Welcome to
Rusty Nicholls Ranch
Your Source for Quality Beef.
Meet the
Nicholls Family
At Rusty Nicholls Ranch, we take great pride in tending to our steers. We usually purchase them from other farmers when they are weaned, but in some cases, younger. This would entail bottle feeding until the calf is old enough to chew and digest hay. At feeding time, we utilize our special “call” to train them to come to the fence for food and a few pats on the head. Most of our steers are fairly tame and believe it or not, they each have their own personality! Cows are naturally curious, and they are almost always interested in what we are doing, whether it’s mending a fence or taking a walk in the pasture. It’s not unusual for the herd to fall in step with whomever is strolling across their domain. They also have a special affinity for work trucks and will spend way too much time admiring themselves in the side mirrors. If they like what they see, they lick their reflection…then the window, the door, and the door handle. In spite of that unusual appetite, we do our best to keep our animals healthy by giving them plenty of grazing pasture and supplement their diet with alfalfa or timothy grass hay in the winter.
All of our steers are here on our farm in a large, self-watering pasture. They are raised and finished on grass the way nature intended, and we never use steroids or hormones to enchance their growth. Since they are not kept in confined areas with hundreds of other animals, they live a pretty stress-free life. They are happy cows. This all means, our steers grow slower than those at feed lots where they are finished on grain and waste products and receive drugs that do promote growth and fat content.
When it’s time to butcher, we call in a professional to harvest and dress out the animals. He transports the carcasses to any one of several different butcher shops in the area. The meat hangs for about 10 days and is cut to the customers specifications.
How it Works
If you like to eat healthy food, especially beef, you can give us a call and reserve a quarter, half, or whole beef to put in your freezer. If you aren’t able to keep that much beef frozen until you are ready to use it, it would be advantageous for you to work with friends and family to order, especially if you only need a quarter of beef. You might ask why that is, and it’s a simple answer, really. The animal hangs in 2 halves. When you order a quarter, you get either the arm quarter, or the butt quarter. When you share a half with someone else, you can actually divide the packages of meat equally, so everyone gets similar cuts.
So, you place the order, we schedule the harvest at the earliest time possible, and your name and contact information are placed with the half or halves. It is now your property. The carcass goes to the butcher where it hangs to age for 7-10 days. Once hanging is done, the butcher contacts you for your specific cutting instructions, that is, you dictate how thick you want your steaks, how much stew meat, and hamburger, you want, whether you want fajita or stir fry strips, and etc. When the meat is cut to your order, it’s wrapped and placed into the freezer. Then, the butcher notifies you that it’s ready to pick up. Depending on the situation, we can deliver to most places within the state. (If you have specific allergies or other medical conditions, the butcher needs to be notified immediately so the beef will not hang to age. He will proceed to cut and freeze the meat right away.)
You are probably wondering about the cost. In simple terms, it’s about $4.00 per pound of hanging weight – that’s after the carcass has gone to the butcher (the animal has been skinned, dressed out, and legs, head and tail removed) That payment is received in 2 parts. First, we require a $500 deposit, with the balance plus a “harvesting fee” of $150 is due to us prior to your picking up your meat (or at delivery). When you pick up the meat, the butcher will also want about $1.00 per pound of hanging weight from you, for his services. Sounds complicated, but it’s not. Here’s an example:
The whole animal’s hanging weight is 700 pounds. You order half – 350 pounds. The total due to Rusty Nicholls Ranch is $1,475 which includes the $500 deposit and $75 for half of the harvesting fee. The butcher charges $1.00 per pound, so you would pay them $350. The total expense for you is $1,825. Expensive, you might think, but then you are paying about $5.50 per pound for hamburger and stew meat as well as for your T-bones and roasts. Plus, the meat will last for months in your freezer depending on the cut and also depending on how often you eat beef and how many of you will be eating it. And best of all, it tastes so very much better than grocery store beef.
Also, should you be the kind of person that enjoys liver, heart, oxtail or tongue, arrangements will need to be made before the animal is harvested. These items do not go to the butcher, so either you will need to arrive at the ranch the day of harvest to retrieve them, or we will have to cut, package and freeze them here to be delivered to you with the rest of your order.
It is an interesting process and perhaps daunting if you are a first-time buyer, but in any case, we are here to answer any questions you may have – including scheduling an appointment to see your animal before it ends up in your barbecue! Feel free to call us, or email. We will be happy to explain any part of this process to you.