Safe, healthy, quality foods responsibly provided
Deep Creek Ranch, Inc.
This photograph is of a registered Angus T-bone. Please note the marbling and the deep rich color of the steak. Our superior, premium grass fed beef is rich in flavor, texture, moisture and satisfaction.
We sell lamb and grass fed and finished beef, cared for on our own land and harvested from it. Seasonally, we provide grain-supplemented beef ("steakhouse flavor") reared and finished by 4H and FFA highschool kids. We do not use hormones or other growth stimulants or routine antibiotic treatment, and we manage our pastures cleanly, with an eye toward healthy land and the best lives for our livestock.
To order please call Trisha Strawn at 1-386-216-2442. If she's not available, call Fran Strawn aat 407-921-1111. If you wish, just email
Our customers include many of Florida's top chefs and restaurants. For example, Zach Bell at Cafe Boloud, Palm Beach. Dean Max, 3030 Ocean, Ft. Lauderdale. Michael's Genuine Food, Miami. Ravenous Pig, Winter Park. Primos, the Ritz Carlton (Palm Beach) and more.
We believe that grass fed beef is significantly healthier beef, and is more beneficial as food than confinement beef. To understand why, please visit our grassfed page. It also tastes delicious! Our grain supplemented beef, should you prefer it, has more of the "steakhouse" flavor. But all our animals are true, free range, open pastured beeves some having a grain snack as an option. You can specify which you want.
If an animal receives an antibiotic, it is for a specific, transitory condition. The animal's record is noted, and it will not be sold during the period required for complete elimination of the drug from the animal's system. We very rarely have to treat our livestock. Their diet is what nature designed them for, and they stay healthy. We can identify any animal treated with an antibiotic at any time, and will inform you if an animal you have chosen has been treated. We never use growth hormones or any pharmaceuticals that persist in the animal.
Herd nutrition is the bedrock of good health, and receives our constant attention. We know the history of every animal, and record every significant health event in each one's life. We believe in humane and kind treatment of our livestock, at all times. We generally follow organic practices for our soil and our livestock.
Beef and lamb are sold by the piece or by live weight. We'll talk about bulk purchases, then about purchases by the piece at retail prices.
Live weight means that you and other purchasers of a steer or lamb will share the price calculated with its weight just before harvest.
The price per pound for the beef is $3.00 per pound, live weight for a whole steer. A half is $3.25 and a split half (quarter) is $3.50. A steer will probably weigh in at 800 - 1100 pounds.
A lamb will weigh from 25 to 120 pounds, depending on your order and the time of year. Lower weights are the milk fed, just grazing lambs. The meat is very mild and very tender! Over 80 pounds will be traditionally flavored lamb.
Lambs less than 70 pounds are $4.00 per pound, live weight. From 70 - 100 pounds, $3.75 per pound live weight. Over 100 pounds, $3.50 per pound live weight.
Lambs are sold as a whole. Bulk beef is sold by the whole, and by halves and "split halves". A split half is created by dividing all the cuts from a half into two equal portions. That way, each purchaser of a split half will receive some of the fore and hind quarter cuts. Everything from burger and chuck roasts to great steaks! Whatever you buy can be further subdivided with friends, as you see fit after we deliver.
A steer will produce about 30% steaks (unless you tell us to max the steaks, e.g., "Milanesa" steaks from the top round, etc.), 32% roasts and 38% ground beef and stew. You can request dog bones, shanks, heart, tongue, liver (sliced) and kidneys as well. If more than one buyer of the steer wants these items, we will divide them.
Here is some additional information about yield. A 1200 lb steer (grass fed steers are smaller and will run about 1000 to 1100 lbs.) would have a dressed weight of about 750 pounds. That puts 63% of the animal “on the rail.” as quarters. If the “Yield grade” were a “1” that would translate as 518 lbs of retail cuts, yield grade “2” would equal 502 lbs, and “3” would equal 435 lbs.
The actual yield from one of our typical steers, harvested recently from a 1016 lb. steer (tag 120) (South Poll), 640 lbs. on the rail, 544 lbs. packaged (85% of the weight on the rail, and 54% of the live weight of the steer. ). Split halves each weighed 136 lbs. packaged for delivery (This did not include heart, liver, brain, kidneys or the dog bones). This was a yield grade 1 animal, for which we always hope.
We cannot start the harvesting process for a sale by live weight until the entire steer or lamb has been sold (for example, a half steer to one family, and a quarter (split halves) each to two others) and a deposit of $250 is received for each quarter sold. If you buy the steer, the deposit is $1,000, a half, $500.
Once an animal is purchased from us, we begin the process. We take it to a local abattoir , where it is weighed, then harvested (if not pasture harvested) and the quarters placed in a cooler for about two weeks. This enhances beef tenderness and flavor. If the buyers of a steer want it aged longer, we can do that. But, it will dry, and there will be more waste.
At the end of the cooler time, we will have the steer prepared to your order.
You can buy your lamb live, or harvested. We do the harvesting for you after you buy the lamb, but do not process the meat. Lambs are small, and you might want to consider doing this for yourself. If not, we can have it done for you, and call you when the packages are ready.
If you buy a lamb and want our help, we do not delay delivery as cooling doesn't enhance lamb's tenderness (already there!) or flavor. We can deliver the meat fresh or frozen immediately after harvest. Because of the smaller dollar volume from the sale of a lamb, we charge mileage at the rate of 50 cents per mile, round trip if you want us to deliver. You may, of course, pick your lamb up at our barn or other mutually convenient location in Central Florida at no cost to you if you wish. If you want to process the meat yourself, we can deliver the chilled lamb whole, ready to be broken down and packaged.
We will contact you to determine how you would like to have your meat cut and packaged. We will be glad to make suggestions to you and to answer any questions you have about the process. You are also welcome to come and watch the work. Once the meat is packaged and divided between the purchasers, it is frozen. Within a day, at most two, We will pick it up and deliver it to a location convenient for the purchasers. We will deliver free of charge a split half out to 50 miles, a full half to 75 miles, and a complete steer out to one hundred miles, but only to one location at each distance. We will deliver to multiple locations at a charge of $2.00 per mile after the free limit is reached for all miles over the free limit.
Payment in full is due as soon as we are committed to process the animal. When we have a date confirmed for delivery of the steer to the abattoir, we will email an invoice to each purchaser of the animal. we cannot deliver the animal to the abattoir for processing until we are paid in full by all purchasers. We gladly accept your personal checks or cash, if you prefer.
We will give you reports at every stage of the process, to keep you informed and help you make your choices about your steer.
We sell to you on a satisfaction guaranteed basis. You may return your meat in the condition it was delivered to you within thirty days following delivery to you. We will deduct the value of meat you have used at $6.00 - $25.00 per pound, depending upon the cuts you used, and will refund the balance by the same method you used to pay us.
Because of the way we choose to work, our customers are welcome to come to the Ranch, and to participate at every step of the process. If you would like to arrange a visit, please call us at 386-216-2442. Ranch visits are limited to purchasers of our products. If you don't like what you see, you can invoke our refund policy, stated above.
We hope we will be permitted to provide you with some of our healthy meat. Please call 386-216-2442 or write with any questions you may have.
To learn about buying meat at retail, please click here.
We don't use growth hormones to promote the growth of animals born on the Ranch. But we do buy steers from other producers, as well as grow those born on the Ranch. We don't think the animals brought in from our producers have any hormones present in the meat at a higher level than the animal produces for itself, or that there are any residues of antibiotics which might have been used to treat an illness. But, click here if you want to pursue these issues for a bit.
