Fill out the cut sheet for the share you want, tell us how you’d like everything cut and packaged, and submit it with your deposit to reserve your beef.
Timing depends on where we are in the cattle cycle when you order. We are just getting started, so early orders take the longest, roughly four to five months, because the animal is finished on corn for about 90 days, then processed, then hung for 10 to 15 days. Once we are moving cattle every month it will be closer to 30 to 45 days from order to your freezer. Call Blake before you order and he’ll tell you where you sit in the schedule.
We’ll email you as soon as your beef is complete.
Reach out as soon as you can and we’ll do what we can. [TO CONFIRM: the actual cutoff, likely once the butcher date is scheduled.] Once your order is at the processor, changes are no longer possible.
You can pick your beef up yourself, or we’ll deliver it free within 60 miles of Winchester, VA. Most people take the delivery and we bring it right to your door. Beyond 60 miles, delivery is $100. For longer distances we’ll look at the added mileage with you case by case.
Beef is priced on hanging weight, which is what the carcass weighs after slaughter, before the butcher does the final cutting and trimming, at $8.50 to $14.50 per pound. Because that weight isn’t known until the animal has been processed, we can’t quote you an exact total at the time you order. Where you land in the range is set by the beef market when you order, not by which cuts you choose or how large a share you take. A finished animal hangs at around 800 pounds on average, so you can use that with the range above for a rough idea of where your total will land. We’ll email you an invoice for the exact amount once your beef is cut and weighed.
You reserve your beef with a deposit, paid by card when you submit your order. The deposit is $500 for a quarter, $1,000 for a half, and $2,000 for a whole, and it goes toward your final balance. Once your beef is cut and weighed, we’ll email you an invoice for the remaining balance, which is based on the hanging weight. That invoice is payable before delivery.
About one cubic foot for every 35 to 40 pounds of packaged beef.
A half or a whole will not fit in a standard refrigerator freezer. Have a chest or upright freezer cleared and running before your pickup date.
It depends on the animal and on your own choices. A finished animal hangs at around 800 pounds on average, and after the butcher is done you can expect roughly 150 to 175 pounds packaged for a quarter, 300 to 325 pounds for a half, and around 650 pounds for a whole. Grinding more sections gives you more total poundage than keeping bone-in cuts, so the number moves with your cut sheet.
Everything is flash frozen and vacuum sealed at the processor, then labeled and ready for the freezer.
Properly frozen, your beef holds quality for nine to twelve months. Vacuum sealing puts it at the longer end of that range.
Thaw in the refrigerator, not on the counter. A thick roast can take 24 to 48 hours and steaks need about a day. Once thawed, use within three to four days.
All Angus. Angus is the breed most people associate with well marbled beef, and it is a big part of why our steaks eat the way they do.
They are raised on pasture and finished on corn and nutritional supplements for the last 90 days, which is what gives the beef its marbling. Completely grass fed is also available at no extra cost. Just ask when you place your order. While we are getting started it does not add to your wait. Once we are running on a regular schedule, grass fed orders will need extra lead time, so we will confirm your timing with you when you order.
No added hormones, and no antibiotics in any beef we sell. Our cattle receive their normal vaccines and healthy feed, and nothing more. On the rare occasion an animal does need antibiotics to get well, it comes out of the program and is never sold.
Every animal is 30 months or younger, which is the standard for butcher shops and grocery stores.
Every animal is Angus, raised on pasture in Fauquier County, and harvested at 30 months or younger. The beef we sell comes from cattle that receive no hormones and no antibiotics, just their normal vaccines and healthy feed. They are finished on corn and nutritional supplements over the final 90 days, which is what builds the marbling.
Yes. All processing happens at a USDA-inspected facility, where your beef is cut, packaged, labeled, and frozen before pickup.
Our beef is raised in Fauquier County, Virginia, near the town of Hume.
Thumb Run is a perennial stream in Fauquier County that ran through our family’s farm for fifty years. The land changed hands. The name didn’t.