Brand the barn

This finished logo is one of 40 that will appear on barns across the country this summer, as part of Certified Angus Beef’s 40th anniversary.

Troy Freeman at work on the Certified Angus Beef logo at CAM Ranches in Arnoldsville, Ga.

Andrew McPeaks Explains CAM Ranches' Operations to Group — Andrew McPeaks of CAM Ranches explained his farm's operations to a group of restaurant workers and other visitors.

The Certified Angus Beef logo has been used to mark quality meat products for 40 years. To commemorate the organization’s 40^th anniversary, CAB decided to put the logo on something a little larger than a package of roast beef or hamburger patties. The super-sized logo is being added to 40 barns across the country, as part of a “Brand the Barn” campaign.

CAM Ranches in Arnoldsville, Ga. Played host to one such barn-painting earlier this year. The McPeake family welcomed area chefs, CAB personnel and members of the media for a tour of their facility and a talk about their Angus cattle. All the while, Troy Freeman of FreeSky Studios set to work on the giant CAB logo. While his work was slowed down slightly by rain, it did not take long before CAB’s familiar Angus logo began to take shape.

Andrew McPeake started off the day by leading a group of local restaurant employees around his farm, explaining his ranch’s seed stock operations. He told the crowd about the specifications needed for beef to reach the level of Certified Angus Beef, and he explained some of the misconceptions of beef in general.

“Just because it’s locally raised doesn’t make it better. Just because it was grown down the road from your restaurant, that doesn’t make it better,” he said. McPeake noted that he gets his steaks shipped to him from Iowa, for instance.

McPeake discussed the care that his cattle receive on the farm, down to the diet that they are fed. Due to the high standards that CAB requires, he discussed the strict standards that the farm employs to ensure as many animals as possible reach that level.

“For them to hit CAB, they can’t have a bad day, and they were always taken care of. Feed, animal health, vaccination programs, husbandry, it was always paramount,” he explained.

Freeman has been working at web design and painting for 6 years full-time. At the onset, the majority of his work was in front of a computer.

“I was doing this [painting] part time, and now it’s kind of flipped, where I’m doing less web work and design work and more of this work, which is great,” he said. “I get to get out in the country and meet people; you don’t really do that with web design. It’s a nice balance.”

Painting the CAB logo as a large mural still requires some computer work. Freeman explained that he photographs the location for the logo, uploads the photo onto his computer and adds the logo to the picture. He can get the proper measurements from there to pain the logo to the correct scale.

Even though Freeman had to do some repair work to the mural location from storms that rolled in the day before, the logo began to take shape quickly. The Arnoldsville was the second barn that he had worked on for CAB, and he found ways to speed up the process.

“I have a feeling that as I get through a few more of these, it’s going to go even quicker,” he added.

There are more than a dozen completed murals as of this writing. To follow along on the “Brand the Barn” campaign, visit https://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/brandthebarn/.

Former Editor In Chief, Independent Processor, and Former Editor, National Provisioner.

Sam Gazdziak has been writing for trade publications since 1997 and joined The National Provisioner in 2004. He helped launch Independent Processor magazine in 2008 as its editor-in-chief.

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