Orlando Salazar of 44 Farms, a premier Black Angus beef company, says the goal of working in agriculture is getting back to the foundational part of American life, back to America’s roots.
His wife, Janet McClaren Salazar, owns the land 44 Farms sits on with her brother, Robert.
Their great-grandfather, S.W. McClaren, had moved to that very spot in Marlow, Texas, in the year 1872. McClaren became a successful farmer, and in 1909, when he branded his first cow with a “44,” 44 Farms was born.
Salazar and his brother-in-law, Robert, CEO of 44 Farms, are partners in the business. Orlando, who began marketing cattle for the business in Mexico when their sales expanded there twelve years ago, humbly mentions he could be considered the company’s international marketing person, following the statement with the reiteration that it is his wife and brother-in-law who own it.
The mission of 44 Farms is to be good stewards of the land and raise good meat to feed families. As a bonus, they also employ twenty full-time employees, provide career paths, and support the community.
The best thing about working for 44 Farms, says Salazar, is that “We provide quality food product that families can know with confidence how it’s raised, how the animals are treated, and that it has quality genetics.”
Salazar’s pride in the company is apparent from the details he provides about it. Animals are given fresh food and water. Food is vertically integrated at 44 Farms, prepared right on site.
Consumers can have complete confidence in an all-natural Texas product with no hormones or antibiotics that prioritize the treatment of animals, says Salazar. He emphasizes the “tremendous” care they receive.
According to Salazar, three things affect beef quality: genetics, treatment, and food and water. Better quality of life for the animal also yields better quality meat.
He also explains there are two aspects to the beef business: genetics and beef. On the genetics side, the company sells bulls and females so other companies can produce more cattle. On the beef production side are the animals 44 Farms raises for slaughter.
On either side of the spectrum, the company works to raise its cattle in a way that improves the quality of the final product, taking pride in how its animals are fed, watered, and treated up until the very last moment.
Not only do they take excellent care of their animals, but they also care for their land. The company avoids overgrazing, ensures nutrients get back into the soil, and cares for the water.
“We cannot have a quality product without utmost care in how we conduct business,” Salazar stresses. “I would use the word, ‘pristine’ [to describe the conditions at the farm]. People that visit call it a ‘Marriot resort for cattle.'”
But 44 Farms is not Salazar’s only endeavor. The husband, father, and business partner is a man of many hats.
Salazar and his wife, in tandem with 44 Farms, built a church in Marlow, where the company is based. The multimillion-dollar Marlow Baptist Church ministers to the community, visits and prays for the sick, and performs youth outreach.
They also built a baseball field in nearby Cameron, where local middle and high school teams hold home games and host tournaments. Salazar says it’s a first-class facility for a small town.
Closer to home, Salazar and his wife are very involved with the special needs community. The Salazars helped start a school in Dallas eight years ago for children with special needs to help others like their sixteen-year-old son, Luke. The Cornerstone Achievement Center meets these children at their varying levels of cognitive and physical condition to provide nearly one-on-one education and care.
Also in Dallas is Thrive Women’s Clinic, a crisis pregnancy center with four locations. Crisis pregnancy centers are a resource for women seeking an abortion. These centers support pregnant women spiritually, physically, mentally, and financially in the hopes that mothers-to-be realize they have options other than termination.
Thrive provides a plethora of services, including offering a place for pregnant women to stay if they are in an abusive relationship, sheltering them until they have given birth. The centers also assist mothers by providing milk, formula, clothes, and diapers for newborns.
Crisis pregnancy centers like Thrive additionally train women to help them enter the workforce. They also support the fathers of unborn children, whatever their relationship to the mother.
Salazar started the clinic’s charity golf tournament ten years ago, which he still runs, though he is no longer a board member. The event has raised nearly $600,000 for the center.
According to Salazar, his service-mindedness comes from his faith. He tries to reflect that faith in everything he does, business or otherwise.
In one anecdote that he shared, Salazar mentioned that he develops commercial real estate in Dallas and owns a strip center in Frisco. During construction, he had “Psalms 90:17” inscribed right into the stone, with a plaque below bearing the verse.
The display has become somewhat of an attraction since then, with people taking photos in front of it and then patronizing the shops in the building. “When we are unashamed of our faith, the Lord gives us a special blessing,” he explains.
Salazar says working with 44 Farms and the multiple other projects he is involved in has made him realize everything is fundamentally related to an individual’s worldview.
“In my mind, your worldview is based on your faith. We try to put others before ourselves. That’s how we live our lives and conduct business. Hopefully, because of that, we can make a difference.”