Guides
Beef processing, explained
The questions we answer on the phone every week, written down. No jargon you have to know before you call.
Start here
How to fill out a beef cut sheet
Our real three-page sheet as a free PDF, with every decision on it explained in the order it appears.
Show steer processing
Why show steers get extra USDA residue testing, what to stop feeding and when, how to schedule around show week, and what a show-finished steer yields.
8 min read
Processing terms explained
62 processing terms defined in plain English, from hanging weight and custom-exempt to primals, rollstock, and withdrawal time, each linked to its guide.
9 min read
How your beef is packaged
Rollstock for steaks and ground on thick 6 and 9 mil film, vacuum bags for the rest, what every label says, blast freezing, and a 12-month freezer life.
5 min read
Selling your own beef
The legal path from a live animal to beef you can sell in Texas: inspection tier, labels and claims, barcodes, permits by venue, and pricing from real yield.
8 min read
Whole, half, or quarter
How a beef is split here: cut and billed by the half, one sheet per half, what a quarter really means, freezer space per share, and keeping two families happy.
5 min read
Reading your weight report
What each line on your weight report means, what normal hanging-to-boxed ratios look like, when a number deserves a question, and how to plan the next animal.
5 min read
When to book
Our target is a harvest date within 3 weeks or less of your call. When that is easy, when it is tight, and how to count back from a holiday, market, or show.
5 min read
Drop-off day
Getting an animal ready to haul, what happens in the first 24 hours at the plant, what the USDA inspector does, what to bring, and how pickup works.
6 min read
USDA vs. custom-exempt
The three inspection tiers a Texas processor can run under, who may eat the beef from each, where it can be sold, and why the NOT FOR SALE stamp matters.
7 min read
Processing cost in Texas
How per-pound hanging-weight pricing adds up, worked examples at three carcass weights against a published Texas rate card, and when a flat fee wins.
6 min read
Hanging vs. take-home weight
Live, hanging, and boxed weight explained with real ranges, why the box is lighter than the carcass, and how your cut sheet moves the number.
6 min read
How long beef should hang
What aging does, how many days it takes, wet versus dry aging, why our turnaround is two to three weeks, and why a four-day plant is a warning sign.
5 min read
How much meat from a cow
A properly finished 1,200 lb steer comes back as about 430 lb of take-home beef, about 36% of live weight. Here's how the math works.
6 min read
Choosing a processor
Questions to ask before you haul in Texas: inspection, what the price includes, turnaround, aging, yield, drop-off, pickup, and selling your beef.
8 min read
Beef label claims
How label claims like grass fed or Texas raised work on USDA-inspected beef: in-plant approval, USDA LSAS approval, timing, and what to bring.
6 min read
Barcodes for ranch beef
When your ranch beef needs a GS1 barcode, how to get GS1 numbers, and how we quote private label design and barcodes for USDA-inspected beef.
6 min read
Organs, bones, and kidney fat
Liver, heart, tongue, oxtail, beef cheek, kidney fat, soup bones, and marrow bones are on our cut sheet at no charge. Check the ones you want.
6 min read
Flat fee vs. per pound
How to compare a flat processing price with a per-pound quote: the break-even rate for your animal's hanging weight, plus the fees to ask about.
6 min read
Have a question we haven’t written up?
Call and ask. If enough people ask the same thing, it becomes the next guide.