The Family Beef
$1,710.00
*Next classes are May 2nd-3rd and May 30th-31st*
Using your hands and antique cutlery, we will harvest two grass finished Texas Longhorns. We will transform one 30 day aged carcass into kitchen-sized cuts for the home’s pots, pans, and ovens. We will unknit the carcass without creating any waste. Our yield will be 100% of hanging weight in resolute distinction from the convention of wasting over half the harvest. The silhouette of the magnanimous bovine is our only parameter.
This class is for the beginner and the experienced alike. In two days, you will have gained enough hands-on experience to harvest cattle at home wisely.
Each student goes home with a selection of cuts for the family table. These longhorns are artfully rotated on the cross timber prairie grasses of Oklahoma and never fed grain.
Description
Current Sessions Available
May 2nd-3rd & May 30th-31st
Tickets: $1710; limit 8 students.
The Curriculum & Menu
Each day, we start at 9:00 am. We’ll break bread together and commemorate our work with a mid-afternoon meal. On the first day, we will slaughter the steer, which includes the kill, bleeding, blood harvest, skinning, evisceration and offal harvest. Then we will break it down into quarters before moving into the butcher shop, where we will prepare a meal of offal and blood pudding harvested less than an hour before.
Learning how to cook every part is integral to butchery. On day two, we will carve and portion a dry-aged carcass as an assertion of the well-off frugality of the domestic kitchen. We will cover continental, British, and American styles of butchery, but focus invariably on the pot, the pan, and the oven of the family kitchen. The carcass we cut on day two will be from a longhorn slaughtered 30 days prior.
We will cover beef preservation using the simple and pure methods of our pre-industrial forbearers. We will lard and bard roasts, serve up bone marrow and prepare tartare, all to remove any doubt about the preeminence of home-harvested beef. All of this will happen on the domestic scale, so you can replicate the process at your homestead without industrial-grade apparatus. By the end of the day, we will have braised, panfried and roasted 30 day aged grass finished longhorn.
This grass finished longhorn beef is mature and unmatched in flavor. In due regard for this quality, we will be aging the carcasses for 30 days. Healthy beef can age indefinitely given a good walk-in with low humidity.
Classes usually continue well into the afternoon or early evening and will finish when the larder is full. In any case, we work at your pace. Capping the class at just eight students keeps the hands-on learning undiluted. You’re welcome to make extensive notes and film the whole process.
The class will be at our farm just outside Tulsa, Oklahoma. We’ll use ingredients from the cow we slaughter, our garden, and small local farms. We’ll have locally roasted coffee and cream each day.
Parting Gifts
Now included with these 2-day classes:
- You’ll head home with an assortment of 30 day dry aged beef cuts. These longhorns are artfully grazed on cross timber prairie and permitted to mature to at least 3 years of age. The maturity makes flavor; the aging makes tender.
- *Lifetime access to our private Facebook page, Meatsmith Table, for class graduates and members only.*
- 7-day free trial to the Meatsmith Membership, which includes
- All Butcher’s Salt e-chapters for you to download
- Our slaughter film, To Kill A Pig Nicely
- 4+ years’ worth of harvest films, live chat archives, articles and forum dialogue
- Podcast topic & questioning priority
These serve as ready refreshers of what you learn with us. They are unparalleled in American butchery educational materials because they return to the radical orthodoxy of the peasant kitchen.
The knife sharpening method that Brandon learned from is now on YouTube on the Carter Cutlery channel.
Please ensure you read our “Student Signup Information and Policies” document. Due to quick sign-ups, traveling students and small class sizes we maintain a strict refund policy.
For anyone coming out of state, please read our Out-of-Towners page.
Course Testimonials
My family and I learned so much from the in-person, hands-on beef class. My teen boys were able to get right in there with the rest of us to slaughter, skin and eviscerate the carcass. Brandon takes the art and craft of butchery at home, which can seem very intimidating, and makes it doable. From handy tips and tricks for backyard slaughter techniques, to fabrication of meat cuts and preparing a feast in the kitchen, we were brought along for the entire process. He kept reminding us that if we keep our end goal in mind (how we’ll prepare it in the kitchen), the cutting of the carcass will make much more sense. With that in mind, we were reminded that WE get to make the decisions about how to cut and prepare the carcass and that it doesn’t have to match with ordinary retail meat cuts. Both Brandon and Lauren were so hospitable and we greatly enjoyed the fellowship around the table. It’s definitely worth the trip to take an in-person class.
―Christie, Illinois
“The utility of this information will have immediate and long-term use. As a home chef, I expect to use it regularly for my domestic culinary investigations and pleasure. The long term impact of the class will continue to reveal itself with age. So much of the material (and the experience) is detailed, inter-disciplinary, bloody, emotional and tasty! It is one of the those experiences that will always be a culinary, social, emotional reference point to tie to other experiences. This is one of the principal values of the class in my mind.”
―John, Alaska
“I’ve flown halfway across the country to attend a class of yours and watched your videos numerous times. The desire was already there for me to take on the life of sustainability, self-reliance, and kitchen economy. You all just provided the direction and spark… I’m all in because of you folks!”
―Jay, Arizona
“I’ve participated in two hog processing classes. The classes and videos gave me the courage to raise my own hogs. We partnered with the Meatsmiths to host a class and harvest two of the 5 hogs. With the help of friends we processed three hogs on our own, cured three prosciutto, smoked and cured our own bacon, and made head cheese. In all that, the best part of all the learning is the growth of my family and friends. I can’t tell you how many wonderful people we call friends because of the porcine adventure.”
―Jon; Shelton, WA
“You guys have a played a major role in our farm/homestead development of which pigs are the driving factor. Definitely have empowered me and my family. we have done some butchery since watching your videos. I hope to reference you for future marketing development for our farm. And one day get you to do a workshop (fingers crossed) I’m in west Tennessee in case you needed a gage of how far your outreach is. Thanks a million.”
―Justin, Tennessee
Additional information
| Course Dates | Dec 6th-7th, 2024, May 2nd-3rd, May 30th-31st |
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Brandon Sheard –
Most recent testimonial, Fall 2016: “The utility of this information will have immediate and long-term use. As a home chef, I expect to use it regularly for my domestic culinary investigations and pleasure. The long term impact of the class will continue to reveal itself with age. So much of the material (and the experience) is detailed, inter-disciplinary, bloody, emotional and tasty! It is one of the those experiences that will always be a culinary, social, emotional reference point to tie to other experiences. This is one of the principal values of the class in my mind.”
John, Alaska
Keith Claverie (verified owner) –
The best learning is by doing. The best teacher is one that can explain the “why” behind the “how.” Much of the information out there on beef butchery is commercial processing instructions poorly repackaged for the homesteader. Context for home butchering and processing is key. Brandon and his family have crafted a class for the home processor that is tailored, informative, and enjoyable. It’s a real struggle to leave my farm for a few days, and this was one of the few things my wife and I agreed was worth leaving for. I can’t recommend this class enough if you are wanting to jump into home beef processing and looking for a memorable experience.
Joel Peddle –
I participated in the September, 2024 Family Beef Harvest Class. We learned how to shoot a long-horn steer humanely, hang, skin, quarter, saw, eviscerate, dress, prepare, and cook. We were taught how to identify and harvest all parts and properly use knives, preserve, cure, package, and avoid costly mistakes. Mr. Sheard is a great craftsman, inventor, father, and businessman. He provided excellent suggestions on how to run a butchery business by showing us the most important character of a good business: providing the highest quality product without cutting corners and practicing a permaculture philosophy that harmonizes with tradition, rogation days, and pious rhythms of God’s nature. His sharing of stories about his journey punctuated every fine meal that led to spirited conversations and warm fellowship. Wendell Barry, G.K. Chesterton, and JRR. Tolkien would have been delighted to know that such a family farm exists today. The combination of practical lessons on building scaffolding, railings, pullies, and AC regulators for the cooler bore the mark of a master craftsman and clever inventor. If you want to build a successful meat harvest business as a homesteader that values faith and family, this class (and no doubt others) is a perfect choice.
Evan Thompson (verified owner) –
The Beef Class was such a great learning experience. I had such a great time with his Family Pig Class in 2023 that I HAD to sign up for his Beef Class in 2024 and i’m really glad I did. Brandon is an amazing teacher and really has a way of explaining the “do’s and dont’s” of harvesting and butchering. I also enjoyed when he explained how certain cuts of meat would best be cooked. I highly recommend this class to anyone who wants to be a Homesteader.
Derek Hrzek (verified owner) –
The Family Beef class is essential. There is no substitute for firsthand direct experience. If you want to understand the most optimal ways to raise, harvest, and humanely transform cattle into a cornucopia of nourishing meals – then look no further: Seek out the Sheard Family. Brandon’s wisdom and mastery are exuded through every movement and exercise. His thoughtful, detail-oriented, and attentive approach to teaching makes it easy to absorb, interact, and engage in dynamic learning. The experience for me was transformative, profound, and eye-opening. Some may consider elements of the process ‘unconventional.’ Yet, when you understand, experience, and see firsthand how and why they’re done, one can only wonder how the approaches now considered ‘convention’ ever got to be in the first place. I’m grateful to the Sheards for bestowing us with these wonderfully unconventional and deeply valuable skills and perspectives. Stop letting conventionalists steal from you: The final yield from hanging yield should be 100%. Get to Oklahoma to find out how.
Viet & Debbie Pham –
This class was invaluable! Within two days, we gained the confidence we needed to slaughter and butcher ourselves. Since the class, we have been able to help a friend with the slaughter of a steer, and we look forward to being able to use this skill for our family in the future! Highly recommend to anyone who has cattle or who wants to be able to provide the best beef for their family!