Tag Archives: sale

Beef Drought Sale – September 2018

Custom Beef Drought Sale

We’re offering a one-time special prior to September 10 on custom-processed bulk beef to lighten the burden on our pastures during this increasing drought situation in East Texas.

Our beef is 100% grass-fed and grass-finished, and is fat, marbled, and excellent quality. No tubs, no cubes, no grains, no licks–just rotational grazing, good breeding, good minerals, and plenty of finishing time! 

Grass-fed Beef by the Half

Halves are expected to hang at 250-275 pounds. Take-home poundage (excluding fat/organs) expected to be about 160-185 pounds.

Price is $4.50/lb hanging for a half (does not include processing).

Processing typically runs about $1/lb before extra charges (for sausage, etc).

Payments are to be made in 3 parts:

  1. Deposit to reserve is $300, paid online prior to September 10. Space is limited–first come, first served!
  2. Balance to be paid via mailed check after hanging weight is determined. (To pay online, add 3% convenience fee.)
  3. Processing to be paid upon pickup—ready in early October.

Pickup can be either at the butcher in Carthage, at the ranch in Jefferson, or via our next drop point of your choice in Tyler, Longview, Marshall, or Shreveport after beef is picked up from butcher. We will work with you on this once an exact pickup date is known.

Save 10% if you want the whole animal! Only $4.05/lb (plus processing) for a whole. Get with friends to reserve a whole cow!

What to Expect

This batch of steers is young and fat and will make excellent beef. Your price is based on the carcass or “hanging” weight of the animal after the entrails, hide, and hooves/head are removed. The carcass is then aged to improve flavor and tenderness, and will shrink a bit during this time due to moisture loss. Then, when surplus fat and edges are cut away and various muscles are deboned, the yield is reduced to an approximate 66% of the hanging weight, depending on your cutting preferences. So if your side hung at 250 pounds, you can expect to get approximately 66% of that back as “cuts,” or a final take-home yield  of 165 pounds.

We’ll walk you through the cutting process if you are not familiar with how it works, and we can make recommendations specific to our animals that will ensure your satisfaction!

Here’s a very rough breakdown of what you will receive with typical cutting:

  • Steaks (Strip, Filet, Ribeye, Sirloin, Fajita): 15% of cuts yield
  • Roasts (Chuck, Arm, Shank, Round, Rump): 30% of cuts yield (but highly customizable)
  • Burger, Round Steak, Stew Meat: 40% of cuts yield (highly customizable)
  • Other cuts (Ribs, Brisket): 10% of cuts yield
  • Liver, Organs, Bones: 5% of cuts yield

**These numbers are estimates only and will vary based on the anatomy of your animal and on your cutting requests. 

How Much Freezer Space Will It Take?

We find that planning for 1 cubic foot per 25 pounds of meat works well to be able to navigate your freezer inventory reasonably easily. According to this estimate, you will need at least 7 cubic feet to store a typical half beef, or 1 mid-size home chest freezer. But in case the animals run a little larger, it never hurts to plan for extra freezer space!

How to Get Started

Ready to sign up for your half of beef for the winter? Hop over to our online reservation site: https://squareup.com/store/shady-grove-ranch/

After you place your deposit, we’ll get in touch to complete your cutting orders. Thanks for supporting our work!

A brief update as we head into March…

We lost all the small birds!

You’re going to laugh. We ran out of little chickens! Other than a couple remaining 3-pounder birds, all we have is our December stock of whole birds, ranging from Really Big (4.5 lb) to Huge (5+ lb)–at least that’s what I’ve been able to find in the boxes so far. The good news is, though, that they are juicy as well as plump, and we’re going to run a sale when you buy 2 Big Birds through the end of March! Cook once… eat a bunch!

What’s with Big Bird?

Well, this is supposed to be a brief update. Basically, we have switched to a more forage-friendly breed of broiler (say that five times fast) called the Freedom Ranger. Compared to the conventional breed, Cornish Cross, the Rangers are more active and produce more dark meat–that’s good for our leg-loving customer base! Yum! But they’re huge…

Cook-at-Home Challenge Continues

Last month we started an initiative to equip readers to get back into the kitchen. We had about a dozen takers, and a few more besides that who planned to use the (free) recipes for the meats they already had in their home freezer. I LOVE helping folks get back into the kitchen more often, and away from processed foods.

My biggest piece of advice for Real Eating is this: Keep it simple. Don’t feel that you have to doctor everything up with a million exotic ingredients. If you eat a crockpot chicken twice a month that you created out of real, recognizable, non-chemical ingredients–that is major progress! Do it again this month with our easy Cook-at-Home Challenge, newly renovated to accommodate the Giant Chickens we have in stock… and accounting for that two-huge-chicken sale I mentioned. 🙂

I hope you’ll join in again, or for the first time, on the Cook-at-Home Challenge.

Where’s the beef??

You have probably noticed our rather sparse inventory of grass-fed beef. We’re right at the tail end of the winter grass season, waiting for the days to get longer and temps higher so the grass can really take off and finish out our beef.

This is where the rubber meets the road for true supporters of farm-to-fork. Sometimes there are just shortages of things, and when you improvise and use other cuts in place of traditional choices, or even redo your menu to include what’s “in season,” just for the sake of eating really-pasture-raised and supporting your farmer in the off-season, it helps us to keep producing the best meats and eggs in East Texas.

If you need help with substitution ideas, feel free to write me! I’m happy to try to help you get more real food into your kitchen!

We still have a good amount of hamburger and chuck roast, and even some filet, strip, and sirloin (on sale!), so enjoy it while it lasts! We expect to process beef around the end of March. Until then, shop what’s in stock!

Matt often asks for volunteers during evening egg collection, and Axl and Tevka are usually quick to join him. They are getting really good at not dropping the eggs!

Celebrate Local This Saturday in Longview!

We’re excited to partner with Jack’s Natural Foods in Longview, this Saturday only! We’ll have a tasting set up there from 10 to around 1, at this exciting Customer Appreciation Event. Come by and see me during the lunch hour, or at least drop by before they close at 5 to enjoy discounts and freebies. (Matt will be at the ranch building our farm store!) Bring a friend and let them taste REAL FOOD, too! 

March Delivery Rounds

Bye, bye, February! Our March deliveries to area towns start next week. Go ahead and get your order in early! Sirloin Steak is still on sale, and we have a few more Smoked Carving Hams. See what’s in stock and what’s on sale. We’ll send area-specific reminders the Monday of each delivery week.

  • Tyler: Thurs, March 2 at 11:30 on Dennis Dr.
  • Shreveport: Sat, March 4 at 11 on Line Ave
  • Longview: Thurs, March 9 at 10:30 behind Bowen Chiropractic
  • Marshall: Thurs, March 9 at noon at Buchanan Feed
  • Texarkana: Thurs, March 16 at 10:30 on Irongate Dr.
  • Shreveport: Sat, March 18 at 11 on Line Ave.
  • Jefferson: Pickup any time at the ranch by appointment!

If our local delivery options don’t work for you, we sell in LOTS of local stores. Check out our website under the Locations tab to see what’s where!

Thank YOU for supporting our farming adventures and choosing real food for your family. We couldn’t do this without you!