Selling Beef 2.0

We had so much fun last time, 

we decided to do it all again.

Bought 2 little girls on 6/26/17

for $950.00 and fed them well.

And then we drove them up to our new butcher's

on 1/6/19. They were good cows, nice to have

around, but it was time for them to go.

#53

      

#55

The butcher was really impressed with their condition.

Said it was obvious we fed them well.

(ignoring the fact that they are eating

palmetto fronds in these pictures... they got a 

big ol' helping of grain with double molasses twice every day!)

#53 ended up being 520 pounds "hanging weight"

#55 ended up being 665 pounds!

(Hanging weight is the first weight after they are hung...

it's original weight minus head, skin, innards, feet, etc...)

You typically lose about 15 - 20% while they are hanging

and the meat is aging and drying.

But it makes the meat SO much more tender and flavorful.

It was really interesting talking to these folks.

This place has been in business for 44 years.

The Dad passed away last year and Mom has

just moved to assisted living.

Allison - the sister is the front line.

I was SOOO impressed with her!

She called and we talked to her - she went over

the entire carcass and let us chose what cuts of

meat we wanted.

(ie: I'm not a fan of cube steak, so we did London Broil

and ground beef instead.)

We chose to cut each brisket in half so each 1/4 share

got a brisket. Most people LOVE the brisket so I

always feel bad charging that much $ and they don't get one,

 that was such a GREAT idea!

Clearly this wasn't her first rodeo.

Monday the 28th we drove back up again with Linda's

horse trailer and picked up all the meat.

Our last butcher just had us dump it all into coolers

and when we got home we had to sort it all and

figure out who got what.

WHAT A NIGHTMARE!

These people were so awesome!

Audie (the brother) was the butcher.

And they had an "adopted" sister and 2 more "brothers"

working with them. 

They were BUSY!

When we pulled in, one truck and trailer was just leaving

and another truck and trailer was dropping off 2 pigs!

After they loaded us up, Audie stood and talked to us

for a couple of minutes (he was on his lunch break)

and told us he could tell we fed the cows well.

Said there is NO comparison between grass fed and

grain fed. Grass fed is dry and not really well marbled.

Grain fed tastes so much better, is more tender, and has 

GREAT fat marble (which is where the flavor is).

He talked about their family business philosophy.

USDA keeps trying to urge them to expand, but 

they are happy with the size they are.

Still able to meet and talk with customers,

customize orders, answer questions...

Rod told him about our shop and running it the same way.

They are a good Christian family and you can

see it in the way they do business.

It was hard to know what I loved best about them,

but this is WAAAY up there...

The back row was the brown/white cow.

Each stack of 3 boxes was an equal quarter.

Identical cuts in each box.

Marked A. B. C. D.

$1246.85 for 3 boxes.

The middle row was the black/white cow.

Each stack of 2 boxes made up a quarter.

Marked E. F. G. H.

$942.50 for 2 boxes.

(She was smaller...)

And then front row was two boxes (left) of 

"dog bones" but when we opened them they are

BIG and MEATY!

And the box on the right was full of things

like liver, heart, tongue and oxtail.

For those who want that stuff.

(The little box on the top was more bones...)

We drove home again (2 hours) and had just 

enough time to unload all the boxes before

people started showing up.

It was organized bedlam.

(hahahaha)

A gazillion times better than last time,

but still a production.

Rod was in the garage, manning the table,

helping guys who were splitting a quarter

and another who discovered his freezer wasn't

big enough for his entire quarter, so he took half

now and is coming back for the other half later.

(Luckily, we have LOTS of freezer space...)

Meanwhile, I was doing the "farm tour" thing,

entertaining all the little kids they brought

and keeping them out of the adult's way while

commerce was being done.

(And Kyle was inside keeping Beau entertained

so he didn't lose his mind looking for "The Lady".)

We were EXHAUSTED by the time the last group

left just as the sun was going down.

We still had to run into town to Tractor Supply

to get some feed (I taught over the weekend and

Rod and Kyle ended up spending 10 hours on Saturday

doing a couple of tractor jobs for Kyle's company...)

We stopped at Chick Fil A to pick up a couple

of sandwiches for dinner.

Despite having a million pounds of delicious beef

in the freezer.

(But it was frozen SOLID and required cooking.)

Beyond my mental capability at that point.

So yesterday Kyle and I thawed a Sirloin Steak

and cooked that baby up for dinner.

It was big enough to feed all 3 of us!

And it was DELICIOUS!

(I usually only eat about 1/4 of a steak,

but this was so yummy, next thing you know

I'd eaten an entire third! Rod took his share

to work with him to eat tonight for dinner...)

We are starting to get calls and texts from customers.

Everyone is VERY happy.

Whew!

We'll give it a couple of weeks 

(while Kyle finishes the cattle working facility

at the ranch) and then we will pick up our two

new little boys and it will be time to start all over again.

I think we are in the cattle business.