Vilas, North Carolina · Five generations
No shortcuts since 1872.
It is painted on the side of our building because it is the only promise worth making about beef. This page is the whole of it: what we are here to do, the three things that make this farm different from anything else you can buy, the process every single order goes through, and what happens if we get it wrong.
What we are here to do
“To provide beef that tastes better and is healthier for you because of where it comes from and how it is cared for.”
R.G. Shipley Sr., 1912 to 2015Written by the grandfather of the man who runs the farm today, and still the standard we are measured against.
What makes us different
Three things, and they are all checkable.
Anybody can say their beef is better. These are the three claims we make that you can actually hold us to.
One farm. One valley. Five generations.
We are not a brand that buys beef from a network of producers and puts a farm name on the box. The Shipley family has raised cattle in this Appalachian valley since 1872. The pasture in the photograph is the pasture the animal grew up in.
Cut to order, and you pay the weight we actually packed.
Beef is sold by the pound and nobody knows what a steak weighs until it has been cut. Most sellers handle that by charging you an estimate. We authorise the estimate, then charge only what went in your box, to the cent. It is the hardest thing our system does and almost nobody else does it.
The same beef goes to the restaurants.
Your order is cut on the same floor, on the same day, as the orders going to restaurants, a resort, a brewery and two universities across North Carolina. There is no consumer grade and trade grade here. There is one grade.
How your beef gets to you
Every order goes through the same seven steps.
Not a marketing funnel. This is the actual sequence, and our staff are trained and held to it step by step.
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Raised here
One herd, on our own ground in Watauga County, at three thousand feet in the Southern Appalachians.
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Aged on the bone
Our dry-aged beef is aged in-house, on our schedule, until it is ready. Nobody else sets that clock for us.
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Cut to your order
Your cuts are taken after you order them. Nothing is pre-portioned to hit a price point.
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Weighed honestly
We hold an estimate on your card when you order, then charge the true packed weight when your box is made up. If it weighs less than the estimate, you pay less. The hold is explained on every product we sell by the pound.
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Packed cold
Insulated and iced for the journey it actually has to make, because a cold chain that works in Boone and fails in Phoenix is not a cold chain.
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Delivered, shipped or collected
Our own van on the regional routes, a tracked carrier everywhere else, or pick it up from us. We ship frozen beef to all fifty states.
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Made right if it is not right
See below. This step is as much a part of the process as the other six.
What we guarantee
“We stand behind the quality of our beef. If something is not right with your order, contact us within 7 days of delivery and we will make it right.”
Beef is perishable, so we usually cannot take food back for safety reasons. What we do instead is replace it or refund it. Card orders are refunded to the card; wholesale accounts on terms get a credit on the next statement. Call 828-484-1872 or email beef@shipleyfarmsbeef.com with your order number.
The full detail, including how shipping situations are handled, is in our Returns & Refunds policy. If this page and that policy ever disagree, the policy governs, and one of the two is a mistake we want to know about.
The standards we hold ourselves to
What our own people are accountable for.
This is not a values poster. It is the short list our staff are actually measured against, published here because you have a right to know what we are trying to do.
- No shortcuts. We dry-age in-house and cut to order when both are slower and dearer than the alternative. If a shortcut would show up on your plate, we do not take it.
- Say the real number. We charge the weight we packed, not the weight we guessed. When we find a number of our own that is wrong, we go and correct it.
- Your problem is ours until it is fixed. Not until it is explained, not until it is somebody else's department. Until it is fixed.
- Leave the ground better than we found it. Five generations have farmed this valley and we intend there to be a sixth.
- Do the job so the next person can do theirs. A mislabelled box is a driver's problem, then your problem. We treat the handover as part of the job.
Where to start
Three ways to buy from us.
Households order online or come to the farm store. Kitchens and institutions buy wholesale on their own pricing and terms. Everybody is welcome to come and look at the place first.