Grass Fed Beef
Cattle Management
Our beef cows are grass-fed and grass-finished. During the grazing season, our beef herd is provided a fresh pasture at least one a day, if not more often. This rotational grazing strategy ensures that cows are constantly consuming the nutrient dense, steady supply of pasture needed to keep their guts full and their energy status up while ensuring that pastures retain enough residual forage to protect the soil from sun damage and have a healthy regrowth for the next time the animals come around. In the shoulder seasons of spring and fall, cows have an unlimited supply of hay. Since wintering animals is very costly (both financially and to our land), we purchase in well-raised animals in the spring to finish off through the grazing season. While some farms that market “grass-fed” beef will finish animals on corn to reduce the amount of time it takes to finish an animal, we prefer to finish animals on grass because this is the healthiest approach for the animals and healthy cattle result in healthy beef.
Buying Bulk Meat
Buying meat in bulk gives you the advantage of purchasing top quality meat at a steep discount compared to buying similarly raised products by the cut (see cost breakdown below). You are able to bring home a selection of all of the prime steak cuts in addition to the versatile and nutritious roasts, stew meat and ground meat. You also have the option to take home any of the organ meat that your family might enjoy as well as bones for making bone broths or for a tasty treat for your dog!
How does it work? In Vermont, we have state regulations that allow us to sell you animals that are raised and slaughtered right here on our farm. This ensures that these animals have the best life possible, right through to the end. To begin, you will make a deposit for your purchase. This commitment helps you by spreading out your investment and it helps us by ensuring we have the customer’s full commitment before we go through with organizing the processing of the animal. After you have made your deposit, we will send you a form called a “Certificate of Ownership”. This form is then provided to the butcher to signify that you are the owner of this animal (or part of the animal) and that you hire the butcher to conduct the slaughtering and processing.
From here, we facilitate your communication with the butcher to coordinate the slaughter and processing of the animal. This includes giving you guidance on filling out your custom cut sheet (must purchase at least half of a cow or pig to get custom cutting, quarter cow purchases are a standard cut sheet). Once your meat is ready, the butcher will be in touch to coordinate pickup.
What cuts will I take home?
If you purchase a whole or half, you will be able to fill out your own custom cut sheet to determine how many steaks, roasts, etc. you will take home and how much of the meat will be cut into stew meat or ground beef. We can help you work through the cut sheet as you determine what you would like. Only certain portions of the animal are prime steaks depending on the tenderness of that section of meat, so beyond that, it will depend mostly on your cooking preferences and how you would be most likely to cook with some of the less tender meats. Do you have a larger family and like to do slow cooked meals in the crockpot or oven? If this is the case, more roasts might be a good fit for you. If you like to do a lot of burgers, meatloaves, shepherd’s pie, beef stew, etc. you may lean towards having more of the roast areas made into ground meat or stew meat. The following list shows the different primal cuts of beef, the proportion of the animal that this cut makes up, and final cuts of meat that could result from the primal cut section depending on what you select (adapted from https://extension.psu.edu/understanding-beef-carcass-yields-and-losses-during-processing). In general, primal cuts that are farther from the hoof and head are going to be the most tender, while those closer to the hoof and head are going to be more flavorful and ideal for slow cooking.
Chuck (29%): Flat iron steak, chuck roast
Round (22%): Top round roast/steak, sirloin tip center roast/steak, bottom round roast/steak, eye of round roast/steak, rum round roast/steak
Loin (16%): Filet mignon, porterhouse steak, T-bone steak, tenderloin roast, KC strip
Rib (9%): Short rib, prime rib, rib-eye steak, rib-eye cap steak
Plate (9%): Hangar steak, short ribs, skirt steak
Flank (5%): Flank steak, flap steak
Brisket (4%): Brisket roast
Shank (3%): Shank roast
Image source: https://loubiergourmet.com/blogs/blogs/what-are-the-most-flavorful-cut-of-beef
Below is an example of the cost breakdown for buying a half of a grass-fed beef:
Hanging weight (Whole) = 740 lb
Hanging weight (Half) = 370 lb
Purchase price of half beef = 370 lb x $3.40/hanging lb = $1,258
Slaughtering, Butchering and Processing Costs = $42.50 slaughter fee + $0.95/hanging lb * 370 lb = $394.00
Approximate packaged meat = 370 * 0.60 = 222 lb
Cost per packaged lb of meat = ($1,258 meat purchase + $394 slaughter and process fee)/222 lb = $7.44/lb
***Please note that these are approximate numbers. The following factors will affect the final price:
Slaughter and processing fees are subject to change by the butcher
Slaughter fee is $100 for a whole beef
Actual hanging weight can be more or less than example above
Price per lb differs if you buy a whole ($3.20/lb) or quarter ($3.85/lb)
The cuts you select will influence the final weight of the packaged meat that you take home (ie. choosing more bone-in steaks and roasts vs. boneless). We used a 60% yield of meat in this example, but yield can be as high as 65%
Organ meat is optional and is not included in the above figures
