Boxwood Beef
Reserve Grass Fed Boxwood Farm Irish Dexter Beef for 2024/25
We’re now accepting orders for all-natural, healthy, 100% grass fed, grass finished lean beef ready in Fall/Winter 2024 & Spring 2025. These are born and raised on our family farm where we’ve raised grass fed beef cattle for over 10 years. They’re processed in the fall when we can reserve processing. Whole or half steer (half sometimes called a “side of beef”) are available at $3.50 a pound for whole steer and $4.00 a pound for a half steer, based on hanging weight, plus processing costs. We’ll deliver your steer to a long established, locally owned butcher shop, Hemingway Locker Plant , (843) 558-2751 where it will be custom processed for convenient customer pick-up in Hemmingway.
Short summary of how it works:
A $250 deposit per half steer or $500 or a whole steer will reserve your beef. Your deposit reserves your beef, and you simply wait for the steer to reach optimal size. When the steer is ready, we’ll take it to the butcher and contact you with the hanging weight of the steer which determines the final cost of your half or whole steer. You’ll send make the payment for the balance owed and contact the butcher to let them know how you want the steer prepared. The beef is ready for you to pick up about 2 weeks after it’s delivered to the butcher. You pay the butcher their processing costs and they will help you pack the beef for home.
From our farm to the butcher
As your steer nears the best size for processing, we’ll contact you so you can start organizing your freezer space. When its size and condition are right, we’ll take it to the butcher. The next day we’ll call the butcher and get the hanging weight (the Beef Weight section below explains “hanging weight”), which determines the price of the beef. We’ll contact you and you pay the balance of the beef cost. We’ll call the butcher and have them assign you as the new ‘owner’ of that beef and give them your phone number. You call the butcher and let them know how you want the beef cut. You can ask them to save bones for making bone broth or for your dogs. If you want a standard cut scheme you can talk to the butcher and ask them for recommendations. The steer will ‘hang’ and dry age for about 1-2 weeks before they start the cuts and packaging. The dry aging adds tenderness and flavor. This is a special benefit of privately processing your beef with a smaller local butcher. After packaging, the meat is frozen for a couple days. The whole process takes about 2-3 weeks.
From the butcher to your home freezer
The butcher will call you when the beef is frozen hard and ready for pickup. Within a few days, you’ll visit the butcher, pay their processing charge, and pack the beef into ice chests you bring. One medium size (48 quart) ice chest can hold about 40 lbs. of beef. It will be frozen very well so if you pack the ice chest tightly, you don’t need ice. It will stay frozen hard several hours at least. Then you’re off to stock your freezer and fire up the grill! Freezer space for beef is typically about 1 cubic foot per 25 pounds. If the half steer’s packaged weight is around 150 pounds, you’ll need about 6 cubic feet of space. A large chest freezer is typically 20 cubic feet, an upright around 16 and the freezer compartment in a typical kitchen refrigerator is around 3 to 4 cubic feet.
Beef weight – live, at the butcher, in your freezer
Steers are commonly weighed 3 ways – live, hanging, and packaged. The live weight is the ‘on the hoof’ animal completely intact. The hanging weight is the reduced weight after initial processing. The hide, head, entrails, have been removed and steer hangs in a refrigerated space for several days before final processing. Packaged weight is the weight of processed ‘in your freezer’ cuts. In processing and packaging, excess fat is trimmed, some bones are removed, etc. The most convenient time to weigh the steer is in the ‘hanging’ stage. All butchers do this, and they base their processing cost on this weight. Some also weigh live or at packaging, but not always. Weight is removed during processing and packaging. The amount varies depending on the type of cuts desired, whether bones are left in, etc. In our experience, the packaged weight is around 70% of the hanging weight.
Processing cost
In addition to the cost of the steer itself, there is a fee for the butcher’s work. This is typically $1.25 per pound, (current price we were quoted, subject to change) of the hanging weight. Since all butchers weigh at ‘hanging’ and base their costs on this weight, it’s easiest to price our beef according to this weight. We allow you to pick the cuts you want and the packaging, so the final ‘packaged’ cost varies for each customer.
An example for a half steer…
Our steers have had hanging weights around 340 to 400 pounds – let’s use 370 for an average. Let’s assume an average processing cost of $1.25 per lb.
The half steer hanging weight would be 185 lb. So, our price for that beef would be 185 x 4.00 or $740.00. Processing cost paid directly to the butcher, on average, would be 1.25 x 185 = $231.25. So, your total cost would be $971.25. The packaged meat would weigh around 70% of the 185, which is about 130 lbs. So, the average cost of the packaged beef would be $971.25/130 = $7.50/lb. Remember this is a rough average. You could get more or less weight depending on bone left in the cuts, how lean you want your ground beef, etc. and the processing cost could be more or less. Depending on these customer choices, the final packaged cost per pound can vary plus or minus 10% from this estimate. With our current pricing, you’ll have not only ground beef but all the small steaks, roasts, brisket, etc. And from a local family farm where you know the cattle were raised cleanly, humanely with no antibiotics or hormones; completely grass fed/grass finished with no grain, cottonseed, soy, or medicated feed; and processed humanely at a local family facility rather than a factory feed lot and packing plant.
Typical cuts of beef
You can specify with the butcher from their “cut sheet” how you want your beef butchered. If you’re new to the process and want to get a typical selection of cuts, here’s what to expect using the 123 lbs. of packaged beef from our example half beef above:
Steak (sirloin, ribeye, New York strip, and tenderloin) 20% = 25 lbs.
Roasting/Slow cook (chuck, rump, meaty soup bones, stew meat) 20% = 25 lbs.
Cutlets (for chicken fried steak or stir fry) 8% = 10 lbs.
Brisket 6% = 7 lbs.
Fajita (flank and skirt steaks) 6% = 7 lbs.
Ground beef 40% = 49 lbs.
Too much meat?
If a half steer is more than you can store in your freezer, consider splitting your half with a friend. The half steer will have several packages of every beef cut – roasts, steaks, soup meat, fajitas, stew meat, hamburger, etc. and can be evenly divided quite simply. Of course, if you choose to process the steer differently, your cuts will vary. For example, you may want only roasts and steaks and have all else ground for hamburger. There would still be several packages of each of your chosen cuts which can be divided easily with a friend. Also, we have individual cuts and hamburger available at the distillery for purchase at an adjusted price.
Deposit
A $250 deposit per half steer or $500 or a whole steer will reserve your beef. When your steer is delivered to the butcher, you can pay the balance owed. If something happens to the steer such as illness or escape, and we are unable to deliver it to the butcher in top condition, we will refund your full deposit.
Why does Grass Fed Beef Cost More, see link from 2015 and realize cost of beef production and selling prices have gone up significantly in the past 8 years since this article was written:
Why Processed Beef Costs More (Article)
With all that said, we have a limited number of steers, and we will accept orders – with deposits – first come first served until we sell out.
We hope all these details answered most of your questions. Please contact us if you need more information. Thanks for your interest!
Boxwood Farm Irish Dexters
Jack Marchette – jack.marchette@gmail.com 843-495-0030
Beth Marchette – ewmarchette@gmail.com 843-495-0031
Jackson Moya Mendez – jacksonmoyamendez@gmail.com 843-250-8905