Jere Downs

@JereDowns

Local hemp might help local beef bounce back into the Kentucky State Fair after decades of commodity burgers and rib eye sandwiches dished up on the fairway.

Henry County cattle farmer David Neville's "Kentucky Beef Hemp Dawg" represents his crusade for a truly local beef product that might be served in Kentucky Cattlemen's Association tents.

"People have really been fussing the last two or three years that we can't get local beef into the Kentucky State Fair," Neville said. "We really want to do a Kentucky Beef Hemp Dawg to get the buzz where people will try it."

The junkiest of junk food -- trucked in from out of state -- usually grabs the fair spotlight. This year, Tater Tots smothered in caramel, maple syrup and marshmallows will tempt fair goers at concessions run by Sivori Catering of Louisville. Other gut bombs served up by Sivori in recent years include a burger smashed inside a glazed doughnut.

When the fair opens Aug.18, Neville and the Cattleman's Association hope fair goers will heed the spirit of the fair to seek out a locally-grown and processed beef dog instead.

"We are the largest beef-producing state east of the Mississippi with 40,000 beef farm families," said Dave Maples, Kentucky Cattlemen's association executive vice president. "But we are a calf state. We've got 1.1 million mama cows but they have the baby and those calves finish out in Kansas, Texas or Iowa."

What's the new, weird food at the State Fair?

That industry practice results in slim odds that state fair beef comes from Kentucky calves born locally but shipped out and fattened in feed lots out west.

As a result, the beef fair goers consume, for example, comes in the form of frozen burger patties or hand-carved rib eye steaks from Sysco, a major food distributor.

"This is the first time a guaranteed Kentucky steer will be in the hot dog," Maples said. "Consumers want to know where their food comes from and what the story is behind it."

Until recently, the lack of small to mid-sized processing plants like the family-owned Webb's and the new Trackside Butcher Shoppe in Campbellsburg have been the missing link between local meat and the consumer, Maples said.

"It just about makes me sick that we haven't been able to get something going," Maples said. "We need to support our farm families and rural communities."

"We hope to get the nose of the camel under the tent," Neville said of his hot dog's entry into competition with commodity beef at the fair. "The Kentucky beef hemp dawg is that."

Besides ground up beef parts, a hot dog's filler binds the meat together. In hot dog prototypes developed by Neville, hemp protein content of up to 3 percent of the hot dog can act as that adhesive. Ground up hemp seeds, also known as "hemp hearts," add texture to the bite. A dash of hemp oil melds flavor and adds smoothness. Without any THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, hemp products make the hot dog newsworthy because of health benefits like Omega 3 and Omega 6 heart-healthy fats, Neville added.

"The hemp gives it marketing appeal," Neville said.

With hemp powder boasting 50 protein content and the health benefits of hemp oil, Kentucky Hemp Dawgs are "certainly a healthier option than if you bought a pack of hot dogs at Kroger."

Hemp oil, hemp protein and hemp hearts are all in the product line of Victory Hemp Foods, a company cultivating 100 acres of hemp in Shelby, Oldham and Henry County, Victory Hemp Foods owner Chad Rosen said. With the coming hemp harvest, hemp hearts from the commonwealth will flow into the company's growing product line, he added.

"I've never seen it used anywhere in the world in a meat product. We are breaking ground on industrial hemp," Rosen said. Hemp in the hot dog, he added "increases the protein and gets you all nine essential amino acids."

In its current form, the Kentucky Beef Hemp Dawg contains hemp oil and hemp protein from Kentucky, Rosen said. Hemp hearts will be available after the hemp harvest in September, he added, for processing at the plant in Cambellsburg.

Hemp hearts might end up being sprinkled on a Kentucky beef hot dog for fair goers, Neville said. That's because he is currently seeking federal government approval to add hemp in USDA-approved meat products.

Either way, hemp will appear in some form or another with the Henry County beef in or on top of the hot dog, he added. Hemp, once a primary revenue crop for Kentucky farmers prior to 1930, needs to get on the public radar, he said.

"We need to introduce the food to the market, when it does become available as a Kentucky product," he said.

The Kentucky Beef Hemp Dawg's story starts with steers in Henry County grazing on organic pasture before "finishing" up to 1,250 pounds on non-GMO corn ground in Bagdad, Kentucky. Trim cuts from Neville's Capstone Farms beef flow into the sausages processed in Paynesville at Webb's Butcher Block.

Webb's Butcher Block owner Marty Webb hickory smoked the sausages and is working through U.S. Dept. of Agriculture hurdles to get hemp approved as an additive, hopefully in time for the fair.

"The way the hemp absorbs and flows with other flavors was a real eye opener to me," Webb said. With or without hemp inside, Webb's staff of 12 is already working Henry County steers into the brat recipe for fair goers.

One of Neville's 1,250-pound steers equates to roughly 1,375 Kentucky beef sausages. With six steers dedicated to hot dog production and others available from local farmers, Neville said he expects to meet demand for thousands of real local beef dogs to be sold at the Kentucky State Fair.

For a first taste of the dog, with hemp inside or sprinkled on top with green tomato relish, you can try one at the Henry County Harvest Showcase prepared by Falls City Smokers, Neville said. In its 17th year, the July 30 agricultural festival showcases locally-grown foods, country ham, crafts and and tractor display. Besides hot dogs, the harvest festival features pulled pork from a hog raised in Henry County. The event is free at the Henry County Fairgrounds, Highway 421, in New Castle from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Harvest Showcase attendees will provide feedback on taste while Neville fine tunes the hemp hot dogs before final processing and their debut at the Kentucky State Fair Aug. 18-28. Samples provided to the Courier-Journal for grilling tasted meaty, with deep flavor and a hearty bite more like a bratwurst than a pasty hot dog.

"We are still working on the wholesale price and the suggested retail price," Neville said. "At the Henry County Harvest Festival, you can get a sneak taste."

Jere Downs can be reached at (502) 582-4669, @JereDowns on Twitter and Jere Downs on Facebook.