Are You Considering Setting Your Table With Pend Oreille Beef? Here's What You Need To Know!

If you’re new to buying meat in bulk directly from a rancher, let's answer some questions here! Ordering a whole, half, or quarter animal gives you access to high-quality, dry-aged beef while supporting local farms. We get tons of questions from first-time buyers, so we’ve put together this guide to explain the process, costs, and key terms. By the end, you’ll feel confident placing your first order with us!

Why Buy in Bulk from a Rancher?

  • Quality: You get premium, dry-aged meat that’s tastier than store-bought options.
  • Value: Bulk buying can save you money per pound compared to retail prices.
  • Support Local: Your purchase helps small ranches thrive.

Let’s break it all down—starting with the terminology and pricing.

Key Terminology Explained

Hanging Weight

  • Definition: The weight of the carcass after slaughter but before it’s trimmed and cut into final portions. It includes bones, fat, and some trim that won’t end up in your freezer.
  • Why It Matters: Our prices are based on hanging weight, not the final “take-home” weight, so your final yield will be less (typically 55-60% of the hanging weight after trimming). Our product descriptions will list the approximate amount of meat you can expect to take home, a.k.a. the yield weight!

Grain-Finished vs. Grass-Finished Beef

  • Grain-Finished: Cattle are fed grain (alfalfa, apples, potatoes, wheat) in their final months, resulting in more marbling, tenderness, and a richer flavor. These animals tend to be larger, yielding more meat.
  • Grass-Finished: Cattle eat only grass their entire lives, producing leaner meat with a distinct, earthy taste. Recommended if you prefer a leaner cut or a fully grass-fed diet.
  • Our Recommendation: Grain-finished beef for its flavor and juiciness—perfect for steaks and burgers!

Cut Sheet

  • Definition: A form you fill out to customize how your meat is cut (e.g., steaks, roasts, ground beef).
  • Why It Matters: Your choices determine what ends up in your boxes. Want more roasts? More ground beef? It’s up to you!

Dry-Aging

  • Definition: The process of aging the meat for about 14 days after slaughter to enhance flavor and tenderness.
  • Why It Matters: This step is included in our process and ensures top-notch quality.

Pricing Breakdown

Our prices are per pound of hanging weight. You’ll also pay a separate butcher fee (for cutting, packaging, and any extras like sausage or curing), which we’ll itemize on your final invoice. Everything is paid in one go when you pick up, or before delivery.

Beef Prices (Per Pound Hanging Weight)

  • Quarter Beef: Grain-Finished: $5.15/pound
  • Half Beef: Grain-Finished: $5/pound
  • Whole Beef: Grain-Finished: $4.85/pound

Estimated Final Costs

These are rough estimates since animal sizes vary. They include the cost of the meat (based on average hanging weights) plus typical butcher fees. Your invoice will reflect the exact weight of your animal.

  • Quarter Beef: Grain-Finished: ~$1,400 (avg. 225 lbs hanging weight))
  • Half Beef: Grain-Finished: ~$2,600 (avg. 425 lbs hanging weight)
  • Whole Beef: Grain-Finished: ~$4,900 (avg. 800 lbs hanging weight)

Note: Grain-finished animals are typically larger, yielding more meat. Butcher fees vary based on your cut sheet (e.g., extra charges for sausage seasoning or curing/smoking).

The Ordering Process: Step-by-Step

Here’s how it works from start to finish:

  1. Choose Your Size: Quarter, half, or whole beef. Larger orders mean lower cost per pound!
  2. Fill Out Your Cut Sheet: Customize your order—steaks, roasts, ground beef, etc. Extras like sausage seasoning or curing/smoking add to the butcher cost.
  3. Place a Deposit: There is a $200 deposit for Quarter, $250 for a Half, and $500 for a Whole. This deposit is required upfront, credited toward your total.
  4. We Schedule Processing: Your animal heads to our butcher shop. Check our website for estimated processing timeline!
  5. Dry-Aging and Cutting:Your meat dry-ages for about 14 days, then gets cut, packaged, and frozen. This takes 2-3 weeks total.
  6. Pick Up and Pay:We’ll email you when it’s ready. Pay the final invoice (meat + butcher fees) at pickup or before delivery.

What’s in Your Boxes?

Your cut sheet determines the mix of cuts you’ll get. Here’s a rough guide:

  • Minimum Ground Beef: ~50% (if you maximize roasts and steaks).
  • Maximum Ground Beef: ~80% (if you opt for steaks only and grind the rest).
  • Examples of Cuts: Ribeyes, sirloins, brisket, short ribs, roasts, burger patties—tailored to your preferences!

Pro Tip: Plan freezer space! A quarter beef needs about 4-5 cubic feet, a half needs 8-12, and a whole needs 16-20.

Final Thoughts

Buying in bulk is a fantastic way to stock up on delicious, high-quality meat while supporting local ranchers. Whether you’re grilling steaks or braising roasts, you’ll taste the difference.

In addition to the basics—clean water, nutritious feed, and open space to roam—vaccines help to keep a group of calves healthy.

At weaning, we give two types of vaccines: 8-way clostridial and respiratory.

In short, the 8-way clostridial vaccine (e.g., Ultrabac 8) prevents diseases that can be picked up from bacteria that may be in soil or water on pasture.

The respiratory vaccine (e.g., Bovi-Shield Gold) is pretty self-explanatory, as it prevents the spread of respiratory illness between calves. If you have kids in daycare, you know why this one's important.

Now, on to antibiotic use!

We do use antibiotics when necessary.

Cattlemen and women have trained eyes; we can spot a sick calf. We are able to see if this calf is suffering from an ear infection, hoof infection, respiratory illness, etc., and it's our job to give that calf the proper antibiotic to treat it.

We are passionate about caring for these animals, and to let a calf suffer from a treatable infection would be outright cruel.

We are responsible in the timing of our antibiotic use and never administer antibiotics anywhere near the time of slaughter for any animal. This ensures you're not getting unintentionally dosed when you eat any of our meat!

Fun Fact: When the calves are on pasture and need an antibiotic, we have a dart gun that we shoot the calf with from afar. This is way less stressful for the calf than having to be roped, which is the only option way out on a pasture! Isn't that fun?

If you have any further questions on this, please feel free to contact us!

If you aren't sure which type of beef is right for you, here's the information you need to help guide your decision!

Let's start at the beginning. All of our cattle are raised the exact same way until they are about a year old. They’re born, they graze on grass, and are free to lick on supplemental minerals. The split happens later, when we segregate them to “finish” them—aka, what they eat in the last few months before they head to butcher. Grass fed cattle keep on eating grass or hay their whole lives, while grain fed cattle slowly get introduced to our finishing ration. Our finishing ration consists of grass (all cattle need grass for roughage in their diet), apples, non-GMO wheat screenings and bakery feed, potatoes, and alfalfa. 

All of our feeds are individually nutrition tested, and rations are meticulously planned with our certified animal nutritionist to make sure our cattle are eating well! Our cattle get a custom mineral package (kind of like a multivitamin, for cows!) with their feed, and during pasture season we put their minerals into buckets on the pasture that they can freely lick as they please.

Our cattle eat better than we do...

Beef Taste: Taste is an individual concept, however, in general you can expect a more "buttery" and rich taste in the beef from grain fed cattle. You will see better marbling, and the fat will be white. Grass fed beef will be leaner, with less marbling and less fat overall. The fat will have a yellow tint, from the high consumption of beta-carotene in the all grass diet. Often the taste is described as more "gamey", similar to venison.

Beef Texture: Grain fed steaks are more tender than grass fed steaks, primarily due to the marbling from the natural sugars and starches in the finishing ration. Grass fed steaks can be tender, but they require a little extra care in cooking! Making sure the steaks are not overcooked will help them retain moisture and tenderness, so don't forget about them on the grill! I've found when slow-cooking roasts, the grain fed are more forgiving and the fat helps to keep them tender and buttery, whereas the grass fed roasts often require me to add additional oil and shorter cooking times to keep from being tough.

In summary, no matter which type of beef you choose, you can be sure your cattle are raised well, humanely handled, and fed nutritionally balanced feeds! 

If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to me on the contact page!