Plain-spoken posts about pricing, processors, cut sheets, hanging weight, and selling meat direct from the farm. Written for farmers and the customers who buy from them.
Buying a half cow or a whole hog for the first time? Start here.
Hanging weight is how meat is priced when you buy a half cow direct from a farm. Here's what the number means and what you actually take home.
A half hog hangs around 90 to 110 pounds. After cutting, you take home roughly 65 to 80 pounds of pork. Here's the cut-by-cut breakdown.
A quarter beef runs $700 to $900 all-in and fills about 4 cubic feet of freezer. Here's what the cuts look like and how to decide if it's right for you.
What a cut sheet is, why farms use them, and the choices you'll need to make before your half hog or quarter beef goes to the cooler.
A half cow needs 8 cubic feet of freezer. A half hog needs 4 to 5. Here's how to size a freezer for a meat share and what to avoid.
Pasture-raised meat costs more because the animals take longer, eat less corn, and process at smaller scale. Here's the per-pound breakdown.
Grass-fed and grass-finished are not the same label. Here's the difference, why it matters, and which questions to ask any farm.
Frozen direct-from-farm meat thaws differently than grocery meat. Here's how to do it without ruining your steaks or sausage.
A whole hog is 150 to 180 pounds of pork and a $1,500+ commitment. Here are the 10 questions to ask any farm before you sign on.
Coolers, cash, and a clear truck bed. Here's exactly what to bring to a meat-share pickup so it goes smoothly.
Salad-bar beef is Joel Salatin's term for cattle that graze rotationally through a diverse pasture. Here's what it means and why it matters.
Forest-raised hogs root through woodlots eating acorns, roots, and forage. Here's what the term means and why this pork tastes different.
The word 'pastured' on a meat label has no legal definition. Here's what it actually means in practice, and how to ask the right questions.
Pricing, processors, retention, and the business of selling meat direct.
USDA-inspected lockers are booked 6 to 18 months out. Here's how small farms secure processing slots and what to do if you can't get one.
Real numbers from a real small farm: cost to raise a hog, what the half-hog price needs to be, and how to defend that price to customers.
Direct-to-consumer ground beef pricing in 2026: what the market supports, what your cost structure demands, and how to price for repeat customers.
Customers cancel beef shares at the last minute. Here's how to use deposits, deadlines, and communication to keep your harvest schedule intact.
The legal difference between custom-exempt and USDA-inspected meat sales, and which model fits a small direct-to-consumer farm.
The 1,000-bird poultry exemption lets small farms slaughter on-farm and sell direct. Here's the law, the limits, and how to run within them.
A public waitlist isn't an apology for being out of stock. It's the single best marketing and operations tool a small farm has.
Customer acquisition is expensive. Customer retention is the difference between a hobby farm and a real business. Three retention plays that work.
Most farm About pages read like a mission statement. Here's what to put on yours instead, and why it changes who buys from you.
Barn2Door's pricing has pushed many small farms to look elsewhere. Here's the checklist for evaluating storefront software for a direct-to-consumer meat farm.
Joel Salatin's Polyface farm is the most influential small-farm model in America. Here's how it works and what it teaches a new farmer.
Stockman Grass Farmer is the trade publication that built the grass-fed beef movement in America. Here's why it still matters in 2026.