cows. The farm grew as their sons joined the operation, adding land, cattle and facilities along the way. By the 1970s and 1980s, the family had expanded into a larger, self-sufficient dairy.
Meissner’s father, Joshua, joined the operation in 1998, and just two years later, the family added three freestall barns and a double-25 parlor as the dairy continued to grow. Another 400-cow barn brought the herd to 1,500 cows by 2003, with more barns, a transition and maternity facility and a methane digester added in the years ahead. Today, Norm-E Lane operates two dairy sites, milking about 4,000 cows and farming roughly 7,000 acres.
Meissner is the fourth generation on the dairy and works as young stock manager, overseeing wet calves and young heifers until about eight months of age, when the heifers leave for a contract grower in Iowa before returning ahead of calving.
“I always knew I wanted to come back,” Meissner says. “I wanted to try some different things, bring some new ideas to the table and see what we could do with them.”
Balancing Replacements with Beef-On-Dairy Calves
Norm E-Lane’s beef-on-dairy program begins by determining how many replacement heifers the dairy needs. From there, the breeding strategy is built around the replacement target. Heifers and a select group of second-lactation cows are bred to sexed semen, while older and lower-ranking animals are bred to beef. The dairy has refined the system over the past eight years.
Currently, the dairy aims for about 135 live heifer calves each month. Out of roughly 400 total calves born, about 250 are beef-on-dairy calves, though that number shifts month to month.
“We decided to put our focus and resources into raising the best replacements we need,” Meissner says. “Then we can breed the rest to beef and capture some extra value from those calves.”
Most beef-on-dairy calves still leave the farm as day-olds, with a calf buyer coming twice a week to pick them up. Norm-E Lane uses Livestock Risk Protection contracts on some calves, helping manage the risk as beef-on-dairy prices have come down from the recent highs. Even with the decline, the calves still provide added value to the dairy’s breeding program.
“Obviously the beef revenue the last few years has been a huge bump in added value for returns on the herd,” Meissner says. “But at the end of the day, our money maker is still milk.”
From North Dakota to a New Beef Business
The finished-beef idea came from Meissner’s experience after earning a two-year ag business degree in La Crosse and completing the U.S. Dairy Training and Education Consortium in Clovis, New Mexico. He then spent a year at Black Leg Ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota, where he got to see a livestock operation built around more than one source of income. The ranch raised beef and bison, hosted agritourism and sold meat under its own label.
Being around that operation showed Meissner what was possible when a farm found different ways to build value from the cattle it was already raising. He also got to see the work involved in taking beef from the pasture all the way to the customer, from raising the animals to marketing and selling the finished product.
That experience stuck with him. Rather than simply selling all of the crossbred calves, Meissner started thinking about what it could look like to keep a small number at Norm E-Lane, finish them and sell the beef directly to consumers. He liked the idea of building something of his own while adding another connection between the farm and the people buying its products.
When he returned to Norm E-Lane, he began looking at what the dairy already had available.
“Refusal feed was one thing I knew we could put to use,” he says. “I thought we had an opportunity to feed these animals pretty cheaply.”
Norm E-Lane prioritizes feed quality and works to limit how much refusal feed is fed back to the herd. The beef calves gave Meissner another way to use feed left in the bunks.
The first year started with 30 head, giving Meissner a chance to fine-tune the facilities and figure out what the cattle would need before growing the program.
“I didn’t want to put too much strain on anything,” he explains. “Now we’re keeping five beef-on-dairy every month, and we should at least double that next year.”
From Calf to Finished Beef
The beef calves get much of the same start as Norm E-Lane’s replacement heifers, receiving colostrum, milk replacer and pasteurized whole milk, then grain through roughly 10 to 14 weeks.
After weaning, the feed program changes to refusal feed, giving feed left in the bunks a new use.
During summer, the beef-on-dairy animals graze pasture, with refusal feed added when grass is limited. In winter, they move into barns and receive a TMR based on refusal feed.
Meissner is keeping records on the animals throughout the process, tracking their growth, feed and performance. As more cattle move through the program, he plans to use the data to fine-tune the program and make better decisions about how to manage the cattle.
“I’m keeping track of all the numbers,” Meissner says. “As we get more through the program, we’ll have more information to look at and can make better decisions going forward.”
The cattle reach harvest around 17 to 18 months, with finished weights of roughly 1,400 to 1,450 lbs. live and carcasses around 800 to 850 lbs.
Finding the Right Calves to Finish
With only five calves retained each month, Meissner can be selective. He looks for the biggest calves, usually those over 90 to 100 lbs.
Most of the herd is bred to black Angus, although red Holstein influence from an acquired herd means an occasional red calf appears. Meissner is also beginning to track which beef sires produce cattle he likes.
The data is still limited. Meissner has finished only about 20 cattle so far, but he finds it interesting to compare calves that carry more dairy traits with those that look more like beef animals.
It might seem like the bull calves would be the obvious choice for finishing, but the heifers have caught Meissner’s attention. The few he has taken through the program have performed well at harvest, giving him another reason to keep looking at what the dairy-beef crosses can do.
“The few heifers I have ran through, I’ve been extremely pleased with how they’ve finished out and how they’ve graded,” he says.
Selling Beef, Sharing the Farm Story
Once Meissner had cattle ready for consumers, he had to figure out how to sell the beef and reach customers. The first sales were built around quarters, halves and whole animals. As demand grew, Meissner added bundle boxes and eventually began shipping beef, even though he once thought he would never ship it.
Social media has become the main driver of those sales, giving Meissner a place to promote the beef while also sharing what is happening on the farm.
“I really started pushing social media the last couple years, and it’s been huge for us,” Meissner says. “That’s where most of our beef sales have come from. People see what we’re doing, and then they reach out wanting to buy some.”
For Meissner, the beef program created something tangible to market from a dairy farm and another way to tell the dairy’s story.
The posts mix education, day-to-day farm life, beef content and humor, while giving consumers a look at dairy farming they may not otherwise get.
“People enjoy it,” he says. “I’ve had tons of awesome feedback just from even people close to me. ‘I learned so much. I never knew this. I never knew that.’”
Where the Beef Program Goes Next
The finished-beef program is still young, but Meissner is already sold out of the five calves he keeps each month. What started as an idea to use resources already on the farm has grown into a proven concept with customers asking for more. If demand continues, Meissner sees an opportunity to slowly expand the program next year and beyond.
“I’m kind of just taking it as it goes,” Meissner says. “I’m sold out at five a month, so if I can keep selling that many, maybe I can do a few more and keep growing the program slowly.”
Social media has become another part of the program, giving Meissner a creative outlet to share life at Norm E-Lane and connect with customers. He enjoys showing the cattle and everyday work on the farm and thinks more farmers should take the opportunity to tell their own stories.
“I really enjoy sharing what we do and showing people what life on the farm is actually like,” Meissner says. “I think farmers need to do more of that. We have a good story to tell, and people want to see it.”
That connection has helped bring people closer to the farm and gives Meissner another way to build trust with the people buying his beef.
“People want to know where their food comes from,” he says. “They’re buying a premium product. They’re buying that experience, the story and the knowledge they can trust their source.”
What began as a small experiment has grown into a business with loyal customers and room to expand. Meissner is still learning as he goes, but the response has given him confidence to keep building the program and see where it can go next. For now, he plans to keep growing it slowly, listening to his customers and finding new ways to share the Norm E-Lane story along the way.
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