Beef Share — Whole, Half & Quarter (Marin Sun Farms)

Reserve a share of a whole animal. California grass-fed or certified organic beef from Marin Sun Farms in Petaluma — butchered, vacuum-sealed and frozen at their own USDA-inspected plant, then brought to Modesto for you to pick up at 429 McHenry Ave.

What you pay

Beef is priced per pound of hanging weight — the weight of the chilled carcass before it is cut. That price is all-in: the beef, the butchering, the cut and wrap, the vacuum sealing and the freezing. There is no separate butcher bill.

You are paying a 50% deposit today. The balance is calculated on your share's actual hanging weight and is due at pickup — no two animals finish at exactly the same weight, so the totals above are estimates, not quotes.

Rear quarter or front quarter?

Neither one is the leftover — they are two different kinds of cooking.

Rear is the premium-steak end: tenderloin (filet), New York strip, T-bone and porterhouse, sirloin, tri-tip, flank, rump and round roasts, plus ground.

Front is the smoking and slow-cooking end: ribeye and prime rib, chuck roasts and steaks, brisket, short ribs, shank, and a great deal more ground beef.

The ribeye lives in the front quarter; the filet and the strip live in the rear. A front quarter also hangs heavier — about 200 lb against 160 — so at the same price per pound you take home roughly 25% more beef for the money. Take the rear if you grill steaks. Take the front if you smoke, braise and live on ground beef.

How much beef do you actually take home?

Marin Sun Farms reports a packaged yield of 70–77% of hanging weight, depending on how the animal was finished and how you fill out the cut sheet — ask for bone-in steaks and soup bones and you land near the top; ask for everything boneless and closely trimmed and you land near the bottom.

That last figure is what the beef really costs once it is in your freezer — averaged across ribeye, tenderloin, roasts and ground alike.

Offal is not included

Organ meats — liver, heart, kidney, tongue — along with the head, tail and feet are removed at the plant. They are not in your box and their weight is not in the hanging weight you are billed on. Ask us separately if you want them.

How it works

1. You reserve. Choose your share, fill in the cut sheet below, and pay the 50% deposit.
2. We order. Shares are ordered in batches so several customers ship on one pallet — this is how we keep the price where it is. We will tell you the cutoff date for the next run.
3. We weigh and call. Once your share is butchered we know the exact hanging weight and your final total.
4. You pick up. Pay the balance and load out — boxed, sealed, frozen and labeled. Bring coolers.

Lead time is roughly two to three weeks from the batch cutoff. Deposits are credited in full against your balance and are refundable until the order is placed with the ranch. Pickup is in store — we do not ship beef.