Questions we get every week

You won't know to the dollar until the locker weighs it, but you'll know within about 10%: $1,064–$1,355 for a quarter, with most landing around $1,200. The deposit is fixed ($250), and you see the exact balance two weeks before you pay it. The pricing page shows every line.

Cut sheets. A quarter gets our standard mix (we can't cut one steer four different ways). A half or whole gets a fully custom sheet: steak thickness, roast weight, bone-in or boneless, how much ground vs. stew, whether you want the brisket, organs and bones. If you have strong opinions, buy a half — or buy a half with a friend and agree on the sheet together.

Yes, and most halves and wholes are split. Reserve under one name, list the other households in the notes, and we invoice each separately for their portion. The locker boxes each portion with its own labels. No extra charge; the only rule is one cut sheet per half.

Fully refundable up to 14 days before the processing date. Inside 14 days we can move your deposit to any later date, but can't refund it — by then the animal is sorted and the locker slot is committed. If we have to cancel or bump you (it happens, maybe once a year when a steer isn't finished), you get a full refund or first pick of the next date.

When you collect. The invoice goes out the day after processing; beef is ready about two weeks later. Pay by card through the link in the invoice, or check or cash at the farm, locker or truck. Beef doesn't leave until the balance is paid — not a trust thing, just how we keep the books straight across 60 shares a month.

Less fat, so less margin for error. Thaw fully in the fridge (a steak takes a day, a roast two), bring it to room temperature, use a hot pan or grill for a shorter time, and pull it 5°F earlier than you think — 125°F for medium-rare, it climbs while it rests. Roasts and braises: lower and slower than the recipe says. Ground beef at 85/15 behaves like any good ground beef. Every share comes with a one-page cooking card.

The carcass hangs in the locker's cooler for two weeks before cutting. Enzymes tenderise the muscle and some moisture evaporates, concentrating flavour. Supermarket beef is typically cut within a few days and "wet-aged" in plastic. Dry-aging is part of why you lose weight between hanging and take-home, and part of why it's worth it.

Vacuum-sealed and kept at 0°F: 18–24 months with no loss in quality. We've eaten two-year-old steaks that were fine. Ground beef is best inside 12 months. If a seal fails (you'll see frost inside the pack), use that one first.

No certification, on purpose. Everything we do is on the How we raise page and you're welcome to come and check it against the pasture. The audit fees would add roughly 20 cents a pound and we'd rather not pass that on for a sticker.

Yes — on shares, ask for them on the cut sheet and they come at no extra charge (except tallow rendering, $12). In the freezer store, liver, heart, tongue, oxtail, marrow bones and soup bones are priced per pound, and they do sell out.

A quarter needs 3–3.5 cubic feet, a half 6–7, a whole 12–14. A fridge-top freezer, empty, just holds a quarter. There's a calculator on the beef page and a full table on the pricing page. A new 7 cu ft chest freezer is $200–$280 and runs for about $3 a month.

Three options: the farm store (any store hours), Fjelstad Locker in Cresco (halves and wholes only), or one of 12 monthly drop points from Rochester to West Union. See Pickup & delivery for the schedule. Shares ride the routes free.

No. It leaves the truck at about –10°F in a sealed box. Three or four hours in a closed vehicle in any Iowa weather is fine. In July throw a blanket over it. You don't need coolers for a quarter; for a half, boxes or laundry baskets make carrying easier.

Call the truck number from your text — if you're within five minutes we'll wait. Otherwise it goes back in the farm freezer at no charge and you can collect at the store or on the next month's route.

Yes. Bundle boxes are fixed-price and need no deposit; the freezer store sells everything by the pound. Both ride the routes with a $40 minimum.

Same system as beef: $4.10 per pound hanging weight plus the locker's processing. A half hog hangs around 95 lb and comes to about $524 all-in for about 65 lb of pork. Smoking and curing bacon and hams adds about $0.95/lb on those cuts. Worked example on the pork page.

Four batches a summer, ready mid-June, mid-July, mid-August and mid-September. Pre-orders open March 1 with a $5 per bird deposit and usually sell out by May. Frozen birds are in the farm store until they're gone, typically by December.

Yes, as a standing order: tell us how many dozen and which drop point, and they're on the truck monthly. Eggs are short in January and February; standing orders get filled first.