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Each year when we are doing the books for the horses and looking out our window we wonder if the French have it right and we have it wrong.
To avoid any temptation, each year we have available a selection of organically raised cows. No growth hormones, no medications.
We arrange the entire process from farm to plate for you.
The fully boxed and wrapped meat is picked up by you at Agram Meats in Georgetown, Ontario. Accordingly this is a good idea for people in the Greater Toronto area though we have clients in London, Ontario.
This year we have available for sale six Herford X cows, which are expected to be ready for market in September 2007. At that time they will all be about 19 months old, which gives a nice balance between size and age. Two of the six are already spoken for by existing clients.
The process front to back is as follows and contact is with our farm as we organize all the other steps in the process. From experience, we have developed the following process which is relatively idiot proof:
You contact us by e-mail or phone,
You order your cow, sales are only by the 1⁄2 cow. A non-refundable deposit of $100.00 is required for each 1⁄2 cow reserved. Once the deposit is received your 1⁄2 cow is reserved for you.
One month before slaughter we e-mail you. We discuss with you the sizes of cows available and we select a cow based on the size of your family and the size you wish. Sizes for a whole cow generally vary between 600 and 1000lbs hanging weight.
We e-mail you when your cow ready for shipping to Agram Meats for packaging. The final payment is due at the time of shipping from the Farm to Agram Meats as all accounts are settled at that time so you may pick it up from Agram Meats.
Your Cow is shipped to Agram and hung for 21 days. This provides you with beautiful air chilled meat, not vacuum sealed as they do in the grocery store, which does not allow any moisture to evaporate during the aging process. Air hung meat has a richer beef flavour and texture.
During the 21 days, we e-mail you the cutting form where you indicate how you would like your cow cut. If no response is received Agram simply cuts in the ordinary course and you receive all bones and organs.
We e-mail you when Agram Meats is complete with its packaging.
Within 14 days you pick up the beef at Agram Meats. The beef is packaged and fully frozen for transport to your home.
Depending on the market rate for organic beef and the weight of the specific cow, the cost of a 1⁄2 cow varies between $1,400 and $1,700 picked up by you at Agram Meats.
There are no middle people in this transaction and Agram is a family owned and operated butchery and abattoir. When attending at Agram to pick up your beef order, don’t expect to leave without a trunk full of their fine meats and examples of classic charcuterie.
This is a very satisfying process to try to see if you like the result. It does not taste like grocery store beef and tends to have a better and richer taste. This is a result of how the cattle were raised, aged and cut, all three of which are handled with the greatest of care.
We do not like to have unsatisfied customers so we do caution people in advance: In a 1⁄2 cow there are many tender cuts and many not so tender cuts. We do not sell 1⁄4 cows as it does not give the notion of having received all the available cuts of the cow. There will be a lot of ground beef and lots of stewing beef. If you have not ordered a 1⁄2 cow before, it reduces to about 5 boxes and you would be wise to have an entire full size freezer available or lots of friends to immediately divide it up.
When you initially contact us we can forward references of existing customers who have been with us for 5 years.
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