Custom Cut Beef

I used to spend most of the fall as a butcher. With the help of friends and helpers including Chad, Cory, Sarah, Matt, Aidan, Kirsten and Cameron to name a few, we would process all the beef for the season. Reber Rock no longer butchers beef on farm; instead we send our beef to the USDA processor in Benson, VT, just an hour and a half away. Nevertheless, the many hours spent sharpening and using my butcher knives has taught me much about farming, raising animals, eating meat, and (believe it or not) my own body. The complexity and interconnectedness of bone, muscle, tendon, ligament, joints and connective tissue is what makes a body a whole. I believe that to eat meat is to value and respect the whole of the animal.

Many folks purchase meat from the supermarket display case, where little, if any space is given to how, where and why the animal was raised. To a certain extent I understand why these details are not advertised. No one wants to conjure the image of thousands of animals in a feedlot when you’re considering what cut to buy for dinner. Some of us seek a different path, and look to farmers, not multinational corporations, to supply our food. At our farm, our website, and our farm store, it is our goal to share as much as we can about what we do, how we do it and why, so that when you eat from our farm you know what type of practices you support.

Since updating our website and working to bring our products to a wider audience we have offered our Pasture Raised Organic (PRO) Chicken, Pastured Pork (fed Organic Grain) and Grassfed beef on an “order-as-you-need-it” basis. Through that process I have learned that a major question, even for the committed customer, is how easy is it to buy from a farmer? The pandemic has brought ordering food online to a new normal and we are learning every day how to make it easier to make our own food choices.

I’ve been working and thinking on ways we can improve the typically complicated, but cost effective process of ordering custom cut freezer beef. This basic idea has been around as long as farming and butchers. In its simplest form, the farmer raises the animal, the customer purchases the animal from the farmer and the butcher cuts it up. As the eaters and butchers have moved farther and farther away from the farmer, this process has become more cumbersome.

In years past we have had cumbersome forms to fill out, deposits to manage. To make things as simple and easy as possible here’s how you can order a whole beef or half beef:

• Select whole beef for the most cost savings, or half beef if you don’t have a neighbor or friend to split a whole beef with.
• If you already have an account with us, your pickup/delivery preference will be automatically selected. If you would like to change how you normally get your order, click on the “REBER ROCK FARM (or) HOME DELIVERY [CHANGE]” button in the dark gray bar below our menu. (see picture below)

• Place your order by pushing the “Pre-Order” button, which brings you to our check out screen for payment and delivery address. No deposit needed.
• Fill out your Cut Sheet to let the butcher know how you would like your beef cut.
  • We have some pre-filled cut sheet for you to choose from or help you start.
  • For the Roast Lovers out there we have the Roast Lovers Cut Sheet (click on the link to download it). We have some select steaks on this cut sheet, but also a great variety of roasts. Put your name on it as is or make a few changes to suit you.
  • For the Steak Lovers out there we have the Steak Lovers Cut Sheet (click on the link to download it). With this cut sheet we cut as many steaks as possible!
• If you would like to add any additional items to your pre-order please place a separate order and indicate in the comments that you would like to have pickup/delivery with your pre-order.
• We will contact you to let you know when your order will be ready for pickup/delivery.
• You will be billed on the Monday of the week of delivery/pickup.
• That’s it; it is that easy to order a custom cut beef!

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Common Questions:

Q: How much does my custom cut beef cost?

A: When you purchase a whole or half beef you are buying the whole (or side) of the animal and then you get to choose how the butcher cuts it up. So we charge by the weight of the animal after it is in the cooler (like in the picture below). This is called the Hanging Weight or the weight of the animal when it is hanging on the rail in the cooler.

For Example:

You would like to order a half custom cut beef. You live close by and you would like to pickup your order at the farm. The website says your price is $6.64/lb Hanging Weight. (Prices vary based on your pickup/delivery location and are subject to change.) Generally our cattle weigh about 600 lbs Hanging Weight, plus or minus 50 lbs. So a half beef would weigh approximately 300 lbs. (For a whole beef use 600 lbs Hanging Weight.)

300 lbs x $6.64 = $1992

This price includes everything including the processing costs at the butcher. If you have selected delivery then your price will include delivery at no added cost.

Q: How much meat is in a custom cut beef?

A: When we cut our beef we measure this in what is called carcass yield, or the percentage of cuts to the hanging weight. We typically get 60-70% yield including some marrow and knuckle bones. So let’s average that to 65%. For a half beef (for a whole beef use 600 lbs Hanging Weight):

300 lbs x 65% = 195 lbs of cuts

Typically about half of that weight is ground beef.