Honest Beef.
Raised Right Here.

Hanging weight is what your share weighs at the butcher before processing — it's how the price is calculated. Take-home weight is the boxed packaged beef you actually carry home, after trim, bone, and shrinkage. Take-home is typically 60–70% of hanging weight. So a 200 lb hanging-weight half cow yields roughly 120–140 lbs of packaged beef.

A rough rule of thumb: 35–40 lbs of packaged beef per cubic foot. So:

• 1/8 share (~50 lbs): ~1.5 cu ft — fits a kitchen freezer drawer
• 1/4 share (~100 lbs): ~3 cu ft — needs about half of a small chest freezer
• 1/2 share (~200 lbs): ~6 cu ft — small chest freezer, dedicated
• Whole (~400 lbs): ~12 cu ft — full chest freezer

Vacuum-sealed and properly frozen, your beef stays at peak quality for 12–18 months. Steaks are best within 9–12 months for optimal texture; ground beef and roasts are great for the full 12–18. After that it's still safe to eat — just may show some freezer-burn.

Two payments. First, a deposit to reserve your share when you book — typically a couple hundred dollars depending on share size. Second, the final balance when you pick up. We accept cash and check; the butcher's processing fees are paid separately to the butcher at pickup.

Pickup is from the butcher we use in the Almont area, usually 10–14 days after harvest. We'll text you when your beef is ready and confirm a pickup window. Bring a cooler or two — a half cow fills the back of a sedan trunk; a whole needs an SUV or truck bed.

A cut sheet is your instructions to the butcher: how thick you want your steaks, how lean your ground beef, what roasts to keep vs. grind, what to do with the bones, and so on. Yes, you fill one out — but don't sweat it. We walk every first-time buyer through it over the phone in about 15 minutes. If you'd rather not pick, we have a default cut sheet that works great for most families.