Buying Meat from a Farmer - What's the Process?

For those who follow our farm on social media, we recently had a cow processed with a new butcher in Bridgetown NS. D'Aubin Family Meats did a great job processing our 2 and half years old certified Angus steer. I picked up the meat after two weeks of aging for more tender and flavorful meat that was a new tactic we'd read about from other farmers. 

The drop-off was textbook perfect this year with the cow being very calm on the drive down and the distance from the trailer to where it was processed was short and it didn't stress out which makes the meat more tender. One of the realities of bringing cows to the butcher is that they can sometimes stress out if they get unsure of where they are and that causes them to tense their muscles up and make the meat a little tougher. 

Shortly after it was processed, I was able to get the liver, tongue, heart, and tail right away for my really good friend, Amy, who has an Asian family who can make amazing dishes with these cuts from the cow. It was great to know that more of the cow could be used and not go to waste. The oxtail soup from the tail was the coolest this year and I'm so glad we can connect to families this way. 

Once we pick up the cow, we have to quickly distribute it to customers and divide up what we want to keep. Why is this a more challenging and busy time? Thee reasons:

1. We don't have enough freezer/fridge space for anywhere between 500-700 lbs of meat. This is typically why we get meat processed at this time of year because the outdoor temperature is usually the temperate of a fridge.
2. The amount of meat we are going to get is always not 100% sure until the day of pick up. The cow this time had a finished weight of 750 lbs. That was one of the larger ones we've ever had butchered and because of that we can't really secure orders until we know that number which is usually the day of pick up. 
3. We will ask for the type of cuts we want but it can often vary depending on the composition of the cow. This means we can't always accommodate the exact meat cuts people want so we have moved to a mixed meat box order. 

Doing deliveries this year was a bit different since it was during COVID so there was a need to be socially distant but I still got lots of time to visit with many repeat customers that are often my friends who have come to the farm. For many customers, I could tell them what cow it was, since they had been to the farm over the summer. This connection to their food is what many people want and for good reason. This level of connection means that they can taste a difference between cows they may have had before from our farm because they may have been fed differently or had different body compositions.

Based on some of the conversations I had this year I also thought I'd share a few things to remember when buying meat directly from a farmer:

• For the reasons mentioned above, buying meat from a farmer directly means it's not like the grocery store. You often don't get all the cuts you want because it's from one cow, not multiple mixed together. This means that you may have cuts that are different from what you expect. You can expect you may need to google the cuts you received in a meat box or if you order a side or 1/4 of a cow and find ways to use it. 
• Meat changes in flavor and texture between cows. We had many customers who have written to say this recent cow was even more tender than in other cows. This again has to do with the situation this time where the cow was stress-free, aged longer, and simply because their body composition was a bit different. 
• Why did we do a meat mixed box and not pick what you want ordering? For us, as mentioned above, we have all our cuts from one cow so we try and give everyone a diverse mix of cuts instead of everyone buying all the t-bones or prime rib.  '

Thanks to everyone who went in on this cow and thanks for all the great questions and conversation at drop off!