Hammerstead Happenings - August 2004

USDA Inspected Beef and Chicken

We have some news and no mistake: we now process our beef and chicken in USDA inspected facilities! While this is a slightly more costly option, it gives us the ability to deliver our meat products nationwide!

I am in the process of putting together a sales page on the website - in the meantime, here's a sample of what we'll be offering:

Our chickens are pastured, free range birds, mostly of the Cornish cross variety. They are simply delicious. Chickens are available whole or cut up, and range in weight from 3.5 lbs. to 6 lbs. We charge $3/lb. for whole and $3.50/lb. for cut.

Our Highlands are grass fed, with no hormones, antibiotics or other artifical feed additives. Some of the feeders we buy have been grained as well - this will add a better marbling to some of the staek cuts, but we always finish on grass to avoid the buildup of back fat. Highland beef is much leaner than standard Angus or Shorthorn beef.

Our basic price is $5/lb. for purchases of a quarter or more of the cow. A quarter of a Highland beef is roughly 100 to 125 pounds of meat, or between $500 and $600. The table below will give you an idea of what's in a typical "short" (approx. 100 lb.) quarter - each package is weighed separately, and the price per pound of each cut is also shown if you don't wish to purchase a whole quarter:

Shipping is, of course, extra. If you order 200 pounds or more of beef or chicken or any combination thereof, I'll personally deliver it anywhere in the contential US for an extra $1 per pound - between 100 and 200 pounds, it's an extra $2 per pound. If you have a freezer and can find a couple of friends to split the purchase with, it can be quite effective. You can get a six month supply (for the typical family of four) of quality, grass fed beef for about $3 a day! Less than that we'll have to ship via overnight air, in an insulated container that's yours to keep. Contact us for orders or details.

Fleece Repricing

We've not had nearly as much success this year selling fleeces online as we did last year. The quality is the same (heck, the sheep are the same) but this year we tried to carefully weigh and photograph each fleece, and price them individually, whereas last year we simply sold them for $10 each. The photographs didn't turn out too well: it's tough to find a good background for raw wool, and the prices we set this year, were, I believe, too high. I think we were on the right track last year.

Therefore, as of today, we're rearranging our website to reflect new pricing: $20 each for Suffolk/Mixed fleeces, and $22 each for Blackface fleeces. These new prices include shipping and handling: no need for complicated formulas to figure out how much each one will cost. We've combined the fleeces that were under 4 pounds to make a nice, uniform 5 pound package.

So, basically, our fleece is available for $2 per pound - you can specify the species (Suffolk/Mixed or Blackface) and the color on the Suffolks - dark or light. We have about 30 fleeces still available, so get in touch today to order yours!

Livestock

It was a good spring at Hammerstead, and consequently we have some livestock for sale. We have a total of twelve Scottish Blackface lambs available, 9 ewes and 3 rams. All these animals are friendly, and are not adverse to being handled. There could all be registered with the breed association: we just haven't spent the money on doing that as we don't show them. Individually, we'd like $150 each for the ewe lambs and $100 for the ram lambs, but if you want a 'flock in a large three dimensional quadrilateral', we'll sell three ewes and a ram for $500. We'll even deliver anywhere in the contential US for an additional $300.

Other Stuff

Thank you for your time, and we hope to hear from you soon!

Dave Haxton
Hammerstead Farms
8241 W St Rd 32
Thorntown, IN 46071
http://www.hammerstead.com/