Elysian Fields rebounds to be an elite purveyor of lambs again
Courtesy of Elysian Fields LLC
Thomas Keller, left, and Keith Martin are managing partners of Elysian Fields LLC.
Courtesy of Elysian Fields LLC
Sheep occasionally dominate the scenery at Elysian Fields Farm, located in Morgan and Washington townships.
Winter can be a wild and woolly time at Elysian Fields Farm.
Courtesy of Elysian Fields Farm
Lambs aren’t a common sight at Elysian Fields Farm, as most are raised in Ohio and trucked to Greene County for processing.
An Elysian Fields lamb
Courtesy of Elysian Fields Farm
Sheep travel in a herd at Elysian Fields Farm.
Editor’s note: This is the first in a weekly series featuring businesses operating in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties that have national and global reach.
Throughout the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Keith Martin feared the outbreak could lead to a silencing of his lambs business.
“That first year was extremely difficult,” recalled Martin, a managing member of Elysian Fields LLC. The Greene County-based company processes and distributes purebred lamb products to high-end restaurants and specialty food retailers in the Pittsburgh region – and much of the nation.
Martin specifically lamented then-Gov. Tom Wolf’s March 15, 2020, shutdown of businesses determined to be “non-essential,” which included all bars and sit-in restaurants across Pennsylvania.
“Ninety-two percent of our revenue was in restaurants,” he said during a recent telephone interview. “They all got shut down, although some had takeout and curb service. But we’re white-tablecloth, indoor dining. Overnight, we lost that.”
Elysian Fields showed its chops, however, and not only survived those wild and woolly times, it now thrives, according to the man who owns and operates the farm bearing the corporate name.
“By the end of 2020, we had met all of our obligations,” said Martin, owner and operator of the 200-acre Elysian Fields Farm, located in Morgan and Washington townships outside of Ruff Creek.
“We were smaller then and needed relief to bridge that economic devastation. We were able to make reimbursements and recover. Our revenue stream now is where it was in 2019. Last year was a good year and this one has been even better … 2020 and 2021 were pretty rough, though.”
Martin is pleased with the rebound. “We’re coast to coast, including Alaska,” he said. “We have a truck every week in Las Vegas, New York, Cleveland and Baltimore.
“We’re small compared with other lamb providers, but we’re very niche. We are No. 1 in quality demand nationally. We’re the lamb of choice.”
He is a managing member of Elysian Fields along with Thomas Keller, a renowned chef, restaurateur and cookbook author from California, who has won numerous culinary-related awards. Collectively, they came up with a plan to upgrade the company.
Their business now offers two brands of lamb, Elysian Fields and Pure Bred. The latter was introduced, Martin said, to provide “a higher value, traceable product for the consumer” by assigning an alpha-numeric identification number to each animal.
According to purebredlamb.com, “Each aspect of every lamb’s life cycle is noted, and when they join the flock, Pure Bred lambs” get that number “to help us monitor their health and well-being.
“Lambs are fed only natural grain without the presence of growth hormones or stimulants, and hay that is tested to ensure adequate nutrient levels. Additionally, the water each lamb drinks is also tested routinely to ensure its purity.”
Martin said, “We’re bringing the voice of the lamb all the way to the plate. Every breath that animal took is eventually represented in the product.”
He did point out that the original Elysian Fields lamb remains a top-quality product. “Nothing changes. It’s the same lamb.”
Although sheep often are visible on Martin’s farm, lamb sightings are rare. “We have a rolling inventory of 7,000 lambs, and don’t have room for them here,” he said. Lambs are tended to at three farms near Mount Vernon, in central Ohio, and trucked to Elysian Farms for processing. About 250 are processed there each week, which translates to about 12,000 a year.
Martin has a keen appreciation for those farms and farmers, and for Ohio-based United Producers Inc., a livestock auction house that “has been our partner in production since day one. They provide services to growers and are the finance arm for all of this. It’s an expensive endeavor.”
Martin grew up on a Greene County farm, and as an adult broke away from an agrarian lifestyle. He made business his business, becoming a broker with Parker/Hunter, an established investment firm in the Pittsburgh area. He worked there for seven years, rising to assistant vice president in 1989, when he decided to return to his roots and develop Elysian Fields.
“In the early days, it was Mary, me and a pickup truck,” he said, referring to his wife and trusty vehicle.
The family also includes a revived business.