Shirley | Hand Sourced | How to Buy a Cow
Brisbane’s Hand Sourced Provedore | Better food, naturally
Aussies are big meat eaters. And much of it is wasted.
On average, a human eats only 51% of a cow, leaving behind offal, bones, hide, glands, and fat. Of this 51%, 75% of Aussies will choose a prime cut.Buying prime cuts is not sustainable.
There are only so many to a cow, so many scotch fillets and so many rump steaks. The lesser known cuts such as shoulder, shank and y-bone have a lower turnover, and are turned into pet food, low value-added products (flavoured patties, for example) or sold offshore for below production cost. This pressure on the farmer means the consumer pays more to cover the ‘wastage’ and the farmer receives lees than the animal’s true worth.Buying an entire cow is more ethical, and more economical.
By realising the value of the whole animal, we can bring the cost down, and choose to buy pasture raised, grass fed animals from farmers that make sustainable choices –slow grown pasture raised and finished beef that tastes better, is better for you and has greater economic benefits overall.
Buying an entire cow is not always feasible.
This is why we we section our cows into 1/4s; 1/2s; or a whole if you want to distribute it amongst your own community. And, it’s delivered fresh, not frozen.
Our quality grown on grass beef is bred and raised by Les and Kerryn Hellyar on their beautiful cattle farm ‘Trewellen’ situated just outside Kyogle. No hormones or antibiotics have been introduced. The Hellyar’s handle their kill in a low-stress environments in small numbers, keeping the livestock calm. This quality husbandry is clearly reflected in the quality of the meat. Tender, soft, and buttery, even the most secondary cut can be simply prepared and cooked.
A win-win solution.
We give you the power – by getting a small community together, whether it be family, neighbours, friends, colleagues, teammates or like-minded strangers to share good food and put more money in the pockets of our hard working farmers.
Weight / Size:
Whole beast (average 120-150kg)
Half beast (full fore and hindquarter – average 60-65 kg)
Equal quarter beast (A little from fore and hindquarter – average 30-37 kg)
You can order all, half, or a quarter of a beast, which comprises of the following cuts:
Osso Bucco | Silverside: corned (or) uncorned | Topside whole (or) steaks | Rump steaks | Eye Fillet | Round Roast | Skirt: can be steaks, minced, or whole | T Bone (or) Porterhouse
Forequarter cuts:
Rolled roast | Y-Bone (or) Oyster blade | Rib Fillet Steak | Blade Roast whole (or) steaks | Brisket | Short ribs (or) Meaty short ribs | OP on the bone
You can receive all bones. All trim is minced and bagged into premium mince, and into sausages.
Where will I put it?
1/4 beast will fill a small compartment freezer (ie: a large esky).
All cuts have a freezer storage life of 2 years from pickup.
Eventually, we’d love to be able to offer even more of the animal. Offal, so healthy. Beef cheeks, so gelatinously good and unfortunately so rare. Most abattoirs keep these to on-sell for pet food and other by-products to claw back some of the huge costs that go into compliance and regulation of processing plants, as small scale abattoirs close all over the country. (But that’s a discussion for another day.)It’s your turn to make a difference. The time is now.
As Arthur Ashe once said, ‘start where you are, use what you have, do what you can‘. We make it easy for you to purchase ethically produced meat in a more sustainable manner and economically more beneficial to both farmer and consumer.
We’ll be sure to thank you for your efforts in the most delicious of ways.
Hand Sourced is a small, niche market product distribution company based in Brisbane, Queensland.
We help launch small batch producers into the retail and wholesale market at no cost to the farmer.
We run and support Farm to Plate cooperative which in turn, supports small farms.
We source and supply ethically raised premium produce farmer direct, to you.
We raise the bar on how you can expect fresh, quality-raised produce to taste.
We research, source and select only that which meets our exacting standards. We support producers working with limited, rare and endangered breeds and farms that raise limited quantity of cared for animals. Farms with transparent ethical and sustainable farming practices, bio-dynamics, organics, and best practice in animal husbandry and produce growing are key factors in making the grade.
We like our animals to be happy.
We build relationships with local producers, growers and farmers committed to quality and provenance. If you know someone who is as into ‘real food’ as you are, why not forward this or suggest they join the list.
Our mailing address is:
Shirley Harring | Hand Sourced
Brisbane, Qld 4011
