Since we will be offering our 100% grass-fed beef in bulk, and we have already received some questions about this, we thought it would be good to spell out what one would get by ordering a whole, half, or a quarter beef. We will be building a page that describes this all in detail, but for now we wanted to put a basic description.
Before doing that though, just a word on why we are offering beef this way. In short, we think it is a win-win situation for you and for us. It allows us to ensure that we do not build up a back log of particular cuts of meat, making our inventory management easier and our deliveries more efficient. Because of those efficiencies on our end, it allows us to offer you a better price than if we were to sell everything by the cut. By buying in bulk you’ll save 10% or more compared to buying by the cut. This is assuming one is comparing equal quality grass-fed and finished beef; more on grass-fed vs. grain fed (or finished) in another post to come.
Quarter
If you buy a beef quarter you’ll either be getting the front quarter or the back quarter of the animal. In either case you could expect to take home about 100 pounds of meat and 30 pounds of bones/fat (mostly bones).
Front quarter
The front quarter includes the brisket, rib plate (i.e. short ribs), shanks, rib (i.e. rib roast or rib steak), and the chuck. The chucks includes some smaller (and delicious) steaks and the remainder is most commonly cut as roasts. The shanks are usually either added to the ground beef or cut as soup bones – and they do make delicious soup! So you get a nice mix of roasts, steaks, ground beef, and the short ribs (which are incredibly flavorful), plus the soup bones if you want them.
Back quarter
The back quarter includes the flank (steak), the loins, the rounds (eye, top, and bottom), the sirloin tip, and the tri-tip (steak). The loins include the tenderloin (called filet when it is cut into steaks) and the short loin, where NY strip steaks are cut from. The back half is mostly steaks and roasts and definitely includes the “fancier” cuts (tenderloin and short loin).
Half
A half beef would include both the front and the back half of one side of the animal. So you would take home somewhere around 200 pounds of meat and around 60 pounds of bones/fat (mostly bones).
Whole
Besides the organs (heart, liver, etc.) the two sides of an animal are symmetrical. So you would get all the same cuts, just twice as many. This would yield around 400 pounds of meat and 120 pounds of bones/fat (mostly bones).
Just keep in mind that there are options for stew meat, kabob meat, fajita meat, thin-sliced beef, and bratwurst. You don’t have to worry about getting overloaded with any one particular cut.
Again, we will be putting up a more detailed breakdown in the coming weeks.
