We
sell cattle for natural veal or beef.
Our Cattle
The veal and beef from our cattle is natural and
wholesome.
Our cattle do not receive hormones or are fed antibiotics.
All cattle we sell as natural have never had any antibiotics or
hormones.
Moreover, our cattle eat only grass or hay from our own farm or from
other local farms that do not use fertilizer, other chemical products or
even lime. They do
not get corn, grain or industrially prepared feed. They have not been
exposed to residual pesticides or herbicides. Or to questionable
substances that may have been added to prepared feed.
Remember the recent scare in Europe where animal feed
contained dioxin, because used motor oil had been used in the production
process. Hundreds of thousands of animals had to be destroyed, but many
were nevertheless inadvertently consumed.
Or remember Mad Cow Disease, also in Europe, which is thought to be
associated with the use of animal offal (including ground bones and
spines) in cattle feed.
Or think about the present concerns about genetically altered crops and
animals. 
Our cattle is wholesome and grass fed. They are not constrained in
dirty pens, but roam freely in summer and winter. Click on the small
pictures to see them.
How It Works
We sell calves (steers or heifers) for slaughter and dressing at a
slaughter house of your choice. However, we only have a limited
number of animals (not more than 20) for sale each year.
You can buy a calf at any age as long as it is at least 300 lbs live
weight 
(about
160 lbs hanging weight). Young calves will give you veal. Older and
heavier animals will give you beef.
We normally do not have animals over 600 lbs live weight (about 300 lbs
hanging weight), but on demand, we may finish (exclusively on grass and
hay) a steer or heifer to a heavier weight.
After you have bought an animal, you can take it to a slaughter house
yourself, or we can do it for you for a fee.
At The Slaughter House
The slaughter house will slaughter the animal and cut it up according
to your specifications. It will wrap and label it according to content.
Then it will flash freeze it.
It charges for this a fixed amount for slaughtering and aging plus a
price per pound of hanging weight for cutting up the carcass.
Hanging weight is the weight of the animal without skin, head and offal
(intestines etc.), but before trimming and deboning. Prices can vary a
great deal. In January 2007, the price at one slaughter house was
$50 for the kill plus $0.40 per pound
of hanging weight for dressing, wrapping and freezing.
On request, the slaughter house will return to you anything that is
part of the hanging weight. This normally includes soup bones and tail.
They will often not return delicacies like tongue, liver and kidneys
unless specifically requested. You may also want some dog bones or even
the trimmed fat to give to the birds in winter. Be, therefore, specific in
telling the slaughter house not only how you want the carcass cut up, but
also in what you want returned.
Before you decide that you do not want the tongue returned, read the
recipe for a delicious meal by clicking on the link or the Tongue
Recipe button above. Once you try it, you will come back for more!
You will pay the slaughter house on pick up of veal or beef.
Prices
Our prices depend on market prices at recent auctions in Virginia.
Please call or send an e-mail for availability and prices. Because the hanging weight is not known until after slaughter, we ask
for a deposit of an amount corresponding to the estimated hanging weight
at the time of the order. Differences between actual and estimated price
will be settled when the hanging weight is known.
Slaughter Houses
You will find the names and addresses of slaughter houses in the
telephone yellow pages. Or you can search on the internet under butcher,
abattoir or
slaughter house. The following are some addresses in Virginia. The list is
by no means exhaustive.
- Linthicum Custom Slaughtering, 5814 Sudley Road, Manassas, Va.
20109.
Tel.: (703) 754-4364.
- Manassas Frozen Foods, 9414 Main Str., Manassas, Va. 20110.
Tel.: (703) 368-2131.
- Mullins Slaughter House, Highway 849, Stuarts Draft, Va. 24477.
Tel.: (540) 337-1566.
- Yates Abattoir, Rr 5 Box 186, Luray, Va. 22835.
Tel.: (540) 778-2123.
- Rollins Meat Processing, Orange, Va., Tel.: (540) 672-5177.
