Yesterday I drove up to Snohomish to pick up 3/4 of a cow that Cascade Range Beef had grown for me.
We had eaten Cascade Range beef last winter and even the hamburger was amazingly gamy and lean. I never once had to drain the pan after browning before adding the other ingredients. It made wonderful meatballs, bolognese, taco meat and other things my family likes to eat.
The great thing about finding a personal farmer is that not only are you supporting a local small farm but you can find one that is like minded – sustainably pasturing cows and slaughters on the farm which is the most humane and least traumatic for the animal. Cascade Range Beef cows are 100% grass fed rather than fed part grain and silage that are not a part of the animal’s natural diet. That means your cow will be healthier, tastier, and play an integral part in land management (by naturally fertilizing the land) rather than contribute to greenhouse gasses.
I managed to sell the whole cow which is, of course, a prerequisite in order to get your meat.
Here is what Kelso’s (the butcher) looks like
And here is what one Volvo station wagon loaded up with 600 pounds of meat looks like
To better help you visualize just how much meat one quarter cow is, it’s about two and a half regular sized coolers of meat. Luckily it packs really well into neat little blocks of meat unlike the various cuts of pig which were a ton of odd shapes that didn’t fit as neatly together.
From my house it was about 25 miles to Kelso’s and the time actually went pretty fast on the road. The time I spent arranging and re-arranging cuts of meat in coolers and boxes, sorting for this person who wanted no stew meat or that person who wanted only short ribs, was not so fast. My advice when loading a frozen cow? GLOVES!
I’m ever so thankful I happened to have a pair of running gloves in the back of the car. Otherwise it probably would have taken me twice the hour that I spent man-handling beef.
I dropped one quarter of the cow off at a neighbor’s then raced home to rearrange my freezer and load my quarter. I had to take out the turkey that Pastured Sensations raised for me as well as two pork butts from Akyla Farms which we’ll smoke this weekend, then trade for some of the neighbor’s smoked salmon and repackage what is left to re-freeze.
I raced to the bus stop to pick up Chicken Little and a neighbor boy, dropped off the boy, raced to another neighbor’s to store the turkey and some ground beef in her freezer since my was full, then raced across town to deliver the final quarter for a friend who was at work. After three cooler trips down to her basement and loading her freezer we raced back home and got there just in time to lock the chickens up for the night.
There have been so many raccoon attacks this time of year, both in our neighborhood and all around town, that I’m paranoid about not getting them locked up by dusk. We’ve got plenty of good dog smells around the yard but that probably isn’t enough to keep them away.
There was no room for the soup bones in the freezer (which you have to request or they are thrown away – they are not allowed to donate them to food banks or sell them according to USDA regulation.) I started two large stock pots of beef bone broth which has been simmering for almost 24 hours now. Normally I like to simmer it gently for 48 hours or more to extract all the minerals and gelatin from the bones but my husband is coming back in town tonight and he’s not so fond of the simmering cauldrons on the stove.
There are quite a few mistakes I made when ordering the cuts. The frustrating part about ordering an animal is the information they don’t tell you. For instance, they ask if you want pork chops (who wouldn’t?) but don’t tell you that if you get pork chops you don’t then get a loin roast.
And so it is that I now have a freezer full of meat and no brisket to smoke or corn for St. Patty’s day. Apparently brisket is a specialty meat meaning if you don’t request it they turn it into stew meat or hamburger. My husband the smoker is not going to be happy about this. And when we try to throw our annual St. Patty’s Day corned beef dinner I’m not sure what we’ll do. With more than a year’s worth of meat in the freezer I may just need to break down and buy a brisket that won’t be the grass fed $3.50 per pound this meat worked out to. It will for sure cost a lot more.
Lesson learned. Always ask “If I get that, what will I not get?”
9 responses so far ↓
1 Jen // Nov 14, 2009 at 1:27 am
This is our second year buying a quarter of grass fed beef. Last year we ordered from a local farm online, that had a drop point 5 minutes from our house. I picked the cuts on the website, and you are so right! If you pick something, you don’t get something else. I don’t even think there was an option for brisket last year, and I didn’t get any bones or organ meats at all. I didn’t know to ask back then either.
We weren’t thrilled with the taste of the ground beef or steaks cooked on the stove or in the oven (though they were fabulous when grilled), so we decided to order from a different farm this year.
This time an actual person from the butcher’s shop walked me through the choices on the phone. The difference: this year I didn’t get stew meat (which is fine, I can use other cuts), and fewer pounds of ground beef. What I got this year, but not last year: a roast I’ve never heard of (heel of round), additional steak cuts, a brisket (Yay!), 2 packages of short ribs, 2 packages of liver, 2 packages of boiling beef, 2 packages of soup bones, oxtail and a HUGE (like 15 to 20 pound) bag of “dog bones”. I asked for all the bones, and I guess they consider those “dog bones”.
It’s quite an experience! I didn’t actually choose some of the cuts this year, so I guess I got them by default, after making other choices. I actually would have liked more ground beef than I received this year. Oh well, I figure by year 3 or 4 I’ll be a pro, and know exactly how to order.
Enjoy your beef!
BTW: US Wellness Meats sells grass fed corned beef. I’ve ordered several of their pork products, beef tallow, bones for stock, and beef ribs before. The quality of their products is outstanding!!! We have loved everything.
http://www.grasslandbeef.com/Categories.bok?category=Grassland+Beef%3ABrisket%2C+Ribs%2C+Corned+%26+Stew+Beef
2 kitsapFG // Nov 15, 2009 at 12:49 am
When we lived in central Washington, one of my coworkers (and a good friend) was married to a man who ran a large cattle ranch. They finished the beef on grain unless you asked them not to (which we did). We bought a half beef from them every year for a long time and it was wonderful.
3 admin // Nov 15, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Hi Jen, I’ve heard that if you don’t like the flavor try a different farm next year. You are what you eat so it makes sense that different diets flavor the same animals differently. I’ll have to keep that heel of round in mind for next year. I can’t wait to order like a pro someday!
I’ve heard great things about US Wellness Meats as well – they just don’t fit our local criteria.
Hi Kitsap FG – Do you have a good source for local meat over on the peninsula? My in laws always got a cow each year and they are in Shelton although I’m not sure where it came from, nor if it was grass fed or not. It seems like you would have more opportunity over there for meat animals!
4 Rebecca // Nov 21, 2009 at 9:37 am
I am so jealous! Locally raised meat here is at the very cheapest $3.50/lb for hanging weight, which translates to $5-6/lb for the actual meat.
Do you fit all of that in your freezer, or do you have more than one freezer?
I’m still interested to read about your experience, because I want to buy some of that expensive (but cheaper than Whole Foods) meat, and I liked your tip about canning beef broth (which is what I guess I would do with a ton of bones that wouldn’t fit in the freezer). I wonder if there is a site somewhere that says this part of the cow can be this cut or that cut of meat?
5 admin // Nov 21, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I have an extra upright fridge/freezer and a small chest freezer in the garage. I WISH there was a page that explained all that but I’ve dealt with two butchers now and asked that question and they both said they don’t have a site.
I found this: http://www.askthemeatman.com/beef.htm but there is so much info that it was overwhelming and I still made ordering mistakes.
Good luck finding a more affordable rancher – what part of the country are you in?
6 Rebecca // Dec 8, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I am in the Northeast. Real estate is pricey where I am, so I wonder if that contributes to meat prices.
7 Marcy // Dec 10, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I just lost a chicken yesterday to a racoon during the day. I had a chicken that liked to fly out of the run in the afternoon and I found her dead by the gate when I got home. I wish I had clipped her wings, but I wanted to pass on that because of all the cold dry weather we’ve been having, predators are getting desparate and coming out during the day.
8 admin // Dec 11, 2009 at 3:13 am
Hi Marcy – I’m so sorry to hear that! We have raccoons in the neighborhood. I wish I could convince the dog to stay outside more during the day – that would make me much more comfortable when we aren’t home!
9 Saving Money by Eating Locally // Jan 10, 2010 at 2:44 pm
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