Mississippi Poultry Producer and U.S. Army Veteran Promotes Locally Raised Foods
In partnership with: Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce
Matthew Anglin, now owner or Rancher’s Pride Meat Company LLC, was tired of watching his children grow up by looking at their pictures. The U.S. Army veteran served a tour in Iraq before working as a paramedic after his discharge. To support his family, he worked with four different ambulance services.
“I was home 12 hours a week,” Anglin says.
In addition to looking for a way to spend more time with his family, he had also long dreamed of owning a farm.
Rancher’s Pride Meat Company LLC
“I fell in love with farming at an early age since my grandfather owned a small farm with a few cows,” he says.
In 2015, Anglin and his wife, Holly, secured financing to build six poultry houses on 100 acres they’d purchased in Ovett. They now have 10 poultry houses, raising meat chickens, called broilers, on contract with Amick Farms. In a year’s time, they raise over 1 million broilers.
As he began building up the poultry business, Anglin also acquired a few head of cattle. By 2020, the Anglins had a commercial herd of 100 head including registered Charolais, Beefmaster and some Angus crossbred. They operate the poultry houses, the cattle and a hay operation as Anglin Farms LLC.
See more: Mississippi’s Home Place Pastures Sells Fresh Meat Direct to Consumers
“When COVID-19 hit, we started getting a lot of calls from people wanting beef,” Anglin says. “And we just happened to have a lot of it standing in the pasture.”
The Anglins started selling beef directly to consumers by hanging weight.
“The way the law was at the time, we had to sell it by a half or whole cow,” Anglin says. “Some customers didn’t have the freezer space or the budget to buy even a quarter cow. We couldn’t sell it in retail cuts, and a lot of people asked if we could open a store where we could do that. So, we did.”
More Than a Farm Store
The Anglins opened Rancher’s Pride Meat Company LLC in June 2022 in nearby Ellisville. The store focuses on fresh, locally produced meats, poultry, milk, ice cream, eggs and products from Genuine MS® members like the Anglins. Created by the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Genuine MS® labeling helps consumers find products created or produced by the state’s farmers and entrepreneurs.
“We wanted all of our products in the store to be locally grown, like off-the-farm beef and pasture-raised chicken and eggs,” says Anglin, who provides nearly all the retail beef for the store. “When you go to church on Sunday morning, you might be sitting beside the person who raised your supper for that day.”
Mississippi-based products at the store include milk, buttermilk, chocolate milk and ice cream from Havens Down Home Creamery in Lucedale. Pepper jelly and salsa made by The Grumpy Man LLC in Purvis are also available, along with locally raised retail cuts of pork, such as flavored and smoked sausage, bacon, pork chops, baby back ribs, and others. The store also sells pasture-raised chicken.
See more: Beef Business in Mississippi
Flocks of Customers
“We’ve been able to be extremely competitive with our prices,” says Anglin, partly because he’s cut several costly steps from the supply chain including long-distance transportation. “We wanted our product to be something that a CEO of a large company would like to get, but we wanted to have it at a price a single mom working a minimum-wage job can afford. I feel like no matter what your income, you should be able to enjoy farm-grown, quality food. That’s what we are trying to offer.”
And although he’s busy every day, Anglin spends more time with his family, including four children ages 9 to 18.
“I’m seeing my kids growing up and teaching them about this life,” he says. “You’ve got to love farming to do it. You certainly don’t do it for the money.”