The purpose of the Heritage Shorthorn Certified Beef Program (HSCB) is to provide support for those HSS members who sell freezer/locker beef privately or who sell their beef in a Farmer’s Market type setting, by highlighting the value-added benefits of this beef to potential purchasers. The aim is for you to be able to ask a premium price for any Heritage or Heritage Influenced Shorthorn beef marketed under this program, because of its unique characteristics and limited availability. If some of your steers qualify under the guidelines below and some do not, consider 2-Tier pricing—one market price for your regular steers, and a higher price for those which qualify as Heritage Shorthorn Certified Beef.

Participating in this program is free for HSS members—guidelines are listed below.

Please visit the HSCB website:

HeritageShorthornBeef.com

The HSS Member Page on the Heritage Shorthorn Certified Beef website has a wealth of marketing ideas for those who what to participate in this program. Contact our office for the password to access this page full of marketing information.

Participants in the HSCB program will be provided with free flyers to hand out to potential customers, which highlight points about why this meat is “special”.

Guidelines & Rules to participate in the Heritage Shorthorn Certified Beef (HSCB) Program

1. —The Heritage Shorthorn Certified Beef logo is a registered trademark of the Heritage Shorthorn Society, and it is available for use only by current paid-up or honorary members of the Heritage Shorthorn Society. It is intended to highlight high quality Shorthorn beef which can potentially be sold at a premium price.

2. —It is in the best interests of Heritage and Heritage-Influenced Shorthorn breeders that all beef sold under the Heritage Shorthorn Certified Beef (HSCB) label is of the highest quality, providing a compelling reason for buyers to want to be repeat buyers and to recommend it to their friends, rather than having a disappointing experience and subsequently deciding to buy commercially raised, mass-market beef.

3. —While the quality of the beef to be sold under the HSCB program is intended to be of the highest caliber, the method of production is the responsibility of the individual producer, and will not be overseen or “guaranteed” by HSS, other than what is outlined in the next paragraph. The individual breeder can decide which feeding method to use in raising their steers: i.e. strictly pasture/grass-fed, or pasture plus grain finishing, or purely organic, etc. Each producer has the responsibility to inform their own customers about their specific production methods and beef availability, etc.

4. —The HSCB website and marketing will emphasize the following points about Heritage Shorthorn Certified Beef, and the producer certifies that any beef which is marketed under the HSCB label has been raised and finished in a manner consistent with the guidelines below. (This does not prevent any producer from selling additional beef from other animals which don’t qualify for the HSCB program under their farm/ranch name without the HSCB label.)

a. The animals are full Heritage Shorthorns, or are Heritage-Influenced Shorthorns (Shorthorns with at least 25% Heritage bloodlines by pedigree—i.e. using a Heritage Shorthorn bull or son of a Heritage bull on modern Shorthorns will result in offspring which qualify).

b. The animals have been raised without hormones, steroids, sub-therapeutic feed antibiotics, implants, or other artificial growth promoting agents.

c. The animals are less than 30 months old at the time of slaughter except for older animals used for the production of burger meat.

d. The animals have been raised and handled in a humane manner.

5. —The HSCB website will allow free promotional listings to any HSS member who sells qualifying HSCB locker/freezer beef. The HSCB listing is not intended to duplicate all of the information which may be on a producer’s own website or Facebook Page, but the listing will include:

—Ranch name and location by State or Canadian Province

—Contact Information

—A short promotional paragraph written by the HSS member describing the types of beef packages or cuts available, the raising & finishing method for their steers, &/or other important information to help market their beef, and to direct customers to their own website or Facebook page.

— (Optional): A picture of your farm, your family, or your cattle

—(Optional): Farm/Ranch Logo

—(Optional): Linking information to your farm website or Facebook page

6. —While the HSCB program is free to members of HSS, a small annual free-will donation is requested from those who utilize this program to help maintain the HSCB Program and Website.