Quality Custom Processing: Bear Mountain Beef provides quality meat processing at local USDA-inspected facility

Michael “Mac” and Celsie Sussex have a ranch in southeastern Wyoming, about 50 miles north of Cheyenne and 20 miles from the Nebraska border. They also have an insurance business and two beautiful children – Aria and Ryker.  

Both Mac and Celsie have been involved in farming and ranching their entire lives and are experienced in all aspects of beef production from cow/calf operations to feeding and meat processing. 

Marketing and selling beef in wholes, halves and quarters to a large group of customers has been a part of their operation for about five years, but 2020 presented new challenges in finding and managing processing appointments. 

This struggle forced them to start looking into other options, and they ultimately created Bear Mountain Beef.  

Steep learning curve

Although they had little experience at the time, the couple opened their own plant in December 2021. 

“We’d been selling a lot of beef all over the country, but like everyone else during COVID-19, we ran into a roadblock trying to find processing,” Mac shares. “We were hauling cattle 200 to 300 miles to be processed, and we needed to do it on our own.”

“If I’d have known then what I know now, I might have hesitated,” he adds. “There is a lot more involved in this than I realized.” 

Mac explains, back then, their only experience was hauling cattle to the processor and picking up the meat when it was done. 

“Now, three years later, either one of us can go anywhere in our plant and do any job,” he says. “There was a steep learning curve. This is probably the most unforgiving profession I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve welded, done construction and ranched my whole life, but once you cut a piece of meat, you can’t put it back together again.” 

Expanding operations

While the Sussexs’ original plan was to process their own cattle and market beef direct to consumer, they began receiving more and more requests to process other people’s animals and their business expanded. Today, they process 25 head of beef a week.

“It’s been a struggle with the economy these past few years, but we are very busy and doing well,” Mac shares. “When we started our meat business, we had several retail stores for marketing our meat, but we sold one of those stores and now we just have one in Cheyenne.”

“In the beginning about 40 percent of the cattle we processed were our own, but now it’s only about 10 percent,” he adds. “We’ve been doing more custom processing for other people.”

Although they have received a lot of requests to process wild game, the couple currently only processes domestic livestock in their U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspected facility.

“We’ve learned a lot through all of this. We have made mistakes, and we try to get a little better every day,” Mac says. 

A team effort

Mac admits the growing success of Bear Mountain Beef has been a team effort.

“My little brother runs the processing floor for us, and we’ve partnered with some other folks in Colorado – the owners of Mountain View Meats,” he explains. “They helped us finance our business, and we split the profits 50-50. They are silent partners and bring us cattle to process.”

Roger and Vicki Uthmann own Mountain View Meats and have been involved in livestock production all of their lives – over 50 years of which have been together. Their production experience includes cow/calf, dairy and feedlot.  

Their ranch is near Virginia Dale, Colo. and has been in Vicki’s family for five generations.  

The Uthmanns formed Mountain View Feeders, Inc. in 2015 with Chad and Nicole – their son and daughter-in-law – and two sons Tyler and Jace. Their feedlot is permitted by the state of Colorado for 3,500 head.  

Their expertise has included growth and development of dairy heifers and beef bulls, as well as fattening cattle for harvest and processing. The Uthmann family provides the cattle feeding and beef sales in Colorado.

Additionally, Mac and Celsie’s children like to help out.

“My daughter tells me every day she’d rather come up here and help us than go to school,” Mac says. “She enjoys helping on the slaughter floor, so I’ve had her out there trimming beef and doing all kinds of things. She will probably be really good help as she gets older, and she’ll certainly have a lot of knowledge we didn’t have starting out.”

Celsie helps with all aspects of the processing and takes care of their other businesses – the ranch, the insurance company and the store in Cheyenne. 

“We are a bit scattered,” Mac admits. “Multiple enterprises are beneficial, however, since some months are better for some of them than others. Our original plan for the processing facility was to hire a manager and be hands-off, so we hired a fellow who was very knowledgeable. He was really good but only lasted 30 days and quit. Then it was thrown into our laps, and we had to learn it really quick.”

Bear Mountain Butcher School

With a concerning shortage of custom processors in an industry which has become more and more vertically integrated, Mac and his crew now host a school where individuals can learn how to process meat. 

“Bear Mountain Butcher School was born from a collaborative team effort to pass on knowledge and skills in the art of cutting meat,” Mac shares. “When we opened in 2021, Bear Mountain Beef was focused on getting our shop set up to process animals for our local community, and our main goal was to provide a stable food chain and better access to quality processing in rural Wyoming.” 

After accomplishing this, the team moved toward training others in the field. 

“We have created a customizable experience for people enrolling in our courses to have hands-on working experience with a one-on-one coach,” Mac explains. “We help students focus on anything from starting a new operation to honing skills in any particular area. Our goal is provide a high-quality training experience.” 

Bear Mountain Butcher School offers flexible options for a three-day crash course or two- to four-week in-depth courses. Once training is complete, individuals gain access to an online library of videos to help fine-tine and refresh their knowledge. 

For more information on Bear Mountain Beef and the Bear Mountain Butcher School, visit bearmountainbeef.com, call 307-338-2751 or e-mail sales@bearmountainbeef.com.

Heather Smith Thomas is a corresponding writer for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.