The Selkirk Ranch™

Sandpoint, ID

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

When is your beef available?
            We grass feed and grass finish our beef, so we only process during our grass finishing months, July and August.

Where is your beef raised?
Right here on the ranch! Made in Sandpoint, Idaho, USA.

Can I purchase Selkirk Ranch beef Fresh or Frozen?
            We freeze all of our beef after cutting. We do this as most of our customers place it in their freezer, and it is also the only way we trust to preserve the quality of the meat.  Our commercial freezing process assures the beef is kept at its finest. We cannot (and will not) add the gases, chemicals, and other ingredients that supermarkets use to make their beef look, well, like supermarket beef.

Can I freeze your beef?
            We strongly recommend it, provided you follow these guidelines:

  1. Allow adequate space in your freezer (see the volumes required below).
  2. Always use a manual defrost freezer. The common “automatic defrost” kitchen units achieve their “frost free” name by periodically raising their temperature to melt the frost and will cause freezer burn.
  3. Do not put beef in a freezer with fruits and vegetables that “out gas.” Our local example is berries.  Huckleberries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, etc should not be stored with our beef unless they are vacuum packed.
  4. Use a freezer with a temperature alarm. Don’t let your beef spoil!

Does your beef taste like supermarket beef?
            NO, Thank God!  Our beef is, in our humble estimation, superior in taste to anything you can buy at a supermarket. Read our dedicated page on “Why organic and grass-fed/grass-finished?"  Please don’t take our word for it, try it.

What cuts do you sell and how should I order them?
            We only sell bulk ground beef, quarters, sides, and wholes to our local customers (see below) . 

            For local pick up for our Idaho, Montana, Washington and Canadian customers, we sell:

Bulk Lean Ground Beef:  Just what it says and more than 90% lean! Our ground beef is packed in 1.5 lb. tubes and available in 21, 30 and 51 pound box quantities and sometimes larger (in 1.5 lb multiples).  Warning, our beef is habit forming!

¼ Beef:  Often called a “mixed quarter” or “split quarter,” we pack some of all of the cuts from a side (instead of giving you only the cuts from just a front or a rear quarter). We cut the steaks to 1”, our ranch standard. The hanging weight is usually around 150lbs. About half the order will be ground beef in 1.5 lb tubes. No custom processing is available on quarter orders.

½ Beef:  A “side” or “half”, usually with a hanging weight around 300lbs. We will cut the steaks to your favorite thickness, number per package, etc. About half the order will be ground beef in 1.5lb tubes.

Full Beef:  Double of a ½ beef and with a hanging weight of around 600lbs.  We offer custom cutting and boneless at your request. About half the order will be ground beef in tubes.

CUTS/STEAKS/OPTIONS:

Our "ranch standard" steak cuts include: Tenderloin, Porterhouse, Top sirloin, Rib steak, and Chuck steaks. Stew meat, soup bones, are also included.

Our roasts include: 3-4lb Chuck roasts, Cross rib Roasts, BRT (Boned, Rolled and Tied) Roasts.

PLEASE NOTE: We grind the lower cuts so that your order is around half ground beef.

Options on halves and whole orders include ($=at additional cost):

  1. Number of steaks per package (2 to 4)
  2. Steak thickness (1" std, 0.75 to 3" possible)
  3. Short ribs, brisket, liver, heart, tongue, and very large dog bones
  4. You may request cubing on steaks($).
  5. Bone removal is available ($), but we recommend bone-in.
  6. If you elect to have us steak or debone the whole Tenderloin, there will be New York Strips instead of Porterhouse and T-bone steaks.

Our family of four will easily use a ½ beef in a year (along with organic chicken and fish and all of the other stuff).  Larger families often order a full beef. If you are really not sure, start with a ¼ beef and learn your family’s specific usage.

What is hanging weight?
            Hanging weight is the weight of the quarter, or the side, or the whole (two sides) after it has been dry aged, but before it has been cut up and further processed. Hanging weight is the weight we use to calculate the pricing on your order.  The actual weight of the product you take home will be less due to moisture loss, removal of bones, fat trim, etc.  Hanging weights vary from animal to animal usually by +/-20%, so at your request, we will notify you of the expected hanging weight before you are invoiced. We update our average hanging weights annually, so we are generally pretty close.

Can I buy smaller quantities of beef?
            No. We are sorry but with our high demand we are unable to accomodate small orders of less than 21 lbs for ground beef and a quarter for beef cuts.

How do you package your meat?
            Our ground beef is packaged in 1.5 lb tubes.  Our cuts are packaged in double wrapped paper. You may order all of your cuts in Cryovac at additional charge($). Cryovac is vacuum sealed clear plastic. Our standard ground beef packaging is 1.5lb tubes although ½ and whole orders may request 1 lb packages.

Is your beef processed boneless, or bone in?
             We sell "bone in" as our standard. We accept special cut requests and bone in for ½ and whole beef orders.

What is your Guarantee of Quality?
            The Selkirk Ranch is dedicated to the finest grass fed beef available. If you are dissatisfied, you may return the frozen unused portion within 30 days of purchase and you will be refunded for the unused portion.  Beef that has been mistreated or abused due to bad freezing, etc. can not be accepted. We are a Christian family and will do our best to assure your satisfaction.  We will treat you in the same manner as we ourselves would want to be treated.

How should I cook Selkirk Ranch beef? 
            Whether you grill, sauté, braise, roast, pressure cook or fry our beef, we recommend one thing, Selkirk Ranch beef is low in fat (just like fish), so please DO NOT overcook it!  It usually cooks 30% to 40% faster than high-fat grain fed beef.  For cuts we recommend pink in the center (medium rare) at the most.  For ground beef we are federally and state mandated to say “well done.”  We are big fans of grilling and you will really appreciate the flavor of our beef if you can resist the temptation to highly season it. Please try it with a little salt or a little garlic salt!  For those of you who love marinades, (and we do too!) our “Selkirk Ranch” marinade is spicy and fabulous (ask us!). We also love cooking with a pressure cooker or Instant-Pot® and a chuck steak done this way is amazing.

Can I order patties?
            We are sorry, but this service is only available to our whole beef customers as it is very expensive and requires a large order.

When can I pick up my order?
            We will contact you via phone or email when your order is ready. You make pick it up at Wood’s Meat Processing on Highway 95 north of Sandpoint. Bulk ground beef orders are picked up at the ranch.

Can I order organic beef tongue, liver, heart, and other organs?
Absolutely! Please let us know when you place your beef order. For halves and wholes, if requested, we will include them at no additional charge based on availability. We do sell organic liver in approximately 10 lb quantities at $12.99/lb.

Why does it take so long to raise your herd?
            We have a closed herd; this means we do not introduce cows or calves purchased from elsewhere.  This virtually eliminates the potential of introducing diseases.  We use our bulls to produce our desired characteristics. We have been raising cattle for over 2 decades and started with 6 pair of registered Red Angus cattle.  We have at least one Red Angus bull for our breeder development. At different points we will buy new bulls to augment our genetics. Our method is to buy these animals in the spring from local breeders we know and trust.
            In addition, grass-fed animals grow slower. It takes us longer (two years and more total) than the commercial market to raise animals from calves to slaughter weight.  Other producers have called our grass fed, grass finished beef “slow food” and they are right!

Your site now says that you sell only to "local" customers. What is a local customer?       We define a "local customer" as anyone who can drive to Sandpoint to pick up their order. We thought this would mean people from our local counties, but people come from quite a distance to pick up our beef.

You seem to be out of beef fast. How can I get an order in if beef becomes available?        Please send us an email and let us know you would like to be on our list and you will receive our Availability email. For best results, place your order right when you receive our Annual Availability Email!

Are you on FaceBook? YES! Just enter "The Selkirk Ranch" In the FaceBook search bar and "Like" us. We make announcements there frequently.

Do you give Ranch Tours? Our customers are welcome to come see the ranch in summer. A video is available on You-Tube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8vsPYvpxzo

If you have a question that has not been answered here, please email us and we will do our best to answer it.  Please remember we are a small family run operation and it may take us a while to respond, but we will!

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