This comes to us from one of our local members. Janet raises a small herd of cows, and has brought the most wonderful dairy products to some of our potlucks. I know that she takes excellent care of her animals.

Local humanely raised meat — Jersey heifer to be butchered — please forward to your friends!
Saturday, January 5, 2013 3:15 PM
From: “Janet Russell” janetdr@comcast.net

SELLING WHOLE ANIMAL, SIDES OR QUARTERS OF A MOSTLY GRASSFED JERSEY HEIFER (4 years old and apparently infertile). NO ANTIBIOTICS OR GROWTH HORMONES USED!

I’m asking $2.00/lb hanging weight for myself plus kill fee and cut & wrap to Four Star Meat Company. Using “worst case” estimates I came up with a final cost to the customer of about $5.67/lb for finished freezer-packed meat, cut to your specifications (except that no spinal bones are allowed to be sold so some cuts would have to be boneless, and there will be no oxtail). The fat may be yellower that you are expecting — that is typical of the Jersey breed. This heifer is about 4 years old so the meat might be better in moist & slow-cooked pot roasts and hamburger than steaks. She’s lived in a herd of four bovines and has been fed pasture, hay, apples, a salt & mineral supplement, organic vegetable garden trimmings and about 1.5 lbs of grain (14% protein corn, oats, barley & molasses sweet feed) per day to bribe her to go where I needed her to go. This quantity of grain is only about 5-10% of the amount recommended on the feed sack!
I’m willing to sell the entire animal, halves, or quarters. She will be butchered on site next Saturday, January 12, 2013 ( to reduce the stress of transporting her to an abattoir or feedlot}. Please email me,
Janet Russell, at janetdr@comcast.net or call me at (541) 485-1699 if you are interested in this meat.
This explanation of how to order a side of beef is coped from something Deck Family Farm wrote online about a year ago. I have put my version in brackets following Deck’s.
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Once you have placed your order and made a $200 deposit we will call Four Star Meats (or the butcher of your choice). When the carcass is in their facility, they will give us the exact hanging weight. At this time, Four Star Meat Company (541-689-1350) will call you to ask how you would like your cuts (such as how much ground beef or sausage or how thick you would like your steaks). The beef will be dry-aged for up to 2 weeks and the pork, hams, and bacon will be smoked. Allow 2-3 weeks from butchering for pickup.
The customer pays for cutting, wrapping, and butchering fees. Actual weight of delivered meat product will be approximately 65% of the hanging weight. Since you are purchasing a live animal, it is impossible for us to give a precise cost per pound of final product. However, the final cost can be estimated, as we do in the following example.

{Once you have placed your order and made a $200 deposit to Janet & Jerry Russell, we will call Four Star Meats. When the carcass is in their facility, they will give us the exact hanging weight. At this time, Four Star Meat Company (541-689-1350) will call you to ask how you would like your cuts (such as how much ground beef or sausage or how thick you would like your steaks). The beef will be dry-aged for up to 2 weeks. Allow 2-3 weeks from butchering for pickup.The customer pays for cutting, wrapping, and butchering fees. Actual weight of delivered meat product will be approximately 65% of the hanging weight.Since you are purchasing a live animal, it is impossible for us to give a precise cost per pound of final product. However, the final cost can be estimated, as we do in the following example.}

Assume you purchase a steer with a “live weight” of 1000 pounds. After the head, viscera, hide, and blood are removed we are left with the “hanging weight” of the animal, which is approximately 60% of the total live weight. Deck Family Farm charges you by the pound based on the hanging weight. Assuming a hanging weight charge of $3/lb of 600 pounds, the total to pay to Deck Family Farm is $1800. Butchering charges and cutting and wrapping are paid directly to the processor. Assuming butchering charges of $50 per animal and approximately 45cents /lb for cutting, and wrapping, the overall butcher costs will be around $340. The final cost for the entire steer to you will be $2140 for 390 pounds of meat (there is some loss in weight at the butcher for de-boning and removing fat) for $5.48/pound. This price is about 20% less than our CSA prices for cut-meats and 40% less than our retail prices for cut meats. If you order a 1/2 or 1/4 side then all of the costs and amount of meat will be halved or quartered accordingly. Please note that the figures above vary 10-15% for each animal.

{Assume you purchase the Jersey heifer who has a “live weight” of between 800 and 1000 pounds. We’ll figure this on 1000 pounds. After the head, viscera, hide, and blood are removed we are left with the “hanging weight” of the animal, which is approximately 50% of the total live weight {I’ve seen estimates of only 50% of live weight for older dairy animals as opposed to steers.} Janet Russell charges you by the pound based on the hanging weight. Assuming a hanging weight charge of $2/lb for 500 pounds hanging weight, the total to pay to Janet is $1000}. Butchering charges and cutting and wrapping are paid directly to the Four Star Meats. Assuming butchering charges of $50 per animal and approximately 45cents /lb for cutting, and wrapping, the overall butcher costs will be around $275. I’ve seen estimates of only a 50% yield of meat from the hanging weight for an “older” animal than your typical beef steer (there is some loss in weight at the butcher for de-boning and removing fat, and there may be more than usual fat on this heifer) , so using that percentage, Janet’s heifer at 500 lbs hanging weight would yield 225 lbs. of take-home meat. The final cost for the entire Jersey heifer to you will be about $1275 for 325 lbs of meat, for $5.67/lb.}. If you order a 1/2 or 1/4 side then all of the costs and amount of meat will be halved or quartered accordingly. Please note that the figures above vary 10-15% for each animal.}