Big Ben’s Meats is both a new enterprise and the continuation of a long family legacy.
“It’s a seventh-generation operation,” said the eponymous Ben Elliott. “My mother’s side of the family actually unofficially founded Bayfield.”
He said that both sides have been raising cattle in La Plata County for seven generations. Born and raised here, Elliott wants to stay in Durango.
“I’d like to carry on the torch of our family legacy here,” he said.
He is introducing some changes though. He said that thanks to the costs involved, traditional cow-calf operations, in which ranchers maintain a herd of cows and sell off the calves they produce, are no longer as profitable as they once were. As such, Elliot is selling his meat direct to consumers.
“We are supplying the communities with good-quality lamb, pork and beef – and also goat,” he said. “We started last fall, and it’s going pretty good.”
He said that the business is headquartered in Bayfield and leases a lot of country around La Plata County. He winters all of his cattle and sheep at the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry farm near Farmington.
“We’ll sell little, itty-bitty lambchops all the way up to whole and half beef,” Elliott said. “We do everything; we just try to be kind of a one-stop shop for our local community. And then we try to be pretty affordable, you know, so more people are able to get high-quality products.”
Olivia Gomez, who can also be found at the Big Ben’s booth at the Durango farmers Market, also comes from a family that has been in the area for generations, and her dad’s side of the family owns a cattle ranch in Arboles.
Gomez, however, raises chickens and sells their eggs at the market.
“They’re cage-free, they’re free-range, very spoiled chickens,” she said. “I love my chickens.”
The eggs come in white, blue and brown varieties, and, like Elliot, Gomez said she tries to keep her prices affordable.
“I think it's very important for people to get fresh food … especially with everything’s so expensive nowadays,” she said.
ngonzales@durangoherald.com
