How to Order

How much to order is based on your family size and your beef consumption. Remember that you want your order to last through the entire year. Personally, our family of four, with lots of guests, eats the equivalent of a Whole Beef every year.

Quarter: Typically a Quarter would be enough for a small family of light beef eaters. Approximately 3-4 boxes averaging around 110lbs of beef. You will need a small deep freeze. Our Quarters are mixed-Quarters, meaning that you are getting exactly half of a half of beef, some cuts from the hind end and some from the front. Our Quarters come in 2 semi-custom cutting options.

Side: Also known as a Half of Beef, a Side is suitable for a family of 4-6 who are regular beef eaters.  A Side usually comes in 6-8 butcher boxes. You can expect about 220lbs of beef. A small to medium deep freeze is recommended.  Custom cutting is offered with a Side. An online cutting form sent out when your beef is processed makes cut selection easy. If you want more advice, the butcher will talk you through the process of customizing your beef to suit your needs.

Whole: A Whole Beef is perfect for a family who loves their beef, and like us, does a lot of entertaining.  Also consider a Whole Beef for splitting with friends or family. A Whole Beef is a good choice if you would like to have sausages, hamburger patties and jerky made with your order without sacrificing the other cuts. The average yield will be 12-16 boxes, approximately 480 lbs of finished beef.

Beef price is based on wet hanging weight, butchering fees apply on top of this price they are listed on the order forms.

Quarter (approximately 150-225 lbs wet weight) $6.25/pound  ~Roughly $1400 total including butchering and a $20 ranch administrative fee.

Side (approximately 300-450 pounds wet weight)$6.25/pound ~Roughly $2700 total including butchering.

Whole Beef (approximately 600-900 pounds wet weight)$6.25/pound ~Roughly $5400 total including butchering.

Our beef is sold by the wet hanging weight.  This is sometimes also called the “hot weight,” “rail weight, or “carcass weight.”  It is the weight provided by the butcher after the carcass is hung to begin the dry aging process.  This is the most accurate way to price bulk beef.

When you purchase Trail’s End Beef you are literally receiving a portion of a particular animal.  Our Whole carcasses range between 600-900 lbs wet hanging weight. You may request an approximate size upon ordering.  The weight of beef you receive will be less than the wet hanging weight.  This is called “shrink.”  Shrinkage on an average prime carcass is around  40%-45%.  The “yield” will be approximately 60% of the wet hanging weight.  A 400lb wet hanging weight will yield approximately 240lb of beef. The shrinkage  depends on the amount of moisture lost during the dry-aging process, the amount of external fat trimmed off, and how you have the beef custom cut.  De-boning the steaks makes for greater weight loss. For example, choosing New York Strip steaks instead of T-Bone steaks, will reduce the total weight, but not the total amount of meat.

Make sure to take advantage of all the nutritious and tasty “extras”- Heart, Tongue, Kidney, Liver, Suet, and Soup Bones -these are not weighed as part of the carcass weight.

All Trail’s End Beef is processed, cut and wrapped by Prairie Meats in Coaldale, AB.  Our beef is provincially inspected at this immaculate, professional facility. We are confident that our ideals of humane animal handling are shared with the team at Prairie Meats. They are certified as an Animal Welfare Approved processing plant, recognizing that they go above industry standards to ensure that each animal’s death, like its life, is handled as respectfully and humanely as possible.

When you order a Side or Whole Beef it will be custom cut to your specifications. Cutting instructions are done through an online platform that gives you a detailed explanation of every cut. You will receive the cutting instruction form by email from the butcher on, or shortly after, your processing date.  If you would like direction the butcher will be pleased to talk over your choices by phone.  Each cut is wrapped and labelled, and the frozen beef is delivered in boxes labelled with your name.

Butchering Fees apply to all orders. See order forms for current pricing. The team at Prairie Meats provides exceptional customer service. Call them for info pertaining specifically to cutting and wrapping at (403) 345-2190 or email admin@prairiemeatsltd.ca.

The identity of each animal and carcass is systematically traced from birth through to the freezer.  All of our cattle are raised at Trail’s End, or by select ranches in our area who share our production values. Each ranch keeps records that detail every stage of an animal’s life. Within days of birth, calves are tagged with a “visible ID tag.” This identification number corresponds with its mother, and additionally contains a letter that represents the year it was born.  For example, the calf born to Cow #93 in 2015 was tagged 93C. Additionally, each animal is tagged with a radio frequency CCIA tag registered with the government.  This age verification process produces an official “Birth Certificate” that goes to the processing plant for the inspector to review.

Our professional, artisan butchers keep immaculate records that correspond with our own.  Together we can trace each piece of beef and match it to our customer records at a moment’s notice.  Indeed when we taste-test our steaks we reference the Butcher number, then the ranch tag number and note the day it was butchered and what pasture it came from. This is beef that has a story from pasture to plate.