Why we don't sell tallow

Tallow is rendered beef fat — usually from suet, the firm fat around the kidneys. To make a clean, shelf-stable tallow you need a meaningful volume of that suet fat. A grain-finished commodity steer carries plenty of it. A Piedmontese steer doesn't.

The myostatin mutation that makes Piedmontese beef so lean also means the animals don't deposit much intramuscular or kidney fat. We asked our processor about rendering tallow from a Piedmontese carcass, and the answer was straightforward: there isn't enough fat to make it worth doing.

So rather than sell a token quantity of mediocre tallow, we don't sell tallow at all. If you want to render your own tallow for high-heat cooking, fries, baking, or skincare, the cleanest local source is a grain-finished Angus animal from another Magic Valley rancher — there are plenty in the area who'd be happy to set aside suet for you. Ask at your local locker plant or a county farmer's market.