Custom Butchered Whole Steer
Buying FAQ
Why should I order a custom butchered steer instead of the whole cow package available in the online market?
The whole cow package is a ~450 pound curated package designed to satisfy most customers who are looking to stock their family freezer with a years supply of the most flavorful, nutrient dense chemical free beef in the industry. We have spent the past few years listening to customer feedback on the whole cow buying process and this package is designed around that. You get all the cuts, butchered in similar fashion to what you buy from a local butcher. It is a set quantity of each cut that equates to a typical whole animal. The packages are almost always in stock and its clear at the time of order what you are getting and how much it costs.
The custom butchered steer is for 2 types of customers: (1) that have experience buying a whole cow from another farm in the past and understand buying off dress weight and what that means or (2) customers who want to dial in exactly what they want down to each individual cut. They want all the trim fat, suet, heart, tongue, kidney, liver and know how to or want to learn how to make their own cooking or beauty tallow, heart steaks, tongue tacos and eat beef liver. Most customers order a whole cow and end up saying they don’t want the organs and do not have the freezer room or time to deal with the fat. When you order a custom animal off of hanging weight, you pay for all of these items either way. It is both more economical and more straighforward to order our whole cow beef package, but we of course offer the custom butchering like other farms.
How much meat do I get from a grass fattened pastured steer, and how much does it cost?
Our steers are typically butchered at 36 months with an ‘only butcher when ready’ mentality. It takes 3 years on high protein forage to get proper marbling without grain feeding. Our steers typically finish at 1200-1600 pounds live weight, with dressed weight at 575-830 pounds. Dress weight, also known as hanging weight, or rail weight, is described as the weight of the steer minus the head, the hide, and the guts other than major organs. On average, dressed weight is 50-60% of live weight, and packaged weight is 50-60% dressed weight. So on a 1200 pound steer, you would expect to receive 350-400 pounds of packaged meat. Please note, as of March 2026 our average dress weight for steers has consistently been 740 lbs. to 830 lbs. with actual meat weights between 450-500 pounds. The current price for a half steer or whole steer is $10 per pound calculated off dress weight.
There is a $2000 deposit for whole steers and a $1000 deposit on half steers, with the balance due at pickup or delivery. To place a deposit, click here.
How long will it take to get my custom cut beef?
Our steers hang for at least 28 days prior to final packaging and flash freezing. You may notice that most direct to consumer ranches either do not state how long they age their beef or its a standard 2 week aging. We believe there are only 2 reasons for the 2 week number: the processor does not have room to age longer or the animal is on the smaller side. Our steers are butchered when fat and not at a set time. therefore they are quite large, especially for a grain free animal. Dry aging for 4 weeks allows the meat to lose more water and become more tender, and enhances the favorable flavors of the beef. Aging is very important. Because of our longer aging period, custom butchered steers are currently running a lead time from finalized cut list to delivery at 7 weeks. This assumes a 1 week turnaround for us to get the completed and signed off custom butcher list. It is perfectly fine if it takes you longer to complete it, but please understand the clock can’t start until we know exactly what you ordered and how you want it.
How much freezer space will I need for a whole cow?
A whole cow fits comfortably in a 16 cubic foot chest freezer. You can usually squeeze it into a 14 cubic foot but you will not have room to find anything.
Do you have a standard cut list or what cuts am I able to get?
One can get every single cut from the animal, or the whole cow can be ground as the most amazing hamburger. We offer total flexibility. We do have a custom butchering cut list which can be found here.
I want to try your beef first before making a sizable investment, Can I order individual cuts or curated boxes?
Yes, sign up for the Apeiron Farms Food Club for access to our shopping cart for configurable protein boxes and individual cut availability.
What if I want the full monty, including beef custom butchered, suet rendered into tallow, organs converted to freeze dried capsules, and beef bones turned into the most nutrient dense beef bone broth?
Yes, we can offer this! We have a few customers who have asked this question as they saw we have all these items available. Please contact us if this is interesting to you, we will work it out case by case as each animal is a little different.
Do you ship whole cows?
Yes, we do. All over the country. All freight worked out on a per order basis. Contact us for more information.