CHAMPION, Ohio (WKBN) — A local businessman is taking on a new business endeavor: Selling beef raised on his land in Trumbull County.
Omega Door Company owner John Thompson raises some of his cattle on a 300-acre property tucked away in Champion, at Hidden Acres Cattle Company.
Thompson moved to the Mahoning Valley 25 years ago for his business but grew up on a cattle farm in Missouri.
“It’s hard to take the farm out of the boy, so to speak,” said Thompson.
He bought a few cows years later after purchasing some property, starting off with a few Scottish Highlands. Thompson added two Wagyu heifers and a bull to cross breed after tasting a Wagyu steak, gradually growing his herd during the pandemic.
“Quite frankly, I think it’s a really good steak — it has a great taste and it’s not too fatty,” Thompson said.
Thompson calls the cows his passion project which he, in turn, turned into a business.
“Just woke up one day and said, ‘You know what? We have the land, we have the cows — let’s see if this works,'” Thompson said.
And so the Hidden Acres Cattle Company was born, selling beef from Thompson’s cattle.
“It’s a thousand pounds of meat apiece, so that’s a lot of meat,” Thompson said. “I have two that are waiting to be butchered, and five in the next year to butcher … So that’s where we are now. We have enough to butcher and enough in the pipeline.”
All of which is pasture-raised right here in Trumbull County, without hormones or antibiotics.
“It’s as natural as you can get,” Thompson said. “We don’t artificially insemenate — we have a bull that does that for free.”
Local customers can place beef orders online and pick it up at the Hidden Oaks Golf Course in Vienna.