Inside a Family-Owned Beef Plant with Joe and Nayely Madrid

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.

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Transcript

Welcome And Meet The Madrids

Carollann Romo 0:05

Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Burger. I'm Caroline Romo, and I am here with the folks from USA Beef Packing and New Mexico's best, uh Joe Madrid and Nayely Madrid. Uh, thank you guys so much for hosting me, for letting me see your place, and for agreeing to be on the podcast. Thank you for having us. We're so excited. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Well, will you guys start off and just kind of introduce yourselves and and um and then talk about the business? But first, um tell me about yourself, Joe.

Joe Madrid 0:33

Well, my name is Joe Madrid. I'm the owner of uh USA Beef Packing. Um we started the business about 10 years ago, but it all really started back when my father was still alive. Um he used to work for a major company which was called uh Wilsie Foods, and then moved from California to El Paso and worked for John Morrell, which is Peyton Meats. Uh just started really young dealing this with my father. Um when they shut down the the John Morrell uh company there in El Paso. That company was pretty large. They had about a thousand employees plus, and they ended up shutting down. And that's when my father uh decided to to work uh on his own and opened up uh an equipment business to sell uh meat processing equipment. And so that's how it all really started. Um started very young working with my father, um took over when I was like 18 years old and pretty much never looked back, just really dug into the meat, meat equipment business.

Carollann Romo 1:44

And then, and then and then came Nayely, right?

Nayely Madrid 1:47

Yes, um Joe's third daughter. Um we have well, he has four daughters, and I'm the third. I began working at USA Beef Packing in 2020, so during COVID. Um it was it was like second nature. Um I started as an office assistant and um moved up to office manager and really like really like it.

Family Roots In Meat Work

Carollann Romo 2:15

That's perfect. And uh we love the the family aspect of the beef industry, right? It always comes down to family and a family business is is really special, right? To have a place to go work work for dad. Yes, and we always like to joke there's there's uh good days and bad days working for family, right? That is right. That's right. That's perfect. Well, tell us about your operation and how it how it fits into uh the beef beef supply chain.

Nayely Madrid 2:40

Uh USA Beef Packing is a USD inspected slaughter and processing facility. Uh we're an essential business in getting beef from ranch to table in New Mexico.

Carollann Romo 2:52

Absolutely, absolutely. And we've we've gone through it, right? I got to see all of it. So you so, like you said, it's from from um gate to plate or from hoof to plate. Um tell me uh maybe maybe tell me about how it came from equipment to now a packing plant too.

Joe Madrid 3:10

Yeah, so um for about 35 years, I really, really did a lot of of equipment, uh, international sales and national sales. Uh we used to cater to big businesses like National Beef, Tyson Beef. Um there in El Paso. Uh was a big Tyson plant that we used to cater to, uh, did a lot of service for, you know, 20 plus years just at that plant. In total, um I have about over 300 plants that I've probably done business with in one way or another, you know, from all the way from equipment service to uh consultation, a lot of consulting. Um, you know, just got a lot of experience out of that. And and up to about 10 years ago, um a lot of traveling back then that I was kind of tired of traveling so much. So really didn't get to see the girls grow up, um, just working a lot. And I told my wife, you know what, there's a little plant in Roswell that's for sale. And I said, I'm planning to maybe, you know, start trying to do something for ourselves. And we've always helped other companies grow. I said maybe we can try it out and try our own thing. And so 10 years later, here we are, you know, still trying to make it happen.

Carollann Romo 4:31

Yeah, adapting and and changing and growing. I know I thought it was neat to see when you're walking through how, you know, parts of the floor you said, well, this used to be the room, right? Yes, and now it's twice as big, three times as big. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Madrid 4:44

Every time you you knock uh an animal, like slaughter an animal, there's a hundred different things you can do. You know, it's just and that's where where it takes you to just to different avenues and different kinds of uh uh businesses that you never even think you're gonna end up doing, you know, and and and then a year or two later you're actually doing it, you know. Now we're in like pet food and to, you know, cooked cooked foods. It just really there's a lot.

From Equipment To Packing Plant

Carollann Romo 5:16

Yeah, absolutely. It's it's interesting to learn how how much there is to that, right? You're a processor and all of these other avenues of how to how to get you get the product on a plate, right? That's correct. Uh what role does a packing plant play in getting New Mexico beef from producers to consumers?

Nayely Madrid 5:34

At USA Beef Packing, we offer multiple services. Uh, one of our biggest programs is Ranch to Institutional Markets uh through the New Mexico Grown program. So we're a New Mexico Grown approved supplier, and we source directly from the rancher or sale barns to provide meat to senior centers, school districts, and food banks. Another um service we offer is custom processing for individual owners of cattle. And we do co-packing and private labeling. Uh, that's mostly for small businesses that want to go to market uh with their own products. And we also do international exporting to Mexico and China, which has recently been a big project for us.

Carollann Romo 6:28

Well, and it's important to remember that the beef, uh, the beef industry or the beef supply chain goes international, right? When we're we get to enjoy New Mexico beef, we get to enjoy American beef here, but it's also sometimes a specialty in other countries and people are are really uh craving that. 100%. Yeah. Yes. And it's really interesting.

Joe Madrid 6:46

The quality that USA has to offer, you know, to Mexico along with the rest of the country is a very high quality. Yeah. So that's absolutely very desired.

Carollann Romo 6:58

Yeah. We we work with the US Meat Export Federation sometimes, and they always present to us what their areas of focus are. And and um, there's even a small country in Africa that has a couple really fine dining restaurants for USA prime beef. And it's really important for people to get their American beef in this in this country in Africa. Um, and and it's really neat to see the work they do there. But yeah, we we know we love American beef. We know we love prime beef, we know all those things, but it's also known around the world. It is. Yeah.

Joe Madrid 7:31

It really is.

Carollann Romo 7:33

Um what do you think is the most rewarding part of your work?

Joe Madrid 7:38

To me, the most rewarding part is really being able to work with family and you know, getting out there with with the day-to-day operations with the employees and and really, you know, make something happen that wasn't there before. I think is very rewarding.

Carollann Romo 7:58

Absolutely, and that people focus. Yes. You work with good people, it makes it makes life life fun, right? That is correct. Well what about for y'all?

Nayely Madrid 8:39

Um, the most rewarding part is the growth. Um, I've been here for six years, and since then we've opened maybe three or four new product lines, and we continue opening new product lines. Um, so that's just a lot of fun to see look back and see the growth.

Carollann Romo 8:59

Absolutely. And and see that something really, you know, true in front of your face that you could be uh uh proud of, right? Something you've created. Yes and you've done. That's great. Um how do you how does New Mexico's geography, scale, or supply impact the way you guys operate?

Nayely Madrid 9:16

Here in New Mexico, specifically in Roswell, we're surrounded by a large amount of ranchers and dairy farmers. Um so we're able to buy to supply both high quality and commercial beef. Um so any range of beef that the customer's looking for, we're able to supply it all locally sourced here.

Carollann Romo 9:39

Oh yeah. Eastern New Mexico is has a plethora of cattle, right? That works out well. Um and I guess uh since since you guys um I mean, does the hot weather, does drought, does any of that ever impact you guys? Or or maybe it just impacts cattle numbers and and your ability to source cattle? Um, how does a draw draw impact you?

Nayely Madrid 10:03

I do think that the drought impacts us, um, and which is why we have to turn to value-added items and fully cooked items, um, just because it opens our avenues for different processing and still having something to do, even if um we're not slaughtering as many head, we're still able to process into multiple different items.

Drought, Labor, And Niche Markets

Carollann Romo 10:30

Yeah, absolutely. Um what's one of the biggest challenges you face in your operation today? Well, there's quite a bit on.

Joe Madrid 10:38

Uh at the beginning, it was always the employee side, you know, getting people that know the business or you train them to do the business, you know, it's a very skilled labor, um, especially, you know, when it comes to the boning and cutting side of it. Uh that's always been very challenging. You know, opening the markets, uh, looking for the niche markets, because that's what you got to find are niche markets to survive in this kind of business. Uh, you know, the big the big companies pretty much control most of it. So we try to do what they don't do. And so, you know, we try finding those niche markets, and that's always challenging. Um, but also very rewarding.

Carollann Romo 11:23

Yeah, absolutely. Once you kind of overcome that challenge. Yeah. Uh, do you have an answer for that too?

Nayely Madrid 11:28

Do you biggest challenges I face in the operation would probably be all the regulating entities. Um we just have to be ready for them whenever they show up. Sometimes we have uh random inspections. We have uh the USDA inspector, we have the FDA inspection, uh, we have the environmental protection agency, we have Packers and Stockyards. We're just it's a constant uh now state inspection, which we're excited for. It it's a good it's a good challenge. It's nothing bad, but we just have to be ready at any time um for them to just show up and and do an audit or do a walkthrough.

Joe Madrid 12:14

And also, also like the bigger companies, uh distribution companies, where even all those those uh certifications that my daughter's talking about, uh you already have, they come up with their own besides the ones that you already have. So you really have to be, you know, it's a big challenge to to try to get those contracts because they have their own certifications as well that you have to deal with. Sometimes they're monthly, sometimes they could be twice a year, yearly, but they're always there.

Carollann Romo 12:47

Absolutely. Well, and I try and use that in conversation when I'm talking to consumers, and you know, the goal is we have consumers kind of listening to this podcast as well. Um, is that those challenges, those inspections that that are so rigid is a way for a consumer to feel really confident in the product they're getting. Yes, right? 100% clean, it's very tested, it's very inspected. That is for it, right? If if I can, you know, you guys know, because every day they could show up and inspect. And you have USDA inspectors every day they are inside. They're inspecting every summon.

Joe Madrid 13:25

We cannot produce not a pound of beef if the inspector's not on site.

Humane Handling And Food Safety

Carollann Romo 13:29

Yeah, yeah. And so, so to me, that's that's a neat way or an interesting way to tell the story of I believe in the safety of our food system because of the extra effort that you all have to go through, the extra cost you have to put in to, you know, follow these regulations. Um, and and yeah, it gives me me confidence or it's a way to give us confidence that that we're eating a very safe uh product. I understand it's a challenge and I appreciate the efforts you guys go through to get those inspections so that it gives us that extra level of of confidence when we talk to a consumer of these are the steps that were taken to make sure the product is safe. Um and I would would likely trust trust a lot of the uh system in general. I work for you know the beef industry and all of that. But and we have these these uh certifications that can give us confidence or give a consumer confidence. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um can you walk us how, walk us through how animal care, food safety, and quality are handled?

Nayely Madrid 14:35

Um course. Um so when you bring your cattle to us, um me or Isabel will receive you in the front office, and that's where the traceability begins in our plant in our system. Um you would fill out your order forms, and we open a lot in our system that's assigned to that date, um, your name, the amount of cattle you brought, your all of your information goes in that lot. And so then you would go outside, you would um unload your animal with an animal handler, and we are, of course, we have our best practices operating procedures for humane animal handling. We're a non-cattle prod facility where we only use flags or the rattle paddles. Um, they always have food and water and bedding while they're at the facility. And then once um it becomes the next day ready for slaughter, um, that's when we assign each animal an identification number. And that goat that ties directly into the lot into our traceability system. Um we have an internal traceability system that tracks from start to finish the weights and the final production. And of course, every step of the way, we have trained personnel at their own stations. So we have a food safety and quality control department, we have our butchers, our processors, packagers, we have the sanitation crew that comes after uh processing and slaughter, we have our maintenance crew, we have our shipping and receiving team, and that's all overseen by our USDA in-house inspector daily.

Carollann Romo 16:32

Yes, so a ton, right? The short answer is everything. Everything goes into making sure the animals are comfortable through the process, making sure things are safe, making sure your employees are safe.

Nayely Madrid 16:44

Yes.

Carollann Romo 16:44

Um, it's very detailed. So I appreciate that. Um what's one thing people don't realize about beef processing in New Mexico or or even just your business?

Joe Madrid 16:55

That I feel that they don't know pretty much about us is kind of like how much we've grown and the capacity we're at. Um right now, you know, we're at about 100 head a day facility. But even that is not a big number. But if you if you put it in in perspective of really cattle and money amount and all that, it's quite a bit. Um I feel we're enough right now to to be able to supply like the whole school uh lunch program throughout the state. Um, the numbers work for that. You know, it's a hundred head doesn't sound like a lot, but it is quite a bit. Um and I think that's one of the perceptions sometimes that people don't know in here in the state that you know everybody always thinks it's uh you know pretty much a smaller operation where you're you kill 10, 15, 20 head a week, you know, when 100 head a day is quite a bit. So to fill all that in, it's you know, you gotta be very diverse and try to work on a lot of different contracts at the same time just to try to hit the numbers. So I think that's one time uh something that I don't think most of New Mexico really realizes that, you know, we can handle up to that capacity.

Carollann Romo 18:10

Yeah. So if a producer is listening to the podcast, um, can and you kind of explain the process. So I think I understand the answer, but I could be wrong. Um, if a producer is listening and they have uh animals with that need a destination, they can come to you, right? You're open for new customers. That is correct. Because you're not at capacity, 100 is your capacity. 100 a day is our capacity, correct? Okay. So so as a producer, they could they could bring finished cattle to you and be part of your contracts.

Joe Madrid 18:38

Yes, right now we're running our school lunch program that's really been very, very good for, I believe, the state and for us as well. Um, but even at that, we're only running probably at about our 25% of our capacity. Um, so we're, you know, you still got to fill in. Right now, we also slaughter for uh we do a lot of halal slaughter for California. Most of everything uh going for the Muslim community through California comes through us. Um and then we're we're about to you know get into uh another bison contract, which is an AMS program, which is through the USDA. It's a government program. And you know, for a while we did about four years in a row, we we did quite a bit of bison, and um they they're wanting us to come back and do some more for the government. So we're we're looking into firing that up probably in April.

Carollann Romo 19:31

Yeah, and one of those contracts you mentioned too on the school lunches, so it's New Mexico grown, right? It's a state-funded initiative to get New Mexico products, whether it be beef, whether it be produce, right? New Mexico products into New Mexico schools, right? And each school can maybe apply for the grant. Um, and then they come to someone like you and say, hey, we need to fill these orders, right? Makes sense. Is that kind of the gist of it? So so tell us more about the school lunches and uh maybe even go into I I mean, I think my favorite thing that you you've told me about is the steak fingers, but maybe because I got to try them. Um but it but yeah, tell us more about the about the school school lunch program or this the uh school kind of cafeteria programs.

Nayely Madrid 20:14

So about two years ago, uh we began fully cooking, and I my background or what I really like to do is cook and bake. So this was uh an area that I helped a lot in in product development for the stick fingers. Um I used a very simple recipe that doesn't have any fillers, doesn't have any preservatives. Um, it's a hundred percent beef with breading.

Carollann Romo 20:47

And that's delicious.

Nayely Madrid 20:48

And it's delicious. So uh we're very excited about that, and the schools love it, the kids love it, and it's been an a brand new product that that has been very successful, and we're very proud of that.

Carollann Romo 21:03

Absolutely, as you should be. Um, and so so you guys are in schools throughout the state, right? Um tell me, I mean, if you can kind of show the map, you know, or or or picture the map. Sure, yeah.

Nayely Madrid 21:15

Sure. So Gallup, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, um, Carlsbad, Hobbes, Las Cruces, Artesia, Artesia, Roswell. Um, and then we have a couple other small ones that I can't really remember. Oh, no worries. No, this all kind of sp scattered out a rest of the state.

Carollann Romo 21:38

Yeah, I think that's really, really neat to see that that New Mexico beef via you know, Steakfingers and other things are um are in in the schools. That's that's a really great program. I think the New Mexico Crummer Nevag we were talking about is who who manages that, I think, or pro or promotes it. Um, I think I could be wrong, but but uh we I love I love knowing that there's New Mexico products in our schools. I think New Mexico Department Novag, the Farmers Market Association, and I'm sure some unnamed people get a lot of credit for the New Mexico ground or should get the credit. So um sorry for not knowing who who exactly is managing it, but we we do we do really appreciate that. And and I know that's a big part of your business right now, too. Uh just just for the fun of it, because I think it's interesting, tell us about your other products. You guys have um the steak fingers fingers, but what else? What other what are their Kind of uh the cooked products, especially.

Nayely Madrid 22:33

We do shredded beef, we can do beef crumbles, which is just cooked ground beef. Um, and another very popular one is the flame broiled beef patties um that get ran through Burger King flame broil um machine. Broilers, Burger King flame broilers, um, where they're just seasoned with salt and pepper and they're fully cooked.

Carollann Romo 22:57

And those are perfect for for schools because a lot of times there's not a lot of time, right? You're feeding mass quantities, and so that's why that that cooking process is good.

Joe Madrid 23:06

And also um it is hard for the schools because when they start from a raw product, it's really on them to get it perfect to a fully cooked stage, and sometimes it's pretty difficult. So us doing it in a mass quantity, let's say we have a contract of three different schools, we put them all together to run one big batch, and we have fully full control with the FSQA people, with just everybody, the whole team to know that it's perfect. And that's really hard for them to do at the schools.

Carollann Romo 23:39

Oh, absolutely. And that's that food safety, right? Of getting the food to the right temperature when you cook it. Exactly. And of course, we want our kids safe and we uh and there's you know limited resources in a school, I'm sure, right? Which is why the the grant program.

Joe Madrid 23:54

Yes.

Offal Grants And Pet Food Plans

Carollann Romo 23:55

Um well, cool. Well, I just think the the uh your end products are really neat and a really interesting uh story to tell. Um so uh what's something you're excited about right now in your operation or even even in the beef industry? But what's what's something that gets you excited?

Nayely Madrid 24:13

Uh we recently got a grant uh for turning off all into value-added products. The grant was through the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, and we're very excited about that because we would be turning something that would have been thrown away into a value-added item. And so it's just exactly what we need, the missing piece in our operation.

Carollann Romo 24:40

Absolutely. And um I the awful is not, it's not actually spelled the way um the way it sounds, right? Awful is is uh, is it an acronym or if that's the right word for it, it's it's basically the waste items, right? So it's things that that can't go into the food system or or we don't have a spot for them unless you have further processing or whatever, right? And so that's why you have you're kind of working on a pet food line, right? Or pet food capabilities and other things. And so that was another grant that happened with uh the state legislature, right? And the New Mexico Department of Ag is is uh organizing that. So congratulations on that. I know that was um all of the processors in the state were able to uh were able to apply, right? Yes, all right.

Joe Madrid 25:28

Yeah, we want to thank them very much because this is really gonna be a big game changer for us as well.

Carollann Romo 25:34

Yeah, and and previously, from what I understand, some of that stuff was just kind of going to a dump or going somewhere. That is correct. And then we're not allowed to do that anymore, right? So they're trying to find other ways. And so I think some people find ways to compost, find ways to make, like you said, those value-added products. So it's really unique, uniquely uh a unique challenge for what what you guys do, right? Not everybody's worried about what they do with these, these, uh, with their waste. Yes. Um, I have a trash man, come and get my trash, right? You know, it's just different, right? Um perfect. So that's do you have something that that you're excited about too, besides that? The raw dog food.

Nayely Madrid 26:14

I would say the raw pet food. Okay. Um tying into the off turning off all into value added products, um, the raw dog food would be one of those products. And um we're finding that there's a very large market for raw dog food. And so that's a perfect, perfect item that would come out of that grant.

Joe Madrid 26:40

And we're also thinking of um some probably cooked items as well for pet food. Okay. Um, like snack sticks and little items, pet treats. Yeah. So we're we're definitely excited of getting into that as well.

Hard Lessons And Best Advice

Carollann Romo 26:55

I love that. That's very interesting. Um, our dogs don't get raw, raw or super high quality dog food, but they do get beef. We did make sure that that I work for the beef industry. So we do buy, it's gotta be number one ingredient on the on the label. So our dogs are getting high quality protein. Um, very cool. Um, what does a good day look like for you guys?

Joe Madrid 27:20

A good day to me is pretty much that the goal we have for the day was actually completed. Uh no breakdowns, equipment, uh, personnel not showing up. Um you know, just pretty much if if we you know we put a goal and we met it, that's a very good day.

Carollann Romo 27:44

Absolutely. What about for you?

Nayely Madrid 27:47

A good day for me is getting all the stuff done on my to-do list.

Carollann Romo 27:54

Yeah. I I let me know if you're able to do that, right? We have to we have to make reasonable to-do lists for ourselves or sometimes things roll over. Yeah, yeah. Always have to have that flexibility for yourself. Um uh tell us about a hard lesson you've learned along the way. Um I think in with this question too, one of the things as we were walking through, you were showing me how you've you've really adapted all of your um all of your equipment to make it easy on on um your employees and and use your equipment knowledge and all of that to make it a really state-of-the-art facility. Um, yeah, but tell me about maybe a hard lesson along the way.

Joe Madrid 28:34

To me, I think one of the hardest lessons um is like an old saying of don't put all those eggs in one basket. You know, um, that's kind of how I started it, was thinking, I just want to do something simple, mass produce it and call it a day. And you know, that's kind of in the perfect world, and it really doesn't work that way. So um, you know, at first I was putting everything into one thing, and and then I learned to diversify because it can, you know, it cannot work for you, and then what you what do you do? You know, and and that happened, that kind of happened to us at the beginning. You know, it was really hard. So now we're we're really diverse and you know, carry it that way. So in case we do have, you know, some things not go right one way, well we always have a backup.

Carollann Romo 29:28

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um what about you?

Nayely Madrid 29:34

A hard lesson I've learned along the way.

Carollann Romo 29:37

Yeah, what do you think?

Nayely Madrid 29:41

Um, I would say do what's hard. Do what's hard, like just get the task done.

Carollann Romo 29:50

Absolutely. Yeah, not be afraid of a little hard work, right? Keep and lean into the to the hard things sometimes, lean into those challenges, right? Yes. Um, that's a that's a good lesson in any part of agriculture um or life. Um I love that. Uh, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received? Or maybe kind of a thing.

Nayely Madrid 30:11

I would say um this would be this would come from my dad is not to be complacent and uh to just to be open to new ventures. He's uh been the perfect example of that, moving our life from El Paso to Roswell, and um it working out so well. I'm very uh happy to be here. It's an amazing place to be. Um the town is very nice. Up in agriculture are very nice, they're very receiving. Um, they say hi to you in the grocery store every morning, which you don't get that in big cities. So I would say just to be open to new new ventures.

Carollann Romo 30:57

Absolutely. Absolutely. What about what about you? What's uh a good advice you've followed?

Joe Madrid 31:04

Well, my father's always been a really hard worker, and that's what's gotten us here. So just stay on top of it, work as hard as you can, and things should come your way.

Carollann Romo 31:15

Absolutely. Again, again with the hard work, it's important, right? If you want to be be successful in life, um it is, and then like you said, Roswell is a really sweet community. I my god, tons of two-finger waves as we're driving into town.

Nayely Madrid 31:28

Yes.

Carollann Romo 31:28

That's my favorite. I love to get out of the big city and get the get the waves back and um you know, feel that kindness and that warmth of a small, of a small community, even though Roswell is pretty big. It still has that that feel, right? That's really special. Um so why do you guys do what you deal? What makes you keep going, keep trying new things, keep keep diversifying and adapting?

Nayely Madrid 31:52

I would say that it's in our blood. Um, like my dad said before it all started with my grandpa. So it's more like a family tradition.

Carollann Romo 32:03

It's important and special, right? It's what an honor to continue that that tradition.

Joe Madrid 32:08

Yes, definitely.

Carollann Romo 32:09

Yeah. Um so is there anything else that you guys would like people to better understand about New Mexico beef or your role as a processing plant in New Mexico?

Nayely Madrid 32:21

Well, New Mexico beef comes from people that take the time to do it right. And uh, well, perfect example is here in Roswell, starting from feed from the local farmers uh to the ranch where they get daily care. I bet that's the dedication in that would be a lot and very hard. Um, and then the respect and care that we treat the animals with at USA beef packing.

Carollann Romo 32:54

Absolutely. That's absolutely what we hope can consumers understand, right? Is that there's so much care involved and effort involved to uh to bring that that quality and tasty item on their plate, right? Correct. Um what advice would you give someone interested in in working in or supporting this part of uh the beef industry?

Joe Madrid 33:16

What advice would I give someone? That it it it is a tough business, but it's very rewarding. It really is. Um when you convert, you know, something that's alive into just a bunch of delicious items, you know, that's very rewarding.

Open For Business And Favorite Cuts

Carollann Romo 33:38

Absolutely, and and we all have to eat, right? And so so it impacts everyone what you do, right? Putting putting uh food on the plate is a really important part of our livelihood, of our life, right? Um, well, cool. Well, was there anything that when we when we said, you know, I had to reschedule on you a couple times and um we finally made it down here to Roswell, um, was there anything that you really wanted to make sure you say on the podcast or or something that that you wanted to make sure and get across? Was there anything else like that?

Nayely Madrid 34:10

Um, I would say I just want everyone to know that we're here. We're in New Mexico, we're in Roswell, we're open for business. Um, we're a phone call away. If anyone wants to take a visit, uh take a plant tour, we're open to that.

Carollann Romo 34:27

Awesome, awesome. And you're open for business for ranchers to bring cattle. You're also open for business. You also sell beef, right? They could call you to buy beef, right?

Nayely Madrid 34:35

Yes, yeah, yes, by the case.

Carollann Romo 34:37

Perfect. Absolutely by the case. So, my last question, my favorite question, what's your favorite way to eat beef?

Nayely Madrid 34:44

You can go first.

Joe Madrid 34:46

Um, my favorite way is well, I've always liked, like everybody else, I guess, you know, the ribey's and the T-bones and the sirloins. But I also really, really enjoy is uh is a chuck steak. You know, a lot of people just like throwing that in the burger. But I like, you know, a pretty decent thick-cut chuck steak with a bone in it. I just really think that's very good and flavorful.

Carollann Romo 35:13

Yeah, absolutely. What's your favorite way?

Nayely Madrid 35:16

Um, growing up, my dad always made carne asadas, which are cookouts, and my favorite cut that he would use is the skirt steak. It was always a marinated skirt steak uh with a side of quesadilla and some guac.

Carollann Romo 35:33

Oh, delicious. Sounds wonderful and sounds uh even nostalgic, right? Growing us, and you you never forget that, right? Definitely. Was there anything else you wanted to add?

Joe Madrid 35:43

Yeah, I mean, um, I I really just want to really thank everybody around here in the community in Roswell. They've always been very, you know, um supporting, supportive, uh, especially, you know, a lot of the local ranchers, you know, they've been really, really great on trying to support us throughout this whole way. Uh, the EDC, uh, the local EDC here in Roswell. They since day one, they've been really, really great to us uh with grants that have come in through the state, uh, grants like the LEDA, the JTIP. You know, I just really want to thank them because of them. You know, this has really helped us grow and be successful because it's it's it's not an easy business and everything helps. Every angle helps. Uh, you know, the NMDA with these grants that they've been coming out with, they're very, very, very uh supportive uh to help us really look at the at the growth and and the angles of what we need to do to just survive sometimes, you know, and and so like these grants that they just came out with uh have really, really helped tremendously. Yeah, I just wanted to really thank everybody on that part.

Nayely Madrid 36:59

Yeah, absolutely. It's the same with the state legislators, um because of them is why we have the New Mexico Grown grant and everything that they're doing with the new bills that they're trying to put out for supporting New Mexico beef. It's just been amazing support from everyone.

Carollann Romo 37:22

Yeah, absolutely. And well, and that's you know, we we always want to thank you guys for for taking the risk and and doing an important job that puts local beef on on plates for kids in New Mexico, for families, for everyone. And and we're grateful that that there's there's uh grants and and things that will help you, right? Absolutely. Because it takes a lot. And I want to thank the New Mexico Beef Consult as well.

Joe Madrid 37:50

It is a really good podcast that what you guys are doing.

Nayely Madrid 37:54

We enjoy listening.

Thanks, Socials, And Sign Off

Carollann Romo 37:56

We're listeners every time. Oh, good. Well, thank you. Thank you. We we love it. We think it's a great thing. I think I said it on on one recently that storytelling is an age-old, age-old uh tradition, right? And this is just the modern version, right? Now we just put a camera in front of you and and microphones in front of your face that make everybody uh uncomfortable, uh, myself included. Uh but it's just an important way to try and get the message out because uh we wanna we wanna be the first to tell our stories, right? Yeah, yeah, Silas. Perfect. Thank you guys so much for being on the podcast. Thank you for the important role that you play in the beef industry. Uh, thank you for your time today uh and everything. But but yeah, once again, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Behind the Burger is produced by the New Mexico Beef Council to celebrate the people and stories behind New Mexico beef. Thanks for listening. Follow the show so you never miss an episode and connect with us on social media for more behind the scenes stories and updates. You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at NM Beef and on Facebook at NM Beef Council. We'll see you next time, and until then, beef, it's what's for dinner.