Longhorn Beef
Today, more than ever, people are constantly looking for better alternatives than packing house store cut meat. The old days of the butcher shops where the beef producers saw every step of the process has gone to the way side. Now you buy meat at the grocery store, unaware of where it came from, unaware of the health of the animal, unaware of the care taken to produce the very food you're planning to put on your family's table.
At G&G Longhorns we're offering an opportunity to bring you back to the days of local homegrown beef with zero growth hormones or steroids. They are raised at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Madison County, Virginia. G&G Longhorns has been in operation for over 30 years and is dedicated to raising top quality Longhorns. Part of our program consists of raising Longhorns to the perfect age and size for tenderness and flavor.
Nutritional Facts
Longhorn is "the other red meat", much healthier than the beef is you bought at the grocery store. The beef tests lower in cholesterol and higher in protein, "also higher in vitamin A, CLAs and Omega 3 fatty acides, all crucial in reducing cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure" (http://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/11-18-12-09-50-longhorn-beef-its-whats-for-dinner-at-a-growing-number-of-houston-restaurants/#slide=0)
Cooking Tips
The one thing about Longhorn beef is it is much leaner than Angus. Because of that your cooking windows are much shorter than with an Angus steak. The most common problem is folks OVER cook the Longhorn and you'll hear them say "Longhorn is tough." Well, that's because they over cooked it. The best aged steak in the world is tough if you cook it wrong. So here are some tips to help ():
- Your Longhorn will cook 30-50% faster than Angus beef.
- You will prefer to eat your meat a little bit rarer than you are used to. What we mean is that you may look at it and say 'oh that's red, I like it pink'. Go ahead and try it red. You'll be surprised, if you cook it pink it'll probably taste a bit more done than you're use to.
- Medium and well done are not going to be the best showing of your Longhorn. Medium rare, or a light pink, is the most 'done' we recommend cooking our Longhorn to.
- Hamburgers, if you cook them as long as you're use to, will be dry and crumbly. Remember, as stated above there's not a lot of fat in them to insulate and increase the cooking time. The burgers WON't shrink on the grill and there'll be NO grease in the pan.
- Grass fed Longhorn should either be cooked hot and fast or low and slow.
How to buy our Longhorn beef
Cow Shares- Animals by the whole or by the 1/2 are for sale every month.
OR
Beef Bundles and Packages- We have multiple price points and packages on beef bundles and packages. From a combination of steaks and ground, something to fit every household.
Beef Bundles and Packages will be sold on a first come first serve basis and sells out fast! Keep up with us on Facebook and find out when we have beef coming in. We price them and list them as they come in.
OR
Retail- We have some beef in great locations like Yoder's in Madison, VA or Hunt Country Market in Charlottesville, VA. Stop by either of those locations and check them out.
Placing your order- Contact us for reserving your wholes and 1/2s. Reserving your beef will be on a first come first serve basis, you will need to put down a $100 deposit that is credited to your final payment. We have butcher dates set up every month so depending on when you put your reservation in will depend on the time frame. Once we take the animal to the processor it takes roughly 21 days until the beef is ready to be cut, wrapped, and frozen. This will be vacuumed wrapped and USDA Stamped.
The butcher will then give us the hanging weight of your portion (whole & 1/2) and you will be billed by G&G Longhorns. After we drop off the steer at the processor, Shawn will go over the cut sheet with you to make sure the beef gets cut exactly how you want it. A cut sheet will be available allowing you to chose the cuts and sizes that will be turned into the butcher. Once the meat is ready we'll pick it up, pay the processor, go through the beef to ensure it's all correctly cut, and set up a pick up time with you.
Reserve your side of beef now by calling Shawn Pequignot at 540-406-3155 or email at shawnpequignot@yahoo.com.
Preparing for your beef- Your beef will be wrapped and frozen when you pick it up. Make sure you bring coolers with you. IF PICKUP IS NOT AN OPTION CONTACT US WE CAN HELP WORK SOMETHING OUT. Please make sure your freezer is ready. You'll need about 1 cubic feet of space for every 30lbs of meat.
Longhorn Beef Pricing
Wholes & Halves
$5.50/lb on the hanging weight for a half
$5.50/lb on the hanging weight for a whole
*all this includes the processing fee.
1/2 beef- Will likely yield approximately 120-180/lbs
Whole beef- Will likely yield approximately 200-380/lbs
*Please note, the hanging weight and the approximate yield weight are not the same. During the butchering process the animals are de-boned.
Bundles and individual cuts are available on our website at www.G&Gtexaslonghorns.com
FAQ's
- Does Longhorn taste different? Yes, it's much leaner than other breeds of beef. Fat wise it's much more comparable to venison than it is other beef. Much of the fat on a longhorn is what is called trim fat, and there really isn't much of that either. Longhorn is incredibly lean.
- How should I prepare it? Check out our cooking tips section. With it being as lean as it is it's a common problem for people to OVERCOOK it.
- Why is Longhorn beef not more available? There are a couple simple economics reasons. 1) If you look at the markets, all beef breeds end with the outcome of meat on the table. All but Longhorns that is. While the Longhorn beef is extremely healthy and delicious the butchering side of the Longhorn market is usually the last market we touch. Our cattle are more profitable selling as seed stock to raise very marketable cattle for other programs. Our bulls and our steers are typically the only ones who become delicious heart healthy Longhorn beef. So about 30% of Longhorns are actually butchered compared to a much higher percentage of other beef breeds. 2) Longhorns do not gain weight as fast as the other beef breeds. Because of that they simply don't produce the pounds per head. Even though the meat is much healthier very few ranchers are willing to take the pay cut to raise Longhorns.
- Why should I buy local Longhorn beef? 1) It's the healthiest red meat you'll find. 2) It's all fed with zero growth hormones or steroids added. 3) You know exactly what you're getting. How do you know the beef you buy in the grocery store is Angus which it claims? The quality of Longhorn hamburger consists of some of the best parts of the cow where the quality of the grocery store hamburger consists of random scrap cuts they grind into a pile.
- Will you ship out of state? Our butcher is located in Bealton, VA. Depending on how far you're willing to drive or how much you're willing to pay our driver we will deliver anywhere.
- Is your beef organic? No, we are not certified organic as per the government's requirement. However, we do not use pesticides one our pastures, we feed all natural grass, hay, and feed.
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