The latest animal at the butcher is a 30 month old heifer. This one finished a little more marbled than the last one, which I’d bet is more due to genetic differences than anything else.

Splitting the entrecôte off from the faux-filet.

One whole filet. This makes a very tender, but very expensive, roast. 

Below is what the filet looks like when turned into steaks. Remember, this is a pastured animal that ate only grass and our hay. It takes time and the right genetics to get marbling.

A cool industrial saw hanging on a retractable cable.

It cuts ribs in seconds. The French cut their ribs into short sections to make pot-au-feu.

The foreground is a mountain of pot-au-feu ribs and the background is a mountain of fancy steaks.

This leg of beef would not fit into the oven.

Oxtail! One of my favorites. It makes a fine stew.

The salle de découpe with customer boxes stacked high.

That 288.9kg for the carcass or about 637lb. The abattoir was at the town of Condom and the cow was a Salers.

New for this round were some rump roasts. Each box had a roast.

The packed boxes look like this:

Inside looks like this:

This butcher doesn’t do vacuum packing, although at some time in the future we’re going to try a packing company a little further away that does.

Here’s what an entrecôte looks like while warming up waiting to be cooked.

The best way to end a big day at the butcher’s is with a nice steak. The Agricultrix would consider wine essential.

We had customers drive from four départements to pick up their beef. Bon appétit!