We have learned nearly everything we know from our partner, Neal Cattle & Farms. They consider themselves a cattle "finisher". Finishing is the last of the three stages in raising cattle.
They purchase most of the cattle from auctions where they judge the cattle based decades of experience. They know how to pick the right cattle that come from good farmers, are healthy, and have room to grow on his farm.
After they get the cattle back to the farm, they isolate them from the other cattle and slowly introduce grains and a vitamin regiment to their diet. Once they are accustom to their new diet, they join the heard in the fields where they continue to grow.
After we purchase the cattle, they are raised on a mixture of crack corn (a bi-product from the elevators), hay grown on the farm, and grass. They are also put on a salt regiment that helps keep their digestive system healthy.
In most cases, yes. We can support many different options, we just have narrowed down to the most popular for the website. Please email us with any specific requests and we will do our best to make it happen.
Just like any market, there are times when prices are high and times when they are low. We pay the farmers for the cattle, then we pay the meat locker for the butchering process. We add in some costs for overhead and growth, then compare to the market.
Since our goal has always been to bring high quality beef to the average person, at a reasonable price, we try our best to get the prices as close to what you'd see at the supermarket. Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less, but we assure you that it's always fair.
When buying a 1/4 or 1/2 beef, it's very hard to give an exact price. Once we know the weight of the cattle, we can give you an estimate but it'll still depend on the cuts you prefer and the final processing bill.
