Buying in Bulk Contents Terms ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 What is the process for buying in bulk? .................................................................................................................................. 2 Why is the farmer happy when you buy in bulk? ................................................................................................................... 2 What is the total cost? ............................................................................................................................................................ 3 How much does processing cost? ........................................................................................................................................... 3 How much will I go through in a year? ................................................................................................................................... 4 How much will end up in my freezer? .................................................................................................................................... 4 So what’s my final per lb price? .............................................................................................................................................. 5 I thought buying in bulk would be a lot “cheaper”. ................................................................................................................ 6 Why is your price different from another farm growing the same thing? ............................................................................. 6 How much space will it take up? ............................................................................................................................................ 7 How long will it last in the freezer? ........................................................................................................................................ 7 What is the packaging like? .................................................................................................................................................... 7 How long does thawing take? ................................................................................................................................................. 7 Why is beef dry-aged for ten days? ........................................................................................................................................ 8 What cuts do I get and how many? ........................................................................................................................................ 8 What cuts come from where? .............................................................................................................................................. 10 Beef ................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Pork ................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Lamb .................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 What “Odd Bits” can I get? ................................................................................................................................................... 18 Buying at the store seems much more convenient. ............................................................................................................. 19 I prefer fresh meat though (not frozen). .............................................................................................................................. 19 Anything special to know about cutting instructions? ......................................................................................................... 19 What if you go through all this time and effort and you don’t like it? ................................................................................. 19 I don’t know how to cook a lot of these “weird” cuts – I don’t want to be overwhelmed or burdened. ............................ 20 Wow! Sounds great, I want to buy a half a pig (or beef, etc.), what do I do first? ............................................................... 20 Acknowledgments:................................................................................................................................................................ 20 BEEF CUT SHEET CHOICES ..................................................................................................................................................... 21 LAMB CUT SHEET .................................................................................................................................................................. 23 PORK CUT SHEETS ................................................................................................................................................................. 25 For more info or to order in bulk, contact: Together Farms, 715-210-4740 or [email protected] Page 1 of 27 Terms Hanging Weight: hanging weight here is also called the "rail weight", which is the carcass split in half and ready to cut up hanging on the meat rail hooks. Hanging weight is defined as what remains after the internal organs, blood, hide, head (for beef and lamb) and feet are removed. Hanging weights for our whole cattle are approximately 500lbs, 220lbs for whole pork and 40lbs for whole lamb. This is the weight before it is cut into primals or into individual cuts. Carcass or Rail Weight: same as “Hanging Weight” the two are used interchangeably. Cutout Weight: Cutout or “take home” weight is the weight of meat that actually goes into your freezer. This is usually between 60-70% of hanging weight for beef, and similar percentages for pork and lamb (more below). This weight reduction is the result of moisture loss during the dry aging process (beef for ten days) and the amount of bone removed (dry aging provides a more premium product over today's more popular wet-aging process). It’s also highly dependent on the cutting instructions and processing. For example, water weight is also lost during the smoking process. In general, beef breeds will have a higher cutout percentage than dairy breeds such as Holstein (which are sometimes used for beef). Live Weight: The animals weight while still alive. Whole/Half/Quarter: Means exactly that – you will be getting that amount of the entire animal’s carcass What is the process for buying in bulk? When we take your order for half a beef (or hog, etc.), we will give you either the actual date when it will go to the meat processor or an approximate one, but typically butchers calendars fill up quickly so we know fairly far in advance (especially for fall processing). We will need a deposit to hold your spot and we will need the best daytime phone number for the person in charge of providing the cutting instructions. When the animal goes to the processor the butcher will call to get your instructions for how you want it cut and processed (your “cutting instructions”). Beef will dry-age in a climate controlled cooler for 10 days before being cut. Beef is dry aged to help tenderize and concentrate the flavor of the meat. Cutting, packaging and freezing takes another 2-3 days, so your beef order will be ready for pickup about two weeks after the date the animal went in. If jerky or smoking is being done to any of your product (typical with pork) it will take about a month before it is all done. Since the butcher is about 1 ½ hours from the farm we try to be efficient with our driving and like to wait until all the meat is done before we pick it up or wait until our next batch of animals is going in so we are going both ways “loaded”. But, we will pick the meat up from the butcher and then get it to you either on the food route, you can pick up from the farm, or we can ship, unless you live closer to Northstar Bison in Conrath, WI and then you are welcome to pick up directly from them too. Why is the farmer happy when you buy in bulk? It’s kind of like why farmers are happy you buy CSA shares: we know we have the demand so we don’t have to stay up at night wondering how we will ever eat 6 steers in a year, you are assured of supply and get the cuts you want (otherwise we have to try to predict what cuts people are going to want), the deposits help cash flow the processing costs, and you are saving us significant marketing and delivery time. So, you are supporting us (telling us to keep doing what we are doing) and you are helping us keep costs down and have predictable demand – exactly what a small, beginning farm needs and which could literally be the difference between success and failure. For more info or to order in bulk, contact: Together Farms, 715-210-4740 or [email protected] Page 2 of 27 What is the total cost? We sell beef as wholes, halves and quarters; pork as wholes and halves; lamb as wholes. All are based on hanging weight and the current price is on our pricesheet. Right now beef is priced at $5.25/lb hanging weight which includes some processing. Our hanging weights are expected to be about