Stock your freezer with 10 PK New York Strip Steak flash deal till end of month!

How you benefit from our butcher shop

written by

Wesley Shank

posted on

April 19, 2022

Good morning,

It feels like Thanksgiving in April!

Just over a year and half ago, we bought our own butcher shop. The primary goal was to secure your meat supply even when other small butcher shops were booked out 12-18 months.

Since then, we've been pleasantly surprised. Running our own butcher shop has more benefits than we ever imagined.

With us in charge of the full meat cutting process, we can now push quality standards higher than ever.

Here are the biggest improvements we've made so far to bring you superior Grass-fed Beef and Pastured Pork.

First off, we started using Celtic Sea Salt in all recipes where salt is needed. It was one simple change we could make to give you more of the Celtic Sea Salt benefits.

The next one took a lot more paperwork to get special approval from USDA... But it was well worth the effort.

Butcher shops are required to spray some type of "antibacterial decontaminate" on a beef carcass to keep bacteria from growing. For most butchers this is Citric Acid since that's what the USDA recommends.

And it seems like this should be fine since the outer layer of meat is trimmed off as the meat is cut and packaged.... But what is common Citric Acid made from? Black mold fed on conventional corn sugars.

Not something we want near our food if we can help it!

We stopped all Citric Acid... after working through lots of government required paperwork to get this changed legally for our butcher shop. All our meat is now 100% Citric Acid–FREE!

Next we began the long process of research and development to create all new sausage recipes. Our goal was to get rid of all vague "Spices" and "Spice Extractives" so you know the exact ingredients.

With all these improved standards, I can't forget the rest of our quality standards we've had in place for years...

  • Humane handling with respect to all animals
  • No MSGs ever
  • No artificial nitrates or nitrites
  • No liquid smoke – only real Hickory Wood Pellets
  • No sugar in sausages, hams, bacons, and hot dogs

More recently we've been focusing on our Hams & Bacons.

Celery Powder is commonly used in Hams & Bacons as a natural way to help cure meat without artificial nitrates or nitrites. And we've used Celery Powder for years...

The problem is, Celery Powder is rich in natural nitrates. But even natural nitrates are still, well, nitrates. We removed Celery Powder from all Hams & Bacons so they are now 100% nitrate-free!

ALSO, we majorly improved our #1 Best Selling Pork Item.

Bacon is now salt-only cured: No sugar, no spices, no nitrates, no nothing, except Hickory Smoked Bacon & Celtic Sea Salt!

And the flavor is incredible.

I seriously do not know of anyone else doing Soy-free, Chemical-free, Pastured Pork Bacon with this clean of a recipe.

Besides all these improvements to go above and beyond our usual high quality standards...

We've also introduced a LOT of new, popular items thanks to our own butcher shop. Here is the list:

Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork, fully cooked and ready to eat! This has been our best, super-hit-item from the butcher shop. Those of you who have tried it will understand! :)

Old Fashioned Roast Beef is probably the next most popular new item. It's a convenient meal, fully cooked and already seasoned.

We've added several new steak cuts like, Bone-in Ribeye Cowboy Steak, Chuck-Eye Steak, Ranch Steak and London Broil.

Garlic Bologna & Pepper Bologna are two new lunch meats we make at our butcher shop...

These are the most outstanding products we've introduced with our new butcher shop, but more are definitely coming this year.

Stay tuned for the announcement of another long-awaited item during our Grass-fed Beef Savings Event this May!

Your Farmer,

Wesley

~5th generation on the farm

Shop Clean, Grass-fed Meats Now

More from the blog

Beef Price Freeze for 2 weeks

Beef Price Freeze for 2 weeks

Good morning Family Cow family! The last week here on the farm has been more like spring than early January, so we are enjoying every minute of it. :) It's the start of a new year and a new season of life for me. I haven't done very well with sharing farm stories in 2025 and so I plan to carve out more time to make it happen this year. A lot of exciting and crazy busy days over the last 12 months, but that's not a valid excuse. You trust us to grow nourishing food for your family and we will do our best to repay that trust by sharing as many farm life details as possible. Be sure to stay tuned for regular farm emails from me or maybe even my dad, Edwin, over the coming weeks... We have a lot of exciting news on the horizon! Today this email brings the one hard fact to announce... Seems the year shouldn't start like this, but I want to get it out of the way so we can save the best for last in coming emails. And this truly is the only negative point of what I plan to share. The next weeks are all full of exciting news and fun farm announcements. :) As we reviewed our 2025 financials, the niggling fears were sadly confirmed. Our beef margins have not kept up with inflating costs.Regenerative, 100% Grass-fed beef farming is beautiful and plays a key role in restoring health to our rescued farm land.But that's not enough. It must also be financially sustainable for family farms to continue from one generation to the next.Beef prices need to go up nearly 5% on average. Some items won't move at all but others, like burger and steaks, will bump more.Our family does not take any price correction lightly.In an effort to help make the change easier for everyone, we will freeze all beef prices at the current rate until January 27. Now is the chance to fill your freezer with 2025 Beef prices.Our family and team truly appreciates your understanding of the need to keep our cattle farming sustainable!All the best of food and blessings, Wesley~ 5th generation on the farm Real farmers. Real Caring. Real Food.YourFamilyFarmer.comP.S. Our frozen meats will easily last a year or more in your freezer. We recommend stocking up now. If a package becomes unsealed just use it first to avoid freezer burn taste.

Read more
Bonus Free jar of Pastured Lard for all orders this week 1/12

Bonus Free jar of Pastured Lard for all orders this week 1/12

Good morning, Family Cow friends! I have a special bonus thank-you to announce today. Place an order anytime over the next week and select a FREE jar of our Pastured Pork Leaf Lard! Why free lard?Our family wants every one of you to experience truly clean, pastured lard for yourself. If you’ve been cooking with lard for years and already know the magic it brings to everything from breakfast eggs to homemade French fries, please enjoy this free jar as a heartfelt thank-you for your loyal support.If you are new to lard, consider this is a gift from our family to help start 2026 off on a healthy, wholesome start. With our clean Pastured Pork Lard you can cook with confidence. No need to worry if it is Chemical-Free, GMO-Free, Antibiotic-Free, Hormone-Free, Soy-Free or Humanely Raised.We farm with integrity so you can enjoy real food—and real peace of mind—at every meal.Enjoy the free lard – and thank-you for being part of our farm family! Just be sure to add the free lard to your order so we know to send it along with the rest of your food. We won't send the lard unless you select it because we want to be sure the gift will be put to good use. :) Note: if you are interested in baking with lard as Grandma used for her delectable flaky pie crust, it's the Premium Leaf Lard you want for that. We don't have many jars available, but if they are still in stock when you see, this go ahead and select a FREE Premium Leaf Lard with your order instead of the regular lard which is better for frying eggs. -------------------------------------------------------- Remember, our Pastured Pork Lard is not bleached, deodorized, hydrogenated or altered in any way. It is simply rendered (cooked down) pork fat from our pastured hogs. There is nothing else done to it or added to it. It is ready to be enjoyed and may just become your favorite kitchen fat! Testimonial: I just had to write in to tell Your Family Farmer that your soy free woodland pork lard is the most delicious fat I have ever tasted! As someone with severe food sensitivities, the ability to get pure natural foods from you folks is a true blessing! Expect many more lard bulk orders to come. Thank you! ~Ronald B. Scranton, PA Why use Lard? It's a clean traditional fat like tallow and butter.Has a natural blend of the three types of fats: monounsaturated fat, saturated and polyunsaturated.7 Healthy Reasons to Eat Lard.Here is an article you'll find inspiring: 10 Reasons to Bring Lard Back   The Story Behind our Woodland Pork Lard: We don't waste anything on our farm. Especially when it comes to livestock. We respectfully use every bit of that animal to accomplish the most good possible. What can't be eaten is carefully turned into rich composted and given back to the soil to fuel plant growth and build organic matter.  What CAN be eaten falls into two categories. The first category is LOVED by all and basically needs to be rationed out.... For example, people will "fight" for the chance to eat juicy pastured pork chops, crispy bacon, savory sausages, or BBQ baby back ribs. But not everyone has as much love for the second category which makes up a sizeable portion of each pig. This category includes things like soup bones, knuckle bones, and LOTS of pork fat since we refuse to use the industry standard Ractopamine (Paylean) drug to keep our pigs artificially lean.  The good news is, we are able to render some of this excess fat into beautiful Woodland Pork Lard that now falls into the loved-by-all category! :) Lard is so versatile it's simple to use as a substitute for your everyday cooking oil. It adds pizazz to everything from simple breakfast fried eggs to homemade French fries. Lard is the secret ingredient your Grandma used for her delectable flaky pie crust. With our clean Pastured Pork Lard you can cook with confidence. No need to worry if it is Chemical-Free, GMO-Free, Antibiotic-Free, Hormone-Free, Soy-Free or Humanely Raised. We farm with integrity to give you the peace of mind you deserve at every meal.  Enjoy the lard! Wesley ~5th generation on the farm We carefully manage every step of the process to bring you clean Pastured Pork you can eat with confidence. ✓ Respectfully Harvested at our small USDA butcher shop✓ Always Humanely Raised on Organic Land✓ No Nitrate or Nitrite Preservatives✓ No Celery Juice Powder Cures✓ Artificial Hormone-Free✓ Citric Acid - Free✓ Antibiotic-Free✓ Chemical-Free✓ mRNA-Free✓ Sugar-Free✓ GMO-Free✓ MSG-Free

Read more
Return To Top

The Family Cow

  • 3854 Olde Scotland Rd
    Chambersburg PA 17202
  • (717) 491-4004


God Designed it...   We Respect it...   That Explains it!

Genesis 1:31 & Revelation 4:11


"We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it."

– Numbers 13:27


Privacy Policy