What a Beef Share Actually Is

A beef share is exactly what it sounds like: you're buying a share of a single animal. A quarter, a half, or the whole thing — raised on one farm, processed by one butcher, delivered to your door or available for pickup. No commodity blend. No mystery supply chain. One animal, one family, one farm.

Here's what makes it fundamentally different from the grocery store. When you buy ground beef at a supermarket, that package contains trimmings from dozens — sometimes hundreds — of different animals sourced from multiple states and processed by one of four giant packing corporations that control over 84% of beef in America. Nobody involved in that transaction can tell you the first thing about where that animal was raised, what it ate, or how it was handled.

A beef share is the opposite of that. The farmer knows the animal. The butcher knows the farmer. You know all of them. The whole chain is short enough to trace with a single phone call — and at a farm like ours, that call goes to a real person who will actually answer.

The other thing worth knowing: beef shares are priced by the live weight of the animal before processing. You pay a price per pound of live weight, plus a separate processing fee. The resulting price per pound of finished, packaged beef typically works out to $10–13 per pound for everything — ribeyes, filets, roasts, ground beef, all of it — which is dramatically better value than buying those same cuts individually at retail prices.

Choosing the Right Size

The first decision is size. This comes down to two things: how much beef your household goes through, and how much freezer space you have. Here's the honest breakdown:

A few things first-timers consistently underestimate: how fast a family actually goes through beef when the quality is this good, and how easy it is to get a chest freezer. A basic 7 cubic foot chest freezer runs $200–300 at any appliance store and pays for itself within the first order. We'd always rather someone get a quarter share and love it than get a whole beef and feel overwhelmed.

One more option worth knowing about: splitting a share. Two families splitting a half beef each get the per-pound pricing of a half share while only storing a quarter's worth of beef. It's a great way to get in on the better pricing without the commitment of a larger freezer. Coordinate with a neighbor, a coworker, or a family member who's been curious about farm-direct beef — you're probably not the only one.

How the Process Works — Start to Finish

This is the part that makes most people pause — the process feels unfamiliar because it's different from clicking "Add to Cart" on a grocery app. But it's not complicated. Here's exactly what happens:

That's it. Six steps, most of which happen without you doing anything except waiting. The whole process from deposit to delivery typically runs 4–8 weeks depending on our processing schedule. For most people, the hardest part is deciding what thickness to cut their ribeyes.

The Cut Sheet — Your Most Important Document

The cut sheet is a document that lists every cut available from your share and gives you space to mark your preferences before you talk to the butcher. Think of it as a menu — except instead of ordering from it, you're telling the kitchen exactly how you want everything prepared.

First-timers sometimes feel intimidated by the cut sheet conversation. They worry about saying the wrong thing or making a choice they'll regret. Here's the truth: the butchers at Montgomery Meats have done this thousands of times. They'll guide you. If you don't know what a bavette steak is or whether you want your T-bones cut at ¾-inch or 1-inch, just ask. That conversation is part of what you're paying for — and it's a genuinely enjoyable one once you realize these are people who love talking about beef.

One decision worth thinking through before your butcher call: how much of the animal do you want as ground beef versus specialty cuts? Every beef animal produces roughly 30–40% of its yield as trimmings that go to grind. Some households love having abundant ground beef — it's the most versatile thing in your freezer. Others want to maximize the specialty cuts and minimize the grind. Both are valid. Just know going in what your household actually cooks most.

Understanding the Pricing

Beef share pricing has two components that confuse first-timers. Let's demystify them completely.

Live weight pricing. You pay a price per pound based on the animal's live weight at the time of harvest — typically $2.50–3.00 per pound. A typical beef steer weighs around 1,400–1,500 lbs live. A quarter share is 25% of that live weight, so roughly 350–375 lbs live weight × your per-pound price.

Processing fee. Separate from the live weight price, you pay the butcher for their work — cutting, aging, packaging, labeling. This typically runs $0.65–0.85 per pound of live weight.

The combined cost works out to approximately $10–13 per pound of finished, packaged beef — for everything. Here's why that number is remarkable:

The ground beef and chuck roast are priced higher in a share than at the grocery store. The ribeyes, strips, and filets are priced dramatically lower. The share averages everything together — which means you're getting the best cuts at a fraction of their retail price in exchange for taking the whole animal rather than cherry-picking the premium cuts.

The upfront cost — $1,250 for a quarter, $2,500 for a half — is the number that makes people pause. It's a real number. But divided across the 6–12 months of beef it produces, and compared to what you'd spend buying equivalent cuts at retail, it's almost always significantly cheaper. Most of our customers tell us the same thing after their first share: they wish they'd done it sooner.

Getting Your Freezer Ready

The logistics of receiving a beef share are simpler than most people expect — but a little preparation goes a long way.

• Make sure your freezer is empty enough before the delivery date. This sounds obvious but is easy to forget. Clear out anything past its prime, consolidate what you're keeping, and have dedicated space ready for your beef packages. The boxes will arrive organized but you'll want room to stack things neatly.
• Keep everything frozen until you're ready to use it. Vacuum-sealed beef keeps for 12–24 months in the freezer with no loss of quality. There's no rush. Work through it at whatever pace makes sense for your household.
• Thaw in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Move packages to the fridge 24–48 hours before you plan to cook. Steaks thaw in 24 hours. Roasts need 48 hours. Ground beef is fastest at 12–18 hours. Cold, slow thawing preserves quality in a way that counter thawing or microwave thawing simply can't.
• Once thawed, use within 2–3 days. Treat thawed vacuum-sealed beef the same way you'd treat anything from the butcher counter — it's fresh, it's ready, and it should be cooked promptly.
• Don't refreeze thawed beef. Plan ahead for what you're cooking so you're only thawing what you'll use. The 1 lb ground beef packages make this easy — you thaw exactly what the recipe calls for.

On the question of chest freezers: if you're planning to get one, buy it before your beef arrives rather than scrambling afterward. A 7 cubic foot chest freezer from any appliance store or big box retailer runs $200–300 and will last 15–20 years with minimal maintenance. It's one of the best investments a beef share buyer can make, and it pays for itself within the first order.

The Questions Everyone Asks

What if I don't go through it all? The beef keeps beautifully for 12–24 months in the freezer — longer than most households take to work through a quarter share. Pace yourself. There's no rush and no waste.

Is there a right time of year to buy? Farms typically process in spring and fall when the animals are at optimal weight after a grazing season. Deposits for the best processing slots fill up months in advance. If you're interested in fall beef, place your deposit by summer. Don't wait until September.

What if my family doesn't eat certain cuts? Tell the butcher. Almost everything on the animal can be directed into the grind rather than cut as a specific roast or steak. Not a fan of liver? Skip it. Don't know what to do with brisket? Add it to the grind. It's your beef — you're in charge of every cut.

Is it really that much better than the grocery store? Yes — and the difference isn't subtle. Single-source traceability, 21-day dry aging, and an animal that was raised by people who actually care about the quality all add up to beef that tastes fundamentally different from the commodity product at the supermarket. Most people who do a beef share don't go back to grocery store beef. That's not marketing — it's just what our customers consistently tell us.

What if something arrives damaged or wrong? Call us. We stand behind every box we ship. A five-generation family farm's reputation is worth more than any single sale — and we operate that way.

A Note on What This Used to Be — and Still Is

If your grandparents or parents bought beef directly from a farmer, they weren't doing anything exotic or complicated. They were doing what generations of American families did before the industrial food system made it easier to buy anonymized meat from a refrigerator case. The farmer knew the family. The family trusted the farmer. The beef was excellent. The whole thing made sense.

That transaction is still available. It just takes a little more intention to find now than it did when there was a farm at the end of every county road with a handwritten sign out front. The core of it hasn't changed — a farmer raises an animal with care, a butcher processes it with skill, and a family fills a freezer with exceptional beef. The only thing that's different is that you might have to go looking for it instead of tripping over it on your way to town.

If you grew up eating beef from a farm and you miss that — the flavor, the confidence of knowing where your food came from, the feeling that someone you could call by name raised what's on your plate — this is how you get that back. It exists. It's not hard. And we'd be glad to walk you through it.