Reserve Your Wholes & Halves

That’s what most people call it, and we know what you mean. But technically, no. The difference is worth knowing before you buy beef from anyone.

A cow is a female that has already had a calf. A bull is an intact male. Both are mature animals, and when they’re processed the beef almost always goes into lean ground product. There’s nothing wrong with that. It just isn’t steak beef.

We don’t process cows or bulls. We process heifers and steers at 24 to 30 months old. That means young females that have never calved, and castrated males. It’s the age window where you get the marbling, the tenderness and the flavor people are actually paying for.

So when you buy a half from us, you’re buying half a heifer or half a steer. Most folks will keep saying “half a cow,” and that’s fine. But if you’re comparing us against another operation, it’s a fair question to ask them: what animal, and how old?

Expect to take home 65% to 75% of the hanging weight. For a half hanging at 400 to 450 lbs, that’s roughly 260 to 340 lbs of finished, vacuum-sealed meat. A whole hanging at 800 to 900 lbs comes home at roughly 520 to 675 lbs.

First, you pay on hanging weight, which is the carcass weight before it’s cut. What you carry out is take-home weight, and it’s always less, because bone, trim and the moisture lost during our 21 days of dry aging don’t come home with you.

Second, and this is the part most people don’t realize, your own cut sheet decides where you land in that range.

• Bone-in cuts raise your yield. Bone-in ribeyes, T-bones, porterhouses, short ribs and soup bones all come home with the bone attached, and that bone is weight.
• Boneless everything lowers it. Ask for every steak boneless and every roast trimmed close, and you’ll land nearer 65%, but what you get is all edible meat.
• Keeping the extras raises it. Soup bones, tallow, beef bacon and variety meats all add weight if you want them back. With a whole or half, they’re yours either way.

Neither end is better. We’ll talk it through when we do your cut sheet.

Rough rule: one cubic foot per 35 to 40 lbs of packaged beef.

• A boxed 1/8 (about 50 lbs) needs roughly 1.5 cubic feet. That fits in most ordinary kitchen freezers.
• A boxed 1/4 (about 100 lbs) needs roughly 3 cubic feet, which is a small chest freezer.
• A half (about 260 to 340 lbs) needs roughly 7 to 10 cubic feet, or a mid-size chest freezer.
• A whole beef (about 520 to 675 lbs) needs 13 to 19 cubic feet.

Don’t count your refrigerator’s freezer compartment. Plan on dedicated space, and have it running cold before pickup day.

If you’re not sure you have the room, start with a quarter or an eighth. Plenty of our regulars did exactly that, then moved up once they knew they’d use it.

The advanced cut sheet is the whole point of buying a whole or a half. It’s what separates this from a beef box showing up at your door.

Custom cutting applies to wholes and halves only. Our boxed quarters and eighths come pre-cut in a set selection.

Before processing, we sit down with you and go through it. Advanced means it isn’t a tick-box of grocery-store cuts. It opens up the whole animal, including cuts most people have never been offered:

• Steak thickness, and how many to a package
• Bone-in or boneless, cut by cut: ribeyes, T-bones, porterhouses
• Roasts versus more ground beef
• Brisket whole, or cut down
• What happens to trim: ground beef, stew meat, or a mix
• Specialty steaks most butcher counters never carry: picanha, tri-tip, Denver and Delmonico
• Soup bones, tallow, beef bacon and variety meats kept back for you

If you’ve never filled one out, we’ll walk you through it. Most people call and we do it together in about fifteen minutes. There are no wrong answers, just preferences. We’ll tell you honestly what most families end up wishing they’d done differently.

You get everything. When you buy a whole or a half, that animal is yours, not just the cuts that sell easily. This is the biggest difference between buying a whole or half and buying a beef box.

• Tongue, heart, cheek and oxtail. These make the best braises, barbacoa and stock you’ll ever cook.
• Liver and kidney.
• Tallow, which we can render for you, for cooking or for skincare.
• The navel, which we can turn into beef bacon.
• Soup bones, for stock.

If you don’t want the variety meats, that’s fine, just say so. But we’d encourage you to try them at least once. They’re free in the sense that you’ve already paid for them, and they’re the cuts that turn people into cooks.

This applies to wholes and halves. Boxed quarters and eighths don’t include the variety meats.

F1 Wagyu runs $10/lb hanging weight. It’s Wagyu crossed with our Angus base. Heavier marbling, richer flavor, more forgiving on the grill.

Hooser Reserve runs $9/lb hanging weight. Most of the time it’s Angus crossed with Hereford. Sometimes it’s Brangus, and sometimes it’s pure Angus. Cleaner, more traditional beef flavor and slightly leaner cuts.

Both are raised on our ranch here in Italy, Texas, both are heifers and steers processed at 24 to 30 months, both dry age 21 days, and both are cut to your sheet. You aren’t choosing between good and better. You’re choosing a flavor profile.

Half: $1,200. Whole: $2,500. Both are non-refundable deposits.

The deposit is due before we write up your cut sheet if we already have beef hanging at the processor, or before the animal goes to the processor if we don’t.

Your deposit applies to your balance. It isn’t an extra fee. The remaining balance is calculated on actual hanging weight and is due at pickup.

It’s non-refundable because once your animal is committed and cut to your sheet, that beef is yours and can’t be sold to anyone else.

• 21 days dry aging
• Advanced cut sheet consultation
• Custom cutting to your order
• Processing
• Vacuum-sealed packaging
• Flash freezing
• Collection from the processor. We handle that, not you.

No separate processing bill. The per-pound hanging weight price is the price.

Roughly two to four weeks from order to pickup, depending on whether we have beef hanging at the time and how busy the processor is. If you’re buying for a specific occasion, give us a call and we’ll tell you honestly what’s realistic.

You never have to deal with the processor. Collecting your beef from them is part of what you’re paying for. We handle that leg ourselves and call you when your order is ready.

Most customers pick up at the ranch store, 2408 Hamrock Rd, Italy, TX 76651. It’s an easy drive from Waxahachie, Ennis, Corsicana, Midlothian, Hillsboro and most of south DFW. We’re open Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 3:30pm. After hours and weekends are by appointment.

Your beef comes boxed and already frozen, so you don’t need to bring anything with you. You’re welcome to bring coolers for a big order if you’d rather.

We can deliver. If you don’t want to make the drive out, call us and we’ll get it scheduled.

Per pound, yes, and meaningfully so, especially on the premium cuts. You’re paying one per-pound price across the whole animal, so your ribeyes and tenderloins effectively cost the same as your ground beef.

The honest caveat: you’re paying it all at once, and you’re getting the whole animal, not just the cuts you’d have picked at a counter. That’s a feature if you cook a variety of ways, and a drawback if your family only eats steak.

Start smaller with a boxed quarter or boxed eighth. These work differently from wholes and halves, and it’s worth knowing the difference before you order.

Boxed quarters and eighths come pre-cut in a set selection of cuts, at a set weight. There’s no cut sheet, so you don’t choose the cuts, the thickness or the packaging, and they don’t include the variety meats. What you get is a straightforward box of great beef.

• Boxed 1/8, about 50 lbs. Hooser Reserve $800. Wagyu $900.
• Boxed 1/4, about 100 lbs. Hooser Reserve $1,500. Wagyu $1,600.

Unlike wholes and halves, boxed quarters and eighths are eligible for Free Beef Friday. A lot of customers start with an eighth, find out how fast it goes, and come back for a half next time, when they can have it cut their way.