It has been a busy week on the farm, preparing for spring and the snow and winds howl outside our windows. I am excited to finally announce the return of “Custom Cut” Grassfed Beef and now Grassfed Lamb. We are excited to partner with our friends Alex and Audrey at Barred Owl Brook Farm (BOB) just down the road in Westport, NY. Alex is passionate about sheep and grazing. All lambs at BOB Farm are 100% Grassfed and they have never been given any antibiotics or hormones. Just excellent grassfed lamb.
I love to talk about grazing with Alex and he, more than most, appreciates the diverse grazing capabilities of sheep. Pastures at Barred Owl Brook Farm are intensionally planted with trees and shrubs in what is called silvopasture, providing a diverse diet for the sheep. As Alex puts it:
“At BOB we are committed to producing registered and commercial breeding stock that not only possess the traits shepherds have come to expect in this dependable and adaptable breed [Katahdin] but also thrive in a silvopasture-based production system where tree fodder and browse comprise a portion of the diet.”
The primary focus at BOB Farm is on breeding and ewe development, but we are the lucky recipients of some delicious grassfed lamb that is not destined for breeding stock. The lamb is available for a limited time only and orders must be in before our processing date on 3/28/22. You’ll find links on our homepage or follow the links here for Whole Custom Cut Lamb or Half Custom Cut Lamb.
We are also offering Whole Custom Cut Beef and Half Custom Cut Beef of our 100% Grassfed Beef. This is the most economical way to stock up on our beef and fill your freezer and this option is only available on a limited basis when we have processing dates.
Custom Cut means that the customer is purchasing a portion of the animal, and then can indicate to the butcher how they want the animal cut up. For anyone who has never purchased meat for their freezer this way it is different than picking out the cuts from an a la carte list or purchasing one of our popular “boxes.” And this is different than our Beef Boxes, which offer no choice as to your selection of cuts. We can only offer Whole and Half Beef because our processor will separate out orders smaller than a half beef. We plan to have 1/4 and 1/8 beef boxes back in stock this spring for folks looking for smaller portions.
So how does it work?
- Place your order before the slaughter date of 3/28/2022, if you know how you would like your beef cut please download and fill out our processors beef cut sheet or processors Lamb cut sheet and email the cut sheet to: info@reberrockfarm.com with the subject line “Beef Cut Sheet 3/28/2022″ or “Lamb Cut Sheet 3/28/2022“.
- Don’t know how to fill out a cut sheet and would like help deciphering it?:) give Nathan a call/text/email: 518-573-8713 or info@reberrockfarm.com
- Just want the standard cuts? We can fill out the cut sheet for with our standard cutting instructions. This will be the default if we do not hear from you.
- It could take up to 3 weeks for your beef or lamb to be ready, and then we will contact your regarding pickup and delivery. If you will have your beef delivered it will come in insulated boxes. Our boxes are made of recycled kraft material and are fully recyclable, and more importantly reusable. If you are home and can empty the boxes we will take them back right away or you can return them to the farm when we deliver next or stop by and drop off the boxes.
- You will be billed the day of your delivery/pickup. Final price is determined by the Hanging Weight of the animal and varies from animal to animal. Price includes all processing and delivery.
Keep in mind that the hanging weight is the weight of the animal with all the hide, head and viscera removed, so it is all the meat and bones. Typical cutting for beef yields about 55% of the hanging weight in cuts, so a 600lb hanging weight beef would yield about 330 lbs of cuts. For lamb the yield is a bit better and you could expect 75% yield so a 48 lb hanging weight lamb would yield 36 lbs of cuts. All of our prices include processing and delivery, if you’ve selected a delivery option.
For any past beef customers, our beef hanging weights are heavier than we had a few years ago. If you ordered in 2019 or before our hanging weights were in the 500-550 lbs range. Our animals are now averaging around 600, so keep that in mind when ordering.
If you have any questions about ordering beef or lamb please don’t hesitate to reach out by email or phone: info@reberrockfarm.com or 518-573-8713.
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