About
We're the Wingers.
We live on the wide open prairies of southeast Wyoming where cattle outnumber humans. The pastures where our animals graze were once dominated by bison herds. In other words? This grass was made for large ruminants.
In 2018 we started Genuine Beef so we could share our high-quality, grass-finished beef directly with consumer.
But we like to do things differently.
A Tale of Two Steers
We've always preferred the road less traveled. And our beef is no different.
The lifecycle of a conventional beef animal looks like this:
(1) Calves are born on ranches and stay with their mothers until they are weaned at around 6-8 months old.
(2) After weaning, calves are sold* and shipped (sometimes across the United States) to a backgrounding operation where they are taught to eat grain. They stay here until they reach 700-900 lbs. They are usually implanted with steroids to help them grow faster.
(3) The calves are sold* again, this time to a finishing feedlot. Here they will be intensively fed hay, grain, or silage until they reach their final weight.
(4) Meatpackers buy* cattle from feedlots. These animals are sent to large plants to be butchered. (There are 4 main packers who control the majority of the beef industry in the USA.)
(5) Once meat is packaged, it is sold to grocery stores, where it's purchased by the end consumer.
*This can vary slightly. Sometimes ranchers do their own backgrounding or packers own their own feedlots, etc. But the process is the same.
In a nutshell the conventional process is:
Rancher --> Backgrounder --> Feedlot --> Packer --> Grocery Store --> You
In contrast, here's the lifecycle of a Genuine Beef animal:
(1) Calves are born on the wide-open Wyoming prairies. They live with their mothers until they are weaned around 6-8 months. Once weaned, we move them to a different pasture, where they graze on our high plains grasses.
(2) When the cattle reach their finished weight (usually about 18 months of age), we personally transport them to a small, local USDA-inspected butcher shop. When the meat is ready, we pick it up and bring it back to the ranch where we store it in our commercial freezer, waiting to be boxed up and shipped to you.
So the Genuine Beef model looks like:
Us --> You
While many producers buy calves from third-parties, we raise ours from start to finish. This allows us to carefully choose our genetics and provide the best quality meat possible.
Cattle aren't designed to eat grain in large quantities, so we don't feed it. Instead, they graze year around (we supplement with hay (dried grass) in the winter time), just like nature intended. This produces richer, more robust beef with incredible flavor.
This also keeps the prairie healthier. Research shows that well-managed grass-fed cattle help to conserve soil, reduce erosion and water pollution, and increase carbon sequestration. (source)
We're not just another one of those "beef box guys."
Did you know that over 75% of grassfed beef sold in stores is actually imported from abroad? (source) In fact, even beef labeled as "Product of the USA" is often not raised in the United States. This means there's a good chance "grassfed" beef you might be buying from those other guys is coming from a different country.
But that's not how we roll.
When you buy a box of Genuine Beef, it comes from us, and only us. It's straight from our Wyoming herd. And that's a promise.
How Does This Shipping Thing Work?
We ship Mondays and Tuesdays each week to ensure the most efficient delivery.
Most all our boxes will ship via UPS 2nd day air. Our goal is for the beef to arrive on your doorstep within 48 hours and still be frozen. If your beef arrives partially frozen, you can safely refreeze it.
Our beef is shipped with dry ice inside-- it may or may not still be present in the box when it arrives. Please dispose of it with caution and avoid touching it with your bare hands.
We use eco-friendly box insulation that you can dissolve in water to avoid waste.
Our shipping prices are calculated via zones (see the below map).
We live in the yellow zone-- the closer you are to us, the faster your box will arrive and the cheaper the shipping price. (NOTE: We cannot ship to PO boxes.)
FAQs
Q: When can I expect my order?
A: We ship out most Mondays and Tuesdays, with major holidays as the exception. We use UPS 2nd day air, so your order should arrive within 48 hours.
Q: Will the beef be frozen when it arrives?
A: It should be! Or mostly frozen at least. We use at least 5 lbs of dry ice per box to ensure the meat stays ice cold. We recommend opening your box as soon as possible and transferring the meat to the freezer.
Q: What do you feed your beef?
A: They graze on wide open Wyoming pasture in the spring/summer/fall and get hay as a supplement during the winter. We also provide nutrient tubs to give them the additional vitamins & minerals they need. We don't feed any corn or grains.
Q: Is your meat certified organic?
A: We aren't USDA certified organic, but we are organically minded and raise our cattle with organic standards. This means we don't feed antibiotics or use added growth hormones or steroids. We don't spray any chemicals on our pasture and never feed GMO feeds (or any grain, ever).
Q: Isn't grassfed beef tough?
A: Nope. If grassfed beef is tough, it usually means it hasn't been handle or prepared properly. Our steaks and roasts are melt-in-your-mouth tender and we include recipe cards in each order to help you cook them to perfection.
Q: Does grass-finished beef taste different than corn-fed beef?
A: Many people consider grass-finished meat to be richer, more robust, and more complex in its flavor. One producer likened grain-fed beef to boxed wine, while grass-finished beef is more like a nuanced, high-quality wine. We think that's right on.
Q: Is there a lot of fat/grease in the ground beef?
A: No. All of our ground beef is 90/10 and is lean and delicious. In fact, when I cook up our ground beef I never even have to drain it. That means you're getting the maximum bang for your buck with our beef-- and not a single ounce ends up down the drain.
Q: Will you be offering organ meats, fat for tallow, or broth bones?
A: Yes! We now offer select organ meats as well as soup bones. We offer beef fat on a limited basis, but it usually sells out quickly.
Q: Is your beef aged?
A: Yes, we dry-age all of our cuts for 21-days. This ensures maximum flavor and tenderness.
Q: Do you vaccinate your cattle?
A: Yes, we work with our local vets to vaccinate based on common cattle diseases in our area. We do not use mRNA vaccines.
Q: Do you use growth hormones or antibiotics?
A: We do not use any added growth hormones. We do not feed maintenance antibiotics. If an animal requires an antibiotic for life-saving purposes, we remove it from our beef program.
Q: How do I set up a subscription?
A: Simply choose the subscription option when you add products to your cart.
(Subscribers automatically save an additional 5% on orders!)
You can turn any of our bundles into a subscription or make your own box.
That's it! There are no contracts and you can cancel at anytime.
Q: How do I edit/cancel my subscription?
To modify your subscription, log into your account by clicking the little person icon in the upper right corner of our website.
After you log in, click the "Subscriptions" button on the following page:
From there, you can adjust all the parts of your subscription.
In essence? We're a small, family-run operation striving to do things the old-fashioned way with integrity. We believe it's better for the land, better for the animals, and better for our health, too. We appreciate each and every order we get, so THANK YOU!
