The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Marketplace => Topic started by: Blackmyre on June 20, 2012, 04:25:29 pm
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As mentioned in reply to a "Wanted" post in here, we will have some Shetland beef for sale towards the end of July. It has been pointed out to me that it probably ought to be mentioned in its own "For Sale" post, so here it is - apologies for it being a bit of a cross-post.
This is a pure-bred Shetland steer, grass-reared to 29 months to fully develop the flavour of the meat. Our butcher will hang the carcass for 21 days before cutting to produce mixed beef packs. We will be offering packs around 12.5kg each. Price will be £9.95/kg.
Our animals are slowly reared in the traditional manner. With the exception of a few 'cattle rolls' and carrots (hand-fed as treats and bribes rather than supplements as such) they are fed entirely on our own grass and our own hay.
We are based in the Elgin area of North-East Scotland, not far from the coast of the Moray Firth. Customers are welcome to come and collect their packs in person (and see our herd for themselves), or we can arrange courier delivery.
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Hi, Blackmyre
We'll take two 12.5kg packs of lovely, delicious Shetland beef. We'll come and collect, if that's OK, then we can have a look at your Shetlands :cow: :cow: :thumbsup:
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Hi Rosemary. Thanks, I'll put you down for 25kg.
Yes, you're welcome to come and collect, and to see the herd. Our original four heifers have grown into sixteen beasties at present. By the time the beef is ready to collect we might have an old friend of yours visiting: we're hoping to have Valderne Viking with us again.
[edit] Oops - that's Collafirth Viking, of course! :-[
Steve.
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What is a pack made up off,
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Yes,please advise what is in a pack?
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Hi Sabrina. Good question - I should have made that clear.
Our butcher will cut the carcass, producing a range of roasting joints, steaks, diced meat, mince etc. I haven't discussed the exact breakdown with him - I'm inclined to leave it to his skill and experience to cut as best suits the individual carcass. The resulting produce will then be divided evenly into packs, so everyone gets a fair share of the prime and the cheaper cuts. That's what we have done in the past when selling pork, and it worked well.
As this is the first beef we will have produced, we don't yet have much of an "eye" for weights so it's not easy to judge how many boxes we'll get. Uptake has been good and if this one comes up smaller than we expect then we might now already be sold out. Once our butcher gets hold of the carcass he should be able to give us a better idea. Orders will be met on a first come, first served basis.
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All now spoken for.
I have spoken to our butcher today and made the bookings. The beef should be ready on Tuesday 24th July (this will mean 19 days hanging rather than 21, which he says will be just fine for a Shetland carcass).
I'll provide more details as they become available and make the necessary arrangements nearer the time.
Steve.
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For interest - how many 12.5kg packs of meat did you get from your shetland? - I'm assuming you kept a few steaks for yourself!
Simon
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You're jumping the gun a bit - he's still grazing in the fields at the moment!
Yes, we'll certainly be reserving a few packs for ourselves.
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Will be in line for the next one please. :thumbsup:
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The next one will be a while off yet, I'm afraid. We've only been getting one male per year so far - great for growing the herd, but not so great for beef in the short term :)
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Our Antipodean colleague may have some steers going away, Blackmyre. :thumbsup:
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That could be an option then - I'm not really sure what she has nearing readiness at the moment. I'll drop her a line...
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If you're not all sold out then we would love some! Can't collect though. Let me know if your quantities can accommodate us too ;)
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If you're not all sold out then we would love some!
Sorry but unless the carcass turns out to be substantially bigger than we estimate, this one's all sold. I'll post in here when we have some more available but, as mentioned above, that will be some way off yet.