Round steaks. Chuck roasts. Rib-eyes. Sirloins. Ground beef and more. Take your pick. Jason Borchardt and his family with the Co3 Cattle Company will gladly fill your order with ranch-raised beef right here in Blanco County.
“A lot of people text me and come out the next day,” Jason says. “I leave the gate open, then they drive on in and pick out what they want from our freezers. We weigh it up. Then I hand write a receipt, and they pay me. That’s it. We make it real simple for our customers.”
Fifteen years ago, Jason and his wife, Kristi–who live with their family on the Franklin Family Ranch east of Blanco–had no clue they’d get into the beef business.
“We started out raising beef for our family,” he says. “We’d have friends who’d come out, and I’d grill. They really liked the difference in the flavor of our beef and the cleanliness of it. They’d ask about our cattle, and I’d explain how I raised them. Then they started asking if we could finish out a calf for them so we would.”
Gradually, the Borchardts started doing halves and whole sides of beef for family and friends. “I saw that it was getting to be like a business,” Jason says. “So we officially started our own company and got into selling beef.”
They chose the name–Co3 Cattle Company–for its Biblical connotation. “We got that from Ecclesiastes 4:12,” Jason explains. “A strand of three cords is not easily broken. That Scripture means a lot to us.”
For processing, Jason teamed up with Smithville Food Lockers in Smithville for the majority of their processing. The meat processor has been in operation since 1946.
“Yama Luna, who runs Smithville Food Lockers, told me that our beef was some of the best he’d ever cut,” Jason recalls. “He asked if he could sell our beef to his customers. I said sure! So he started buying live cattle from us. I thought if our beef is good enough for him, then maybe we should look into selling cuts, too. So we did. About two years ago, we got our permits and a label. Then we started selling inspected, individual cuts.”
The Borchardts still sell a lot of whole and half sides of beef, too. Turn-around after an order is made takes about 21 days. Cuts are individually vacuum sealed and frozen. When you get your beef, it’s ready for the freezer.
So what makes the Co3 Cattle Company brand beef so tasty?
“We run a clean beef program on our ranch,” Jason says. “Our Angus-cross cattle are pasture raised with no growth hormones, antibiotics or steroids. We use a finishing feed that’s all natural with no synthetics or chemicals. We chose to finish our cattle on grain because I like a prime marble and grain finish on my beef. That’s what our customers want, too.”
Now and then, an animal on the ranch gets sick.
“If I have to doctor a calf, then they go a different direction after I get them healthy,” Jason says. “I sell them. I don’t run those through our beef program. The cattle that we process start out healthy and stay healthy.”
On the Franklin Family Ranch, the family runs about 20 pairs of mama cows and calves. Another family farm near Brenham runs another 60 head.
“We pride ourselves on how we handle our cattle,” says Jason, who’s been around livestock all his life. “We keep them as stress free as we can. That makes a big difference in the end result. Even when they’re on finishing feed, they’re out in the pasture, not in a feed lot.”
“I know the origin of every calf that we sell for beef,” he adds. “Most of them either come from our herd off the ranch here or from our family farm in Brenham. I also know and trust a couple of ranchers in our area. If I need more cattle, I purchase from their home herds. They have good, quality cattle that fit our program well.”
As for other sales outlets, Turcotte Butchers & Delicatessen in Dripping Springs markets Co3 Cattle Company beef. “They use our beef patties for all their burgers,” Jason says. “They also sell some select cuts of ours. Everything they offer there is locally grown. They make outstanding sandwiches, too.”
At the end of the day, Jason counts his blessings at home on the Franklin Family Ranch, where three other extended families live, too.
“Family is very important to us,” he says. “We all work together in our business. My teenage son and daughter help feed the cattle every morning before school and on weekends. They also help weigh and vaccinate the calves. My daughter wants to be a vet so it’s been good training for her. Both of them are learning about responsibility and work ethics.”
“Co3 Cattle Company is a fun operation for us,” Jason adds. “We enjoy providing a good, clean, healthy, quality beef to our community and surrounding communities. To us, Blanco County is God’s country. We love this area. It’s where we want to be and have raised our family. This ranch is our life. As long as customers keep coming to us, we’ll keep raising beef.”
For inquiries, call or text Jason Borchardt at 512-660-9290. Email [email protected]; www.Co3cattle.com.
