Cuts · Bulk Share
Whole Beef Share
Reserve a whole pasture-raised Piedmontese animal — ~500 lb of take-home cuts, custom-butchered to your cut sheet. The best per-lb value Spring Lake offers.
$500.00 deposit
~500 lb take-home cuts · custom cut sheet · Magic Valley pickup
How the whole-share works
Buying a whole is the same process as a half — just twice the beef and the best per-lb rate we offer. Here's exactly how the money and timing work.
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1 · Reserve with a $500 deposit
Click Add to Cart and check out for $500. That deposit locks in an entire animal on our next harvest. It's credited against your final balance — not an extra fee.
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2 · Submit your cut sheet
We send a cut-sheet form covering steak thicknesses, roast sizes, ground-beef pack sizes, organs, and bones. You have 72 hours to respond once the butcher reaches out — if you don't, the butcher uses standard defaults to keep the harvest moving.
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3 · We harvest + the butcher hangs the carcass
On harvest day the animal goes to our USDA-inspected processor. Whole carcass hangs for 14–21 days for the full dry-age flavor — bigger carcasses age beautifully and this is one of the reasons a whole tastes better than a half. The butcher reports the hanging weight when ready to cut.
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4 · Balance invoice based on hanging weight
We invoice the balance at $5 / hanging-weight pound (the whole rate is a buck per pound cheaper than the half rate), minus your $500 deposit. A typical whole hangs around 700–800 lb, so the balance lands around $3,000–$3,500. Paid before cuts are released.
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5 · Butcher cut-and-wrap fee (paid to butcher)
The butcher's labor for a whole runs ~$1,000–$1,200, paid directly at pickup. Roughly double the half-share rate because they're cutting twice as much. Separate from the deposit + balance and not collected by Spring Lake.
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6 · Pickup at Twin Falls, Burley, or Rupert
A whole fills 12–15 cubic feet of freezer space — make sure you have the room before you book. Bring multiple coolers for the drive home; everything is fully frozen, but you don't want it sitting unrefrigerated for hours.
A worked-example total cost
For a whole that hangs at 750 lb — typical Spring Lake weight — here's what you actually pay, start to finish.
Per-lb cost on the take-home cuts (~500 lb of finished, wrapped beef from a 750 lb hanging weight): roughly $9–$10 / lb across every cut. That's the best per-lb rate we offer — about $2/lb less than a half-share, and $10–$35/lb less than the grocery-store equivalents.
What you'll typically take home
Final mix depends on your cut sheet — these are typical quantities for a standard whole cut sheet, around 500 lb of finished, wrapped beef.
| Category | Typical amount | |
|---|---|---|
| Steaks | ~100–120 lb | |
| Roasts | ~80–100 lb | |
| Ground beef | ~160–200 lb | |
| Short ribs & stew | ~20–30 lb | |
| Bones & offal | opt-in | |
| Total finished weight | ~500 lb of wrapped, frozen beef | |
All amounts ±10%. The cut sheet you submit dictates the final mix. A whole gives you the complete set of premium cuts vs the partial set in a half.
Freezer space — confirm before you book
A whole is a lot of beef. Make sure you have the freezer space before you put down a deposit — we'd rather you split with a neighbor than try to cram it in.
A whole-share fits in:
- · A 15–20 cu ft chest freezer (the "big chest freezer in the garage" size) with some room to spare
- · Two 7 cu ft chest freezers side by side, full to the brim
- · An upright freezer 14+ cu ft with most of the prior contents cleared out
Won't fit:
- · One 7 cu ft chest freezer — close, but not all of it
- · Any kitchen fridge/freezer combo — not even half a whole-share
- · An upright freezer under 10 cu ft
A common move: buy a whole, split it with one other household. Each family ends up with the equivalent of a half-share at the whole-share per-lb rate. Talk to us — we can sometimes coordinate the splits ourselves.
Bulk-share FAQ
Why is the per-lb rate cheaper than a half?
Same harvest, same butcher, same logistics — but a whole moves twice the beef through the same fixed-cost steps. We pass that savings to whole-share buyers as the lower $5/lb hanging-weight rate (vs $6/lb for half).
Can I split a whole across multiple households?
Yes — and it's a great way to get whole-share pricing on half-share quantities. The butcher can package separate cut sheets for separate households if you coordinate ahead of the cut-sheet window. We issue one invoice for the whole; you handle the split among households.
What if I miss the 72-hour cut-sheet window?
The butcher proceeds with a sensible default cut sheet — standard steak thicknesses, 1 lb ground packs, the typical mix of roasts, no bones or organs. We'd rather not stall the harvest waiting on the cut sheet, so the default kicks in automatically at 72h.
Why does the butcher fee double from a half to a whole?
The butcher charges by labor — they're cutting twice as many steaks, wrapping twice as many packages, freezing twice the volume. Roughly double the work, roughly double the fee. It's not a Spring Lake markup; it goes directly to them.
How long does the beef stay good in the freezer?
Vacuum-sealed and kept at 0 °F: ground beef stays best for 4–6 months, steaks and roasts hold up beautifully for 8–12 months, and many people eat well past that with no noticeable quality loss. Plan to work through your whole in 18–24 months and you'll never see freezer burn.
Reserve your whole-share
$500 holds your spot on the next harvest. Balance invoiced after the butcher reports the hanging weight. A whole is a real commitment — talk to us before you book if you'd like to walk through it together.