Our story of how we stumbled into ranching often initiates a conversation regarding the process of buying beef straight from the ranch. Yes we are still novices on the journey of farm raised custom finished beef and we’re here to share some of our experiences.
Two years ago we started selling beef directly to our friends, family and colleagues. All of the beef we’ve sold thus far is Angus and Angus/Hereford cross and while I know I’m biased the results have been fantastic. Last year we introduced Wagyu to our heard and will be finishing our first three F1 Wagyu this November. To my surprise most of the people we run into are not familiar with Wagyu, stay tuned for another post regarding Wagyu beef.
Moving on to the reason for the post, a large percentage of our customers have experience buying beef directly from a ranch and a few are new to the process. For the first time purchasers there are many questions and there is one lingering question that often goes unasked. How much beef will I take home after butchering?
I hope this long winded explanation helps first time buyers understand the process.
I prefer not to take for granted what you may know about raising beef and for that reason I’ll start at the beginning…
A calf is born, it hangs out with its mother for 7-9 months and then the weaning process begins. Weaning is the process of removing the calf from its mother and placing it on a separate pasture. The calf will continue to graze on pasture for another 9-11 months. In the 15th month we start the finishing process, the process includes the introduction of our locally made custom grain mixture.
As I continue I will attempt to elaborate on the industry terms used during the process.
After slaughter the primary weight referred to by the rancher, processor and butcher is the hanging weight. This weight is the weight of the beef carcass after slaughter. There are a few classic movie scenes that characterize this picture, think of the 1976 movie Rocky where actor Sylvester Stallone is training in a meat locker hitting a side of beef. For those who haven’t seen the movie, the carcass is the beef body hanging minus the head, hooves, hide, tail and organs.
We prefer to sell our beef by the whole or half. When the beef is delivered from our ranch to the butcher it is split in two halves for aging. A half of beef will provide a family of four meat for roughly a year.
Hanging weight and why is hanging weight important? To the rancher and butcher this is how they get compensated for their product. The price you pay for the beef and butchering is based on hanging weight when it arrives at the butcher.
Now on to some of the fun you get to enjoy when buying your beef from our ranch. The aging process is when the beef carcass hangs in a butcher’s cooler for a specific period of time, this process helps the beef develop flavor and tenderness. Our preference is the traditional “dry aging” method. The process can range from several weeks to months, the longer the beef hangs/ages the more moisture evaporates from the carcass. This should be noted because it will affect how much beef you get to take home after butchering.
If you choose to age the beef for 21-28 days you are likely to lose 10-15% of the initial weight before cut and wrap. Is it worth it? I believe if you are looking for an even more flavor and tenderness from the grocery store you should age at least 14 days, 21 days is my preference and no more than 28. The beef you find in the grocery store is typically aged less than 7 days and likely through “wet aging”. All of the pre-butcher weight loss isn’t from moisture evaporation, additional weight loss will come from trimming, the longer you choose to age the beef the more trimming is required to remove the dried out surface of the exposed beef.
Cut & Wrap, this will vary depending on the butcher and their process. The two most common cut and wrap selections are vacuum sealed packages or wrapped in butcher paper like you’d get from the grocery store meat counter. I prefer the vacuum seal, it will prevent freezer burn and will store much longer in your freezer than paper wrapped. The cut process also reduces the hanging weight, it is the process of removing the bones and fat that you would prefer not to take home. The cut process will reduce the hanging weight by roughly 40%.
Let’s make a few assumptions for calculation purposes, a cow/steer sitting on pasture at 18 months old weighs roughly 1,200 pounds. After slaughter the hanging weight is likely between 750 and 800 pounds and will vary based on finishing rations, cattle breed, time of year, etc.
When you buy a half a beef your cost will be based on the hanging weight, you will pay a purchase price for the beef to the rancher and a processing fee to the butcher. For our Angus we charge $3.50 per pound and our local butcher who vacuum seals the packaging charges $0.89 per pound. In this example your estimated cost will be 375 X $4.39 = $1,646 for the half.
Now back to the question… how much will I be putting in my freezer at home? If you start with a hanging weight of 375 lb. (half), age it for 21 days (average 10% weight reduction) and then take a “traditional” route for your butchering and cut selection you should end up with around 205-210 pounds of beef in your freezer.
The butcher will cut and wrap your beef any way you like, traditionally they’ll prepare the ground beef around 85% lean, some of your steaks (T-bone and Porterhouse) will be bone in, and they will give you additional bones for dog treats and/or soup broth. If you desire to lean out the ground beef and have your steaks boned you will see additional weight reduction in your final “cut & wrap” weight.
What am I really paying per pound of custom finished and processed beef? Another good question and after this long explanation we can do the calculation. $1,646 / 210 = $7.83 per pound for locally raised custom finished possibly organic beef. Remember this is an average of all the cuts from Hamburger and roasts to Porterhouse, Ribeye and Filet Mignon.
Is that a deal? That is up to you to decide, most people who have bought from us feel like the flavor is vastly better than what they’ve found at Costco or the grocery store. The feedback we’ve received from our customers is our only measurement and so far it seems like everyone is impressed. Sharing stories is the most fun and we love hearing the stories of how our customers have enjoyed Hardways Ranch beef with their familes and friends.