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A ranch can change overnight, and so can your role in it. We’re joined by Candy Baca, a sixth-generation rancher east of Las Vegas, New Mexico, who stepped in after an unexpected loss and built a direct-to-consumer beef program to keep her family operation strong. She shares what it’s like moving from a traditional cow-calf routine to selling local beef to real families who want to know the story behind their food.

We dig into what “regenerative agriculture” looks like on the ground in New Mexico: pasture rotation, soil health, working with natural forage, and planning for drought and snow. Candy also gets candid about the parts nobody glamorizes, like paperwork, marketing, and the constant pressure of doing business with a small team. On herd health, we talk genetics, vaccinations, and why prevention planning matters, including staying alert to threats like New World screwworm.

If you’ve ever wondered how buying beef direct works, Candy breaks down the customer side too: cut sheets, finished weights, rail weights, customization, and why dry aging changes yields while improving tenderness and flavor. She also tells a powerful customer story that captures the real impact of buying local and supporting family ranchers across New Mexico.

If this conversation helps you see beef differently, subscribe to Behind the Burger, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the people and practices behind New Mexico beef.

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Stay connected with us — follow @NMBEEF on TikTok and Instagram, New Mexico Beef Council on Facebook and visit nmbeef.com for recipes, nutrition info, a local beef directory and more.

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A ranch partnership sounds simple until you price a feeder calf, hit a drought, or unload fresh cattle that have never seen a hot wire. We’re out near Fort Sumner, New Mexico with Luke and Donna Cortese and Taylor and Kayla Lee to tell the full story of how two families build a cattle operation together and why trust, fairness, and daily discipline matter more than hype.

We talk through the real work behind New Mexico beef production: turning calves out safely, pushing cattle to water, setting up vaccine and mineral programs, cleaning tanks, and using limit feeding to spot health problems before they turn into wrecks. You’ll also hear how modern ranching uses practical technology like cameras on remote water, Bluetooth feed-truck scales, group texts, FaceTime, and drones with infrared to find calves when weather and terrain make the job harder.

Then we zoom out to the business side of ranching and agriculture. We get honest about thin margins, big capital needs, labor shortages, and why risk management tools like hedging and Livestock Risk Protection insurance matter when markets move fast. Throughout it all, the theme stays consistent: stewardship of land and cattle, investing in people, learning from failure, and keeping your word when it costs you.

If you care about ranch life, animal welfare, and where your beef comes from, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find these New Mexico ranching stories.

Thanks for tuning in to Behind the Burger!
Stay connected with us — follow @NMBEEF on TikTok and Instagram, New Mexico Beef Council on Facebook and visit nmbeef.com for recipes, nutrition info, a local beef directory and more.

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A lot has to go right before a kid in New Mexico bites into a steak finger at school, and most of it happens far from the cafeteria line. From Roswell, USA Beef Packing is doing the quiet, essential work of turning cattle into safe, inspected, traceable beef that can serve communities across the state.

We sit down with Joe Madrid, owner of USA Beef Packing, and Nayely Madrid, office manager, to talk about building a USDA inspected slaughter and processing facility and what it looks like to grow a family business in the middle of a changing beef supply chain. They share how decades of meat processing equipment experience turned into buying a small plant, expanding rooms and workflows over time, and learning the hard way why diversification and niche markets keep a regional processor alive when the big companies control so much of the industry.

You’ll hear how their programs work, including Ranch to Institutional Markets through the New Mexico Grown program, custom processing for cattle owners, co-packing and private labeling for small brands, and exporting American beef to places like Mexico and China. We also dig into food safety and humane handling, from lot-based traceability and trained station teams to the reality of constant inspections. Then we get practical and specific: fully cooked beef for school lunch programs, why “ready-to-heat” helps with food safety, and what’s next as grants help turn offal into value-added products like raw pet food and treats.

If you care about New Mexico beef, local food systems, or how a processing plant actually runs day to day, hit play, then subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more people can find the stories behind the burger.

Thanks for tuning in to Behind the Burger!
Stay connected with us — follow @NMBEEF on TikTok and Instagram, New Mexico Beef Council on Facebook and visit nmbeef.com for recipes, nutrition info, a local beef directory and more.