2024 Beef Shares

Thank you for your interest in purchasing one of our Carnation Farms beef shares!

First I would love to share a little bit about our cows. We care for a herd of Belted Kingshire cows whose original home was at Wild Canary farm on the other side of Snoqualmie Valley. Jim and Katie Haack (who we bought the herd from in 2021) spent years growing this herd up and pouring all their love into them and it shows! This is a very special breed of miniature cow bred especially for grass finishing in the Pacific Northwest, because of this you will find beautifully marbled steaks from these grass-fed cows. We care-take the largest herd in the world at only 45 cows, so there is nothing out there quite like them! They are some of the sweetest, most friendly cows around and we know them all by name. They are 100% grass-fed (they get the occasional pumpkin treats from our organic farm).

Participating in our beef share program is a unique chance to buy beef directly from a farmer. This means there can be a few more logistics involved. Below is information to help walk you through the process, as always we are here to answer any questions. We have two types of beef shares: whole cut shares, which are sold in 1/4 quantities (these shares will give you back different cuts of beef); and all-ground beef shares (approximately 40lbs of all ground beef, sold in 1/8ths). For information on ground beef shares, keep scrolling further down!

How It Works (Whole Cut Shares – 1/4, 1/2 or whole):

• When you buy a beef share directly from the farmer you are actually buying a “share” of a live animal. Doing this allows farmers and customers access to a type of slaughter and butchering overseen by the Washington State Department of Agriculture in their “Custom Meat Program.” It is similar to a fruit or Vegetable CSA in that you are investing in the farmer and in the animal before you receive the product. 
• You’ll put down a non-refundable deposit on your beef share to hold it until harvest.
• As harvest approaches, we will send you a form to fill out for your cutting instructions. This is your chance to decide what kind of cuts you would like, how thick you want steaks cut and how many you want per package. Whole and half shares will have more control of exactly how their share is cut. Quarter shares will all be cut using the Standard Cut sheet from the butcher. See the Standard Cut sheet here. This is because you are sharing with another customer who has the other quarter of the cow (all cuts come from one side of the cow, some only come from the front or back half though so folks who get quarter shares have those cuts split up between them).
• When our harvest dates arrive, butchers will come out to the farm to do an on-farm slaughter. This is, in our opinion, the lowest stress for the animals since they are at home, in a familiar place with their familiar handlers. 
• After slaughter, the butchers will take the carcass to the butcher facility where the beef will “hang” for 7-14 days. This process, also called dry-aging, allows the meat to become more flavorful and tender. This is also the point at which the butcher will weigh each carcass giving us the “hanging weight.” This is the number we will use to calculate the final sale price as well as the number the butcher will use to calculate their cutting fees. 
• Once the beef is cut and ready to pick up the butcher will call you and let you know it is ready for pick up. You will pick up your beef directly from the butcher and pay the remaining balance and butcher fees (more details on payment and costs later).

What You Get:

• Depending on if you get a quarter, half or whole share you will go home with approximately 80, 150, or 300 lbs of beautiful, local, grass fed beef.
• The amount that you take home will vary depending on how you decide to have your meat cut.

Cost:

• There will be three payments made by the customer.
  • The first will be to Carnation Farms in the form of your deposit.
  • The second will be to Carnation Farms for the balance of your beef share, calculated after we receive the hanging weights from the butcher.
  • The third will be to the butcher for their fees (slaughter, cut and wrap).

• Carnation Farms charges $7.50/lb for a beef share. That $7.50/lb is applied to the hanging weight of the animal. 
• Our butcher this year will be Linds Meat. They charge $0.95/lb for their cut and wrap fee as well as a $210 slaughter fee. The slaughter fee is applied to each animal, so if you bought a ¼ share your slaughter fee would be $52.50. 
• The below tables shows this information in a way that might be more clear to some folks. All figures below are for a ¼ share. The hanging weight is based on the average weights from our last harvest (140 lb per quarter.)

How It Works (Ground Beef Shares – 1/8ths):

• When you buy a beef share directly from the farmer you are actually buying a “share” of a live animal. Doing this allows farmers and customers access to a type of slaughter and butchering overseen by the Washington State Department of Agriculture in their “Custom Meat Program.” It is similar to a fruit or Vegetable CSA in that you are investing in the farmer and in the animal before you receive the product. 
• When we offer these Ground Beef Shares it is most often because we have an older animal that we need to cull out of our breeding program. Since the meat is older and tougher farmers will usually have the whole cow made into ground beef instead of having steaks/roasts. This meat is often some of the most flavorful and delicious though!
• You’ll put down a non-refundable deposit on your beef share to hold it until harvest.
• When our harvest dates arrive, butchers will come out to the farm to do an on-farm slaughter. This is, in our opinion, the lowest stress for the animals since they are at home, in a familiar place with their familiar handlers. 
• After slaughter, the butchers will take the carcass to the butcher facility where the beef will “hang” for 7-14 days. This process, also called dry aging, allows the meat to become more flavorful and tender. 
• At this point, the butcher will part out the beef and package it into 1 lb packages.
• You will then and pick up your beautiful, grass-fed, local ground beef directly from the butcher!

What You Get:

• We sell our Ground Beef Shares in 1/8ths so you will go home with approximately 40 lbs of beautiful, local, grass-fed beef. If you want more than that you can buy multiple shares!
• Animal harvest is never an exact science so we can’t promise exact amounts.

Cost:

• There will be three payments made by the customer.
  • The first will be to Carnation Farms in the form of your deposit when you first reserve your share.
  • The second will be a final payment to Carnation Farms for the balance of your beef share, calculated after we receive the hanging weights from the butcher.
  • The third will be to the butcher for their fees (slaughter, cut and wrap).
• Carnation Farms charges $5/lb for a ground beef share. That $5/lb is applied to the hanging weight of the animal.
• Our butcher this year will be Linds Meat. They charge $1/lb for their all-ground cut and wrap fee as well as a $210 slaughter fee. The slaughter fee is applied to each animal, so if you bought a 1/8th share your slaughter fee would be $26.25. 
• The table below shows this information in a way that might be more clear to some folks. All figures below are for an 1/8th share. The hanging weight is based on the average weights from our last harvest (70 lb per eighth.)

FOR ALL SHARE TYPES:

When:

• Our next available butcher date is July 25th 2024 (May 16th shares sold out). I will send out updates as we get closer to harvest. The whole process from slaughter date to pick up will take approximately 2 weeks though it will depend on the butcher’s schedule.

How to Reserve a Beef Share:

• To reserve a whole-cuts beef share, click the “1/4 Beef Share Deposit” with the desired date button below. If you would like 1/2 or a whole share, please add 2 or 4 to your cart.
• To reserve a ground beef share, click the “1/8 Ground Beef Share Deposit” with the desired date button below. If you would like more than one, add desired amount to your cart.
• Upon checkout, please provide your name, email, and phone number.
• We will be in close touch with upcoming dates and logistics as the harvest date approaches.

We are here to answer questions and provide more information. Just email us at taylorp@carnationfarms.org. Again, we appreciate your interest in our beef share program, and look forward to the chance to share local, grass-fed beef with our community!