Here at Shady Grove Ranch, we raise beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and eggs. Each of these has specific requirements to legally process them for sale to consumers. Large animals, like beef and pork, have the most stringent requirements, and even if you purchase a whole cow for personal use (called “custom exempt”), there are certain requirements for processing.

We refer to the purchase of a half cow or whole pig as a “custom order,” and technically you are purchasing a live animal from our farm. This is the reason that you pay processing separately, directly to the slaughterhouse.

We currently use Panola County Processing for all our beef and pork processing. We have developed a good relationship with them and have developed ways to optimize processing to best suit the quality of our meats. We are also able to offer sodium-nitrate-free smoked products like bacon, ham, and sausage links.

However, Panola Processing is a completely separate entity from our ranch, and we have no control over price changes. However, we try to stay updated on current processing prices, and will keep those published here.

Updated: Sept. 16, 2022

Beef Processing

• Base fee: $1.30/lb hanging
• Slaughter/disposal fee: $90
• 1-lb ground beef (standard is 2 lb): $0.25/ea
• Burger patties: $0.50/lb
• Smoked/Raw sausage links: $2.89/lb
• Fat harvest: bulk - $0.75/lb or ground - $1.50/lb
• Bones harvest: $1.00/lb

Pork Processing

• Base fee: $1.30/lb hanging
• Slaughter/disposal fee: $65
• 1-lb sausage/ground (standard is 2 lb): $0.25/ea
• Nitrate-free cure/smoke ham, bacon, and jowl: $2.25/lb
• Smoked/Raw sausage links: $2.89/lb
• Fat harvest: bulk - $0.75/lb or ground - $1.50/lb

Pickup Timeline

When you fill out your cutting instructions, we will ask for the best phone number for Panola to reach you when your meat is ready. They will call to let you know, and from that time, you have 7 days to pick up your order before incurring a storage fee. According to their policy, items left over 30 days will be donated.

Estimated Turnaround from Drop-off Date:

• Fresh Pork (no smoked items): 3-5 days
• Pork including smoked items: 7-14 days
• Beef: 16-21 days

If you haven’t heard from the butcher within this timeline, please feel free to contact them to check the status of your order. It will be under the last name of your account with us. 903-690-0430

A note to bulk meat purchasers

A week or two before your scheduled beef/pork processing date, we will send out a Google form to collect information needed to complete your cutting orders. Panola does publish their own cutting order forms, but they can be difficult to interpret because there are so many options, and some are exclusive (either or, not both). We have developed our form to make things more straightforward and to help you get the cuts best-suited to our animals and raising practices.