YourRancher

1. How is my beef packaged?

The beef is dry aged for 2 weeks at 35 degrees then cut into portion sizes in vacuum-sealed state-of-the-art cryovac vacuum packags. This airless environment ensures high quality and long shelf life in your freezer. The beef will arrive at your door in well-insulated foam shipping containers.

2. How do I order?

Follow the instructions to order online or call toll free 1-866-392-1510. We also encourage people who are close by to come visit. We like to know our customers.

3. When will orders be shipped?

We ship Monday or Tuesday for 2 day delivery and use FedEx or UPS as the carrier.

4. Can I pick up the meat?

Yes, we encourage people to check us out, to come see what we are about, to save a little shipping money, and to feel this special place. If you have children, there are usually some animals around or we can plan a little education class for home schoolers.

5. Where are you located?

Shudde Ranch is south of Sabinal, Texas. There is one red light in Sabinal at the intersection of Highway 90 and FM 187. Go south on FM 187 for 10.5 miles. Turn right into our lane which has a small Shudde Ranch sign. There is also a "Sabinal River" sign just before our lane, and if you cross the river, you just went too far!

6. What size styrofoam containers are used?

The best container is one that holds 22 to 26 lbs. of beef. This amount of frozen meat ships the best and saves you money. In the hotter months we will add frozen jell packs to ensure that the order reaches you frozen.

7. Where is the beef processed?

Uvalde Meat Processing in Uvalde, TX, which is a USDA inspected facility. They do a tremendous job for us.

8. Can orders be custom made?

Not when the beef is shipped. We offer the variety pack and other packs on the order page to save you money. If you can come by the ranch, we can customize your order with whatever cuts we have on hand.

9. How much freezer space is needed?

One cubic foot of freezer space will hold approximately 20 to 25 pounds of meat. This is about half of the freezer above an ordinary refrigerator.

10. What cooking preparations are needed?

It is always best to thaw frozen beef in the refrigerator, and one pound takes about 24 hours. We know that in our culture today, a family does not know what they are going to have to eat until about 2 hours before mealtime. Therefore, this meat can be thawed under dripping water and is ready to cook in about 10 to 15 minutes. It then takes less than 8 minutes to cook, so we suggest you have every thing ready to eat when you put the beef on the heat. I like to say this is "nutritious fast food" because it can be prepared quicker than you can go to the fast food restaurant and get served. (Because this beef cooks faster than other beef, it can be over cooked, dried out and turn tough if you leave it on the heat too long.)

11. What is the risk of E-coli or other pathogens in this beef?

The chance of other germs getting in the meat would be extremely rare for two reasons. It is all from one animal and extreme care is taken in the processing by one person doing it.

Also, because these cattle are eating what evolution has designed cattle to eat (that is, grass), their digestive system is healthy and does not contain the "bad" strain of E-coli that makes humans sick. Tests have shown that grass fed cattle are 99.9% free of e-coli.

12. Isn’t Longhorn meat tough?

Gosh NO! The first one we ate was a 6-year-old cow, and it was amazing how tender it was. We then had several samples done from a random picking of steers and had A&M check it for tenderness. On their Werner-Bratzer test, it all rated extremely tender.