MARTSON FARM

How we sell quarter, halves and whole animals changed as a result of the pandemic. Food insecurity put tremendous pressure on processing plants - including the ones we use. Our plant told us that in order to operate at maximum efficiency they no longer would accept custom cutting instructions for animals processed after a certain date. Instead, all of our animals would have to be cut in accord with what would become “standard” cutting instructions which the plant and we would agree upon. In response, we immediately met with the plant’s owners and agreed on “standard” cutting instructions. We then studied 17 animals that we had processed using those instructions before they applied to every animal we took in. We logged in every piece of product each animal produced and calculated the percentage of that animal's hanging weight each cut  (e.g. top sirloin steak) represented. Then we took the arithmetic average of those percentages for each cut. We then calculated what hanging weight would produce 100 lbs of product for a quarter. The answer was 525 lbs - which is the hanging weight we now use for purposes of calculating how many pounds of each cut go into a quarter, half or whole purchase. The charts which contain those volumes and which we use to put together quarter, half and whole purchases are attached to this website as PDFs.

A good-sized Highland animal weighs 800 to 950 lbs (Live Weight) and produces between 400 and 525 lbs. Hanging Weight.
 
Martson Farm charges $6.50/lb Hanging Weight
 
You also pay   A. Your % (1/4, 1/2, or all) of the $140 Slaughter Fee
                        B. Cutting & Wrapping your order at $1.30/lb Hanging Weight