Custom
BEEF

You choose the portion of beef that you want (1/4, 1/2, or whole), and choose the harvest date that you want. Send us your request by phone or email. We will confirm availability. Then, you pay your deposit and give us your cutting instructions (we will help you with the cutting instructions). Now your order is complete. We deliver the animals to Colorado Custom Meat Company (formerly Steving Meats) on the appointed harvest date. We will send you an email message with hanging weight pounds and amount due. You will pay us, pick up your beef at Colorado Custom Meat when it is ready, and enjoy the harvest! Your beef will be ready for you approximately two weeks after harvest. Please be sure, when you order, that you will be in town and able to pick up your beef within 5 days of notification that beef is ready. Colorado Custom Meat Company will charge you $25 / day / beef for storage after 5 days. (They will soon offer delivery within the local region. You may ask them about delivery availability and cost.)

We close orders 10 days prior to each harvest date, or when harvest slots are filled, whichever comes first.

We recommend at least 1 cubic foot of freezer space for each 25 pounds of beef. It is always better to have too much space when you bring home the beef! for a 1/4 beef: plan about 4-5 cubic feet. for a 1/2 beef: plan about 8-10 cubic feet. for a whole beef: plan about 16-20 cubic feet. Use the extra space for ice cream!

Colorado Custom Meat Company (formerly Steving Meats), in Kersey, CO, processes all Meadow Maid Foods beef. Colorado Custom Meat Company is a small, locally owned and operated, USDA-inspected processing facility. All beef is dry aged for about 14 days, cut to your specifications, wrapped and vacuum sealed, and frozen to -20F. For more details on processing, see Cutting Instructions.

Each beef share is different, just as each animal is different. Your total final cost* is the hanging weight of the beef carcass at time of slaughter times price per pound. Your deposit is applied toward your total final cost. Meadow Maid Foods pays your standard processing fees* for you. See Current Beef Share Pricing. PLEASE NOTE: "Hanging weight" is NOT your take-home weight. Your take-home weight averages about 65-70% of hanging weight, depending on the animal, your cutting instructions, and whether you take bones and offal. For example, over the past several years, typical take-home weight for our "Versatile Recipe" cutting instructions with no bones or offal has averaged 67% of hanging weight, and "Keep it Simple" has averaged 65% with no bones or offal. Historic numbers are only an estimate. (*If you request sausages, hamburger patties, or certain other special processing, extra charges may be incurred, but we will tell you about those when we discuss your request.) Please be sure, when you order, that you will be in town and able to pick up your beef within 5 days of notification that beef is ready (about two weeks after your chosen harvest date). Colorado Custom Meat Company will charge you $25 / day / beef for storage after 5 days. (They will soon offer delivery within the local region. You may ask them about delivery availability and cost.)

Your deposit reserves your harvest slot and secures your price per pound against inflation. Animals will not be slaughtered without paid deposits. Deposits are non-refundable, so please be sure that you want a share prior to paying your deposit.

Cutting Instructions tell the butcher how to cut and wrap your meat. Meadow Maid Foods has Standard Cutting Instructions for 1/4 beeves, and many of our customers use our standards as starting points for their 1/2 and whole beef orders. See our "Custom Beef Cutting Instructions" Page for details, and for our Standard Cutting Instructions. We will discuss your instructions and answer any questions that you may have about cutting. Call us at (307) 534-2289 if you have questions.

A 1/2 or whole beef order will be cut and wrapped to your specifications. Some customers choose one of our standard cutting options, or start there and make some changes. For a 1/4 share, you must choose one of our standard options. The only change that may be made to the standard cutting instructions on a 1/4 beef is to add offal (bones, heart, liver, tongue, kidney, sweet breads, and/or oxtail). Offal is not included unless requested before slaughter. Why standardize cutting just for 1/4's? When you order a 1/4 share (aka split side), you are splitting a side of beef with another customer. You will be paired with another customer who chooses the same cutting option as you, and Colorado Custom Meat Company will "split the side" of beef between the two of you, thus the term "split side".

Freezer space at any processing facility is at a premium, so Colorado Custom Meat Company requests that you pick up your beef as soon as possible once it is ready for you, and within 5 days of notification that beef is ready. Please be sure, when you order, that you will be in town and able to pick up your beef within 5 days of notification that beef is ready. Colorado Custom Meat Company will charge you $25 / day / beef for storage after 5 days. (They will soon offer delivery within the local region. You may ask them about delivery availability and cost.) Maid Foods, llc will NOT pay your storage or delivery fees for late pick-up. We realize that emergencies arise, so please contact us and Colorado Custom Meat Company if you face a last-minute difficulty. Meadow Maid Foods, llc reserves the right to claim the beef and keep your deposit if you fail to pick up your order within one month of first notification that your beef is ready. Should Meadow Maid Foods, llc find it necessary to take this measure, at our sole discretion you forfeit all rights to the beef and your deposit and your right to order beef in the future.