Browse the FAQ generated by our customers’ most popular queries. If you have a question not answered here, feel free to submit your question below. You can also purchase our products directly through our online store.
We offer deliveries to Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, and Beaumont, please feel free to email us and inquire about delivery as we maybe able to accommodate other locations as needed.
We are located 3 km south of Castor, Alberta, on Range Road 142. We’re the first farm on the west side of the road.
Browse our grass fed beef, pastured pork, and other products here. Orders are accepted year round, though we butcher our cattle in September and October, and our pork in November and December. Because you are buying a share in an actual animal, we take a 50% deposit on orders. If you’re intimidated by buying a quarter or a side, try one of our specialized boxes. These are an easy way to familiarize yourself with the quality of fresh-from-the-farm meats, as well as with the purchasing process.
Buying bulk offers so much more than just picking up a plastic-wrapped steak from the grocery store! Redtail Farms can be confident that they’re buying ethically and sustainably raised meat. You know what the animal ate, where it roamed, and how long it was aged. If you have the room to keep it, buying meat directly from the farmer means you’ll always have protein on hand when you get inspired to cook. It’s also much more affordable to buy your meat from Redtail farms — you’re cutting out the middle-man and transportation costs (and you know that your money is supporting real farmers, abattoirs, butchers, and their families).
Live Weight is the weight of the living animal. This is the number that matters at the provincial fair!
Hanging Weight (also referred to as Dressing Weight) refers to the weight of the animal after it has been slaughtered.
Cut Weight is the total yield, after processing the individual cuts (what gets shipped to you) It’s typically about 75-80% of the hanging weight. This is the measurement we use when we create your order.
We take orders throughout the year, but we butcher in between September and December, depending on the animal. Our beef is then aged up to a further 21 days before it is processed. We try and deliver monthly to the Calgary and Edmonton.
Unfortunately we do not offer samples of our products.
For beef we are able to piece it out and sell individual cuts, as for Pork our minimum order is 1/4, but we do not piece out Pork.
Orders are picked up at a central location in Calgary, Edmonton or Red Deer. Unfortunately we do not offer home delivery.
Yes all our processing fees are included in the price.
Yes. Redtail is built on a foundation of social and ethical sustainability. We are committed to raising our animals this thoughtfulness and care. Our cows are grass-fed and grass-finished, which means they spend their lives with a natural, healthy, pasture diet. Redtail pigs enjoy a diet of pasture-grown grasses and grains, and spend their lives exploring and rooting in the prairies and woodlands that surround our Alberta farm.
All of our animals graze free, and are not exposed to pesticides or force-fed hormones or antibiotics.
Yes we do use antibiotics. If an animal is sick we will treat it. We don’t use low-grade antibiotics in our feed. We double the recommended withdraw period if an animal is treated until slaughter.
Our farm is home to hardy Luing cattle and Berkshire hogs, all of which enjoy happy, open-range lives in our prairie sunshine.
Yes! We are happy to have an “open farm” policy here at Redtail, and we invite our customers to come and see how we thoughtfully and sustainably raise our animals and manage our beautiful environment. Throughout the year, we also host an annual field day, seasonally-inspired dinners, and educational programming open to the public.
The current Canadian prairie landscape is one defined by industrial agriculture. As soils are mined for their nutrients, the use of herbicides and pesticides continue to degrade our natural microbiology. These challenges, in addition to drained and polluted water, means that we attempt to grow food in an imbalanced, fragile ecosystem.
Our cow herd on 130 animals, we butcher 50 beef animals a year.
We do not use hormones in our products.
As sustainable farmers, we believe that every part of the animal has a use. After butchering, there are several elements left over that can offer flavour and nutrition. Our restaurant customers know the secrets of these ”off-cuts”, and we want our retail customers to know, too. Ask us about our offal and organ meats, marrow, bones, lard, and tallow, and how they can enhance your diet.
Our beef is dry aged for 21 days to get the richest, juiciest flavour and most tender quality.
Meat that comes straight from the farm is not usually graded — that is a categorization that comes from high-quantity processing plants. We know that our products are top-quality. Ethical farming practices and lots of hands-on live and care throughout their lives make our livestock healthy and lean. We are confident that our customers will be satisfied with our Redtail animals, even without the labels.
Marbling is added fat between the muscle fibres in meat. We recognize it as the white sections in a cut of meat that add tenderness, moisture and flavour. Some breeds of cattle are more prone to marbling than others. Our naturally grass-grown Luing cattle have a fair amount of marbling, and produce a rich, tender flavour.
We sell sausages, salami, pepperoni, and beef jerky made from our excellent, grass-fed meats. High-protein and delicious, these classic snack meats are made without any additives or fillers.
Grass-finished means that the animal has been fed grass its whole life and finished on grass. Grass-Fed means its fed grass for a period of its life and has been grain fed as well.
Research has documented numerous health benefits of grass-fed beef. In general, grass-fed beef tends to have a better balance of fats, be leaner, and be nutrient and mineral dense.
In general, cook grass-fed beef the same as conventional beef. Our recipe database has several suggestions.
No! We also sell by the half, quarter, and eighth. In addition, check out our BBQ box packs and other specialty orders!
The amount of freezer space you need will vary based on your order size. Here’s a visual guide to help you prepare the right amount of space for your order.
Pastured pigs are allowed to roam in natural areas and eat a rotational diet of foraged food, sweet alfalfa, and grain. We raise Berkshire pigs which are allowed to roam and graze, making for a better-tasting and more environmentally friendly product.
One of our most common questions is “can I just buy bacon”, and the answer is no. The minimum order for pork is a quarter cut.
This old Italian term refers to the offal (innards and organ meat) of a cow. These cuts of meat weigh approximately a fifth of the weight of the carcass. In recent years, consumers have learned how delicious and nutritious the fifth quarter can be!
Our sausages are cut, processed and wrapped in-house. We use all fresh spices and don’t use any pre-mixes or additives.