How Far Ahead to Reserve a Beef Share
Shares are not stocked on a shelf, so the lead time is real. Here is what actually governs it.
The honest answer is weeks, and the reason is worth understanding because it is not a stock problem that more planning on our end would fix.
“And it takes three years to make a steak.”
Gray Shipley
What sets the lead time
- The animal. Finishing takes as long as it takes, and an animal that is not ready is not ready.
- Processing slots. Small-scale processing is booked ahead, and those dates are not ours to move.
- Dry-aging. If you chose it, that is weeks of cold storage after harvest. It is the largest single addition to the wait and the whole reason dry-aged costs more.
- Cutting and packing. Days, not weeks, but it is after everything above.
“Because it's tough for smaller farmers to have something available, 200 pounds ready to go. And we don't know whether you're coming or not. Because if you're not coming, then we still have to find a home for it. And if you are, we have to have it ready.”
Gray Shipley
Practical guidance
- Planning around a season. Reserve a couple of months out. Autumn is when most people fill a freezer and it is the busiest window.
- Want it dry-aged. Add more time, and decide early rather than changing your mind late.
- Need beef this week. Buy a box. A share is a plan rather than a purchase, and there is no shame in doing both.
- Replacing a share you are finishing. Order when the freezer is about a quarter full, not when it is empty.
Why we ask for a deposit on the larger ones
A whole beef or a side takes a deposit because we are matching you to a specific animal months ahead of you collecting it. That is a commitment on both sides. Figures are in what a whole beef costs.
“But, well, they don't cooperate. It's not in your control the weather and the animals staying in their fencing where they're supposed to be. And predators and all kinds of hiccups that make it more challenging than you think.”
Gray Shipley
The full sequence from reserving to collecting is in how a beef share works.
Dry-aged for weeks, which is exactly why it costs more.
View ProductHow far in advance should I order a beef share?
Weeks, not days, and longer if you want it dry-aged. Reserve before you need it rather than when you run out.
- Freezing and Food Safety, USDA FSIS
Food-safety temperatures and storage times on this page are cited to the agencies above rather than to us.
Written at Shipley Farms in Vilas, North Carolina: a family cattle farm raising and dry-aging beef in the Appalachian Mountains, now in its fifth generation. No shortcuts since 1872.
Every quote on this page is Gray Shipley talking, the man who runs this farm. We sat down with him, turned on a recorder, and kept his own words. Hesitations are trimmed so they read on the page. Nothing else is added or reworded, except where Gray revised his own words in review.
Nobody knows this beef better than we do. On food safety we leave it to USDA FSIS, and we have linked their page above. Reviewed 3 October 2026.
Shipley Farms
Stories, recipes and news from Shipley Farms.