Understanding Lingo
You want to purchase a whole animal, but it’s daunting…
Probably much like you, when our family started looking into buying whole animals direct from farmers, the process seemed complex and daunting. There were all these different levels of payment to different parties, unclear expectations for quantity and price, and weird lingo that we didn’t know. It didn’t help that farmers acted annoyed and short when we had further questions.
Well fortunately for you, I have designed my buying process for customers with those experiences in mind.
With payment and pickups, you deal directly with me, and I’ll deal with the butcher. You don’t have to worry about coordinating with all these different parties. And instead of breaking up all these different price and weight points based on your understanding of the lingo, I’ve simplified that process HERE. This is the (as close as I can realistically estimate) ballpark for lbs of meat and the price total.
But here’s some understanding of lingo to help you be even more informed when buying directly from farmers…
Live Weight: This is how much the animal weighs, outstanding (catch that?) in their field. For a full-grown lamb at harvest time, I aim for 120ish lbs.
Hanging Weight: This is post-harvest after the hide, organs and all have been removed. Just the meat and bone as it hangs. For a full-grown lamb, this is about 50ish% of its live weight. 55-60lbs. This is what you pay for.
Aging: Post-harvest, the butcher will hang the meat in a cooler for a week to ‘age’ the meat. The meat will ‘shrink about 3% during. This process tenderizes the already tender, juicy meat even more!
Cutting Orders: This is the best part. You get to decide how you want your whole or half animal cut up and wrapped up. Do you want maximum steaks? A lot of ground? How many roasts do you want? Do you want your chops in packs of 2? Your ground in 1 or 2-lb packages, etc., etc.
Before my family and I embarked on this livestock journey ourselves, we were frustrated with the confusion in the process of ordering bulk directly from farmers. So I’m more than happy (I’m thrilled!) to help you along on that journey and answer any questions as well.
