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:

Deposit to reserve is $300, paid online prior to September 10. Space is limited–first come, first served!
Balance to be paid via mailed check after hanging weight is determined. (To pay online, add 3% convenience fee.)
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!

Many of you tried to contact us during the wildfires in east Texas last week (and this week…). Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers and offers for help. We have returned to the farm and are in the process of resuming normal life, including providing you with an update. The cows are currently being transported back to Shady Grove Ranch from a colleague’s farm in Longview, and we humans are settling back in, figuring out where we left off.

We are happy to report that nothing of major value was lost–not one chicken, pig, cow, turkey, bale of hay, building, or piece of equipment. Our most significant losses were fences, pasture, and trees. Most of our property did burn, but God really had His hand on our operation. It was stressful to say the least, and very hard work for Matt and Bailey, who came back to the farm to fight the fire around the house, but it seems that it’s almost over. Now we are praying for rain to stop the remaining fires and to stimulate new growth of our burned pastures. The smoke is almost gone, and we are safe.

The fires aren’t over yet–in fact, we still hear planes and choppers flying nearby to try to stop the rest of the fires. We were affected by the Bear Creek fire that spread from Cass County. So far it has burned 50,000 acres and is still not totally contained.

Here are some pictures taken of our farm during the fires. There is also a video of a chopper that spent much of Wednesday dropping water on our pastures. We appreciate the tireless efforts of all the firefighters and rescue personnel. We are praying that God will send substantial rain soon to bring us out of this drought!