Quarter Beef—
Nuts & Bolts

We sell by the quarter, half, or whole. Because our processing is done on-ranch, it's sold direct under Oregon's personal-use exemption. Fresher beef, transparent pricing, and a real connection to the land it came from.

$3.50/lb
on the rail to the Ranch

Simple, Transparent Pricing

Pay by rail weight (hanging weight--how much the carcass alone weighs when the butcher loads it into the truck). Add about $2.50/lb for what happens during processing--hanging and water loss, the removal of the backbone and other non-edible parts--and the various butcher fees to Farmer's Helper--that's a straight pass-through. Your final cost probably works out to about $6.00 to $6.50 per pound in the package. Every cut--the same price.

You call Farmer's Helper in Harrisburg and tell them exactly how you want your beef: steak thickness, roast sizes, osso buco, how much stew meat or ground. The carcass is aged for 12 days, wrapped, labeled, and frozen with your name on it.

$3.25/lb for a whole beef · Minimum purchase: 1/4 beef
* Pricing is current as of 2026 but subject to change. Always confirm with Doug when you place your order.

Fill Your Chest Freezer

A quarter is about 90–100 lbs of packaged beef--enough to feed a family of four for 4 to 6 months. Need a freezer? Costco, 11 cubic feet--Doug checked.

Custom Cut for You

Every quarter is cut to your specifications. Want thick ribeyes and small roasts? More ground beef? Osso buco? You tell the butcher. It's your animal--you decide.

No Middleman, No Mystery

No grocery store markup, no mystery supply chain. Your ground beef comes from one animal--not 10 or 20 in a factory. You know exactly who raised it where, because you could drive out and visit.

2026 Processing Dates

Three Graduation Days This Year

Spring
May 29, 2026
$3.50/lb
+ ≈ $2.50/lb butcher fee
Summer
Jun 24, 2026
$3.50/lb
+ ≈ $2.50/lb butcher fee
Late Fall
Nov 28, 2026
$3.50/lb
+ ≈ $2.50/lb butcher fee

How It Works

It could not be simpler. No deposit necessary--just respond and we take care of the rest, along with Farmer's Helper.

  • 1
    Email or call Doug with your order--name, preferred processing date, and size (1/4, 1/2, or whole). That's it for now.
  • 2
    Processing day. We graduate 10 steers. Doug emails you the hanging weight and the amount owed to the Ranch.
  • 3
    You send a check to the Ranch, and call Farmer's Helper in Harrisburg with your cutting instructions--steak thickness, roast sizes, how much ground beef.
  • 4
    The beef hangs for up to 12 days to set up the flavor. Then they cut, wrap, label, and freeze it with your name on it.
  • 5
    You drive to Harrisburg, pay Farmer's Helper for their artistry, and transport your treasure home.

Reserve Your Beef

Online reservations are coming soon. For now, just reach out to Doug directly.

Call or Text: 541-359-9871 dmc197807@gmail.com

Just tell him your name, preferred date, and size (1/4, 1/2, or whole). That's it.

The Math

Why a chest freezer
is the best investment you'll make

Here's the thing about buying the whole animal: your ribeye costs the same per pound as your ground beef. At the supermarket, you'd pay $25.99 for the ribeye and $11.99 for the ground. From us, it's all around $6.

Live cattle futures just hit an all-time high of $227 per hundredweight. Supermarket beef is headed for $12/lb ground, $36/lb steaks. Doug's been saying it for years: steaks will be the new lobster. Meanwhile, our price hasn't changed since 2016.

CutGrocery StoreSSR
Ribeye steak$25.99/lb~$6.25/lb
NY strip$18.99/lb~$6.25/lb
Tenderloin / filet$34.99/lb~$6.25/lb
Roasts$12.99/lb~$6.25/lb
Ground beef$11.99/lb~$6.25/lb
Stew meat$9.99/lb~$6.25/lb

Grocery prices from Eugene area stores, 2025. SSR price based on $3.50/lb rail + ~$2.50/lb butcher.

What's in a Quarter?

About 90–100 lbs of packaged beef: roughly 27% steaks (ribeye, T-bone, sirloin, filet), 23% roasts (chuck, rump, brisket), and 50% ground beef & stew meat. You tell the butcher how you want it divided--more ground, more steaks, whatever your family eats.

Splitting a Quarter

Two families can easily split a quarter. Lay out the packages and divide them up like a pro sports draft--flip a coin to see who picks first. The famous steaks usually go early.

Need a Freezer?

Costco has a good chest freezer--11 cubic feet is plenty for a quarter beef, and you'll have room left over. A half or whole will need 15–20 cubic feet. Think of the freezer as an investment: it pays for itself in the first purchase.

The Whole Beef Math

A 900 lb steer hangs at ~475 lbs and yields about 323 lbs of packaged beef. At retail that's about $5,000 worth of meat. Your total cost from the Ranch + butcher: about $2,475. That's roughly half price for beef that's better than anything in a store.

Row of young calves with blue ear tags facing the camera
Something Different

Raise Your Own Calves

We currently calve about 45–50 each year and have 5–10 "excess" calves to adopt out. Weaned calves at 8–9 months, about 400 lbs each, and we try to offer a discount to market prices.

Ranch cattle come from a closed herd--they've never been medicated or pampered. They learn from an early age to be self-starters in the grazing arena. If you own or have access to fenced grazing pasture--you need two beeves at the least, they're social animals--get in touch.

Ask About Calves
Guardian dog on green pasture at Spencer Shadow Ranch
Something Different

Pet Food

Every year we find an older beef or two who have finished all of their tasks on the Ranch and who also need to "graduate." So far it has been very successful to sell an animal to a pet owner whose dog suffers from food allergies. We sell them at a very nice discount, and if you calculate the value of a high density, pure protein which is hypoallergenic and hyper nutritious, you will find that the comparative economics work out.

What's more, since the product is processed in the same way, you can also eat the steaks and process the bones into fantastic bone broth for humans.

Contact Doug for Pricing

Join the Beloved Clientele

Be the first to know when processing dates are set. No spam--just beef news.