Farm and butcher words, explained

What the animal weighs at the butcher after the head, hide and insides are removed. Prices are usually per pound of hanging weight.

The butcher weighs the carcass on a hook before it is cut up. That number is on the slip they give you. It is about 60% of the live weight for beef. Most farms price by hanging weight because it is the fairest number both sides can see.

The meat you actually carry home in packages. For beef it is roughly 60% of the hanging weight, because bones and fat are trimmed off.

Also called packaged or finished weight. A 300 lb hanging half beef comes home as about 185 lb of steaks, roasts and ground beef. Bone-in cuts and keeping soup bones make it higher.

How much of one animal you are buying. A half beef is one side of one steer, cut the way you choose.

A whole beef fills two or three chest freezers. A half fills one large chest freezer. A quarter fits in a small chest freezer, about 5 to 7 cubic feet.

The order form that tells the butcher how to cut the meat: how thick the steaks are, how big the roasts are, how much goes to ground.

Each buyer fills one out before processing day. If a buyer is not sure, the farm's standard cut sheet is used. The farmer sends all of them to the butcher in one file.

The day the animal goes to the butcher. Meat is usually ready to pick up one to three weeks later.

Butchers book up months ahead, so farms reserve dates early and sell shares before that day.

Money paid up front to hold a share. It comes off the final price, it is not an extra charge.

The farmer sets the deposit. It is held safely until the meat is picked up or delivered, then paid out with the rest.

What is left to pay once the butcher reports the real weight. Price per lb times the weight, minus the deposit.

The farmer types in the weight from the butcher's slip and the buyer gets a bill with the exact amount. No guessing.

A butcher that processes animals for the owner's own use. The buyer owns the animal and pays the butcher directly at pickup.

This is how most farms sell halves and quarters. The meat is stamped "Not for sale" because it already belongs to the buyer. The buyer pays the butcher a kill fee plus a cut-and-wrap fee.

A butcher with a government inspector on site. Meat from here can be sold by the package, so the farm can include processing in its price.

USDA plants usually cost a little more and book further out, but the buyer pays one price with nothing due at pickup.

A flat charge from the butcher for each animal, split between everyone who shares that animal.

Sometimes called a harvest or slaughter fee. On a half beef the buyer pays half of it.

The butcher's charge per pound of hanging weight to cut, package and freeze the meat.

Extras like patties, sausage or smoked bacon usually cost more. Your butcher will tell you their rates.

A small fee the buyer pays at checkout. It covers card processing and buyer protection, so it never comes out of the farmer's money.

The part of each sale Pasture Direct keeps. It depends on your plan and is only taken when you sell. Never on butcher fees or delivery.

Money sent to your bank. It goes out every week for every order that was picked up or delivered.

Deposits are held until the order is done so buyers trust the system. As soon as you tap "Picked up", that order is in the next payout.

People who want a share after you sold out. If someone cancels, the next person in line gets offered the spot.

"Grass-finished" means the animal ate grass its whole life. "Grass-fed, grain-finished" means grass most of its life and grain at the end.

Grain finishing adds more marbling. Grass finishing is leaner with a stronger beef flavor. Both are honest choices, the label just tells buyers which one.

The carcass hangs in a cold room for days or weeks before cutting. It makes beef more tender and flavorful.

Most butchers hang beef 10 to 21 days. Longer aging means a little less weight because water evaporates.

The animals live outside on grass, not in a barn. Pigs and chickens still get feed as well, because they can't live on grass alone.

Farms move them to fresh ground so the pasture recovers. Woodland-raised pigs do the same in the woods, rooting for nuts and forage.

Checked every year by an inspector: organic feed, no antibiotics, no added hormones, and time on pasture.

Only farms that pass a yearly inspection by a USDA-approved certifier can say "certified organic". Many small farms raise animals the same way but skip the paperwork, so read their notes too.

An outside group checked that the animals ate only grass and hay and lived on pasture.

Groups like the American Grassfed Association inspect the farm. It means more than a farm's own word, but many good farms raise animals the same way and skip the paperwork, so read their notes too.

An outside group, such as Certified Humane or Animal Welfare Approved, checked how the animals are raised and handled.

These programs inspect the farm for space, time outside, care and handling. Each has its own rules, so ask the farm which one it uses.

Their feed has no soy in it.

Pigs and chickens eat feed as well as what they find outside, and most feed uses soybeans for protein. Soy-free feed uses other protein, such as peas. Some buyers look for it.

Born on this farm and raised here its whole life.

Many farms buy young animals from another farm and raise them the rest of the way, which is normal. "Born and raised here" means this farm had the animal from the day it was born.

The farm did not give the animal growth hormones. It applies to beef and lamb.

Hormones are not allowed in pork or chicken in the US, so all pork and chicken is raised without them. That is why we only ask about it for beef and lamb.

The herd moves to a fresh patch of pasture every few days, so the grass can grow back.

It keeps the pasture healthy and the animals on fresh grass. Many grass-finished farms graze this way.

An older, traditional breed, like Tamworth pigs or Highland cattle. Often slower growing, with more flavor.

Heritage breeds were common before farming focused on fast growth. They usually take longer to raise, which is part of why they cost a bit more.