Locally raised and thoughtfully produced, G3 Cattle Company Homegrown stores offer West Texas communities a wide selection of fresh meats and products from the Gruns’ family ranch right to the dinner table.
The Gruns live on a sixth-generation ranch, passed from one generation to the next, said Judy Grun, one of the store owners.
“My husband’s great, great-grandfather is the one who originally purchased the land, and it’s been passed down through generations, and my husband and I have it now,” Judy said. “Our son, his wife, and four boys live on the property with us. So it’s all hands on. Everybody helps out.”
The Grun family has always raised cattle but primarily for their own family’s consumption. However, during COVID, Judy’s son Dusty had a vision to provide the people of his community with the same opportunity to enjoy high-quality meat.
In 2020, the Grun family decided to open their first farm-to-market store in Tuscola before opening their location in Abilene.
“We opened this store, and we found out that a lot of business was coming from Abilene,” said Judy. “So we opted into closing the Tuscola store and just focused on the Abilene one. And then later, we opened another store in San Angelo. We had a lot of interested people in that area.”
The G3 Cattle Company Homegrown stores are located at 4601 S. 14th St. in Abilene and 3402 Arden Road, Suite A in San Angelo. They offer a variety of meat and meat cuts for purchase or preorder. Products range from their popular ground beef and ribeye cuts to lamb chops and smoked sausage — all raised and processed by the Grun family.
“We have our beef, of course, and then we have chickens that provide us eggs, and we sell them here,” said Judy. “Sometimes we have goats and sheep. Sometimes we don’t.”
The biggest draw to the store is by far the family’s beef, which is naturally raised without added hormones or antibiotics.
“We raise them, and then when it’s time to put them in a feedlot right before they get over the butcher, we put them in a feedlot and feed them a special ration,” said Judy. “That way you know what the meat’s going to taste like.”
The store also features other products from the farm like seasonings, pickled vegetables, salsas and bread.
“You can see a lot of people are now paying attention to what they’re putting in their mouths, what they’re eating. They want as healthy and natural as they can get it,” said Judy. “With the community being more aware of what they’re eating, they come in here looking for the products that they want.”
In addition to their own products, the homegrown store also offers produce and foods from other local businesses like honey, goat-milk soap and baking mixes.
Meeting needs
As a business rooted in their faith, Judy says the family strives to provide support in any way they can to the community, even offering free Bibles in their stores to those in need.
We also have a lot of facilities that we’ve helped locally. If they need something, we try to help provide as much as we can to them,” said Judy. “I can’t remember how many hundreds of thousands of pounds of meat we’ve donated to different foundations.”
The Grun family’s goal of helping people gain access to meat is not just limited to West Texas. The family also operates a mission located in Africa where they help fight food insecurity.
“We have a nonprofit called Meet the Needs,” said Judy. “We raise money, and our son goes over there, and he’s teaching them how to process meat and how they can feed themselves.”
After attending a mission trip to Africa, Dusty noticed a large need for food, primarily meat, in many African communities. The family looked into what it would take to begin carrying their meat in Africa but decided to go with the different approach of visiting communities and teaching them how to process beef themselves.
“Once they learn how to do that process, they can have meat all the time,” said Judy. “And when Dusty goes over there, he tries to process enough beef that it’ll last them.”
Both G3 Cattle Company Homegrown stores are open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m.to 3 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: West Texas ranching family brings farm fresh meat to your table
Reporting by Lauren Dossey, Abilene Reporter-News / Abilene Reporter-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
