Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Arrowhead Beef better than the other guys?

Herd Life Harmony

This is our creed and words we live by here at Arrowhead Beef. We believe that great beef comes from great cows, and great cows must have a sustainable, humane life for their entirety. We have happy pasture-raised cows, simple as that.

Parthenais Breed

This French breed of cattle (pronounced par-than-ay) is world renowned for producing lean and tender beef. But you won’t find these cows just anywhere – well suited for Florida climate and suitably adapted to our grass-fed program, they truly are a step above Angus!

Local Processing

From our co-op of farmers in Chipley, Florida to our USDA plant in neighboring Westville, everything we do happens in one local area. We don’t ship our cows to factories and we process in small batches, much like a craft brewery. This helps us stay as “farm direct” as possible, ensuring the meat you put on your table is as if we were YOUR local butcher.

Shipping Questions

A complete list of all Questions and Answers can be found on its own page. Click here.

ROUTE Insurance FAQ

We’ve partnered with Route—a package protection and tracking solution—to give our customers the best possible delivery experience. Route provides low-cost shipping protection to protect your package in the event that it gets lost, stolen, or damaged while in transit.

Route is also a mobile app that allows you to visually track all of your online orders in one place. No need to dig through your email for tracking numbers. Route’s dynamic maps and real-time shipping updates keep you in the loop throughout every part of your delivery. The Route app is available on Android and Apple app stores.

If you experienced an issue with your order, please file a claim with Route’s team here.

A complete breakdown of Route can be found on its own page.

Click here

Questions about our Meat

Why do meat weights vary?

Meat weights are not all exactly the same. We're selling cuts of meat, after all, each of which is hand-cut from different cows. Like fingerprints, every cow is a little different resulting in slight variations in the steaks that are cut from them. Since we don't use hormones to boost our cow's weights, pushing them to an unnatural limit, each animal finishes at different sizes. This translates into steaks that are a little bigger or smaller depending on the cow. We do our best to match your order as perfectly as possible but please understand that some items may be heavier or lighter depending on availability. Because of the slight variance in steak sizes, we will do our best to over deliver when possible.

We also offer different size ranges for certain cuts because of this variance so if you want to make sure you get a bigger steak just select the larger option before checking out!

Questions about our Processes

Are your cows 100% grass-fed?

All of our beef that is listed under Grass Fed and Grass Finished adheres to this 100%. For this animal that means that after they are weaned from their mother’s milk they are fed a complete grass and forage fed (harvested grasses) diet for their entire lives. Our grass-fed beef cows never eat corn or any other grain. Our Wagyu Beef cows do eat corn to finish them which creates their unique marbling.

Do you use hormones or antibiotics?

No, we never use any added growth hormones and we never administer Antibiotics. This is true for all of our livestock.

Do you age your meat?

Yes, we currently do a Minimum 28 Day Dry Age on all of our grass-fed beef. This helps to tenderize the meat and enhances its flavor. Many steakhouses use a similar method to age their beef. Our Wagyu beef is processed at a different facility and currently undergoes a shorter wet age program. Due to the nature of Wagyu beef it doesn't require as much aging giving its inherent fatty marbling and tenderness.

Where do you process your meat?

We process and butcher our cows at our very own USDA certified plant in Westville, Florida. Which just so happens to be down the road and over the hill from us in Chipley, Florida. There, our team carefully butchers and vacuum seal each piece before freezing it and shipping it to you.

Pricing Questions

Why is the price on my piece of meat different than what is listed on the website?

The short answer is that the products on the website are listed in weight ranges but each individual piece is marked with an exact price per lb. The price of that range is the average $/lb for the higher and lower numbers of that range. I sell all of our meats at local farmer's markets and for this reason the price is printed directly on each piece of meat. Because we do not have fancy software with a barcode and tracking system for every piece of meat we sell, we instead create size ranges and sell them at the average price/lb that we sell the exact weight for.

That means sometimes you get more meat than you paid for and sometimes you get a little less. The size ranges are small enough that we feel everyone is on equal ground.

Also, because I personally pack every order I do my best to give you the larger optoin when it is available or sometimes I add more meat to your cooler to make up any difference if it seems like you are getting less than you paid.

We do our best!

Cooking Guidelines

Grass-fed/finished beef can be more sensitive when it comes to cooking, as some experience a "tough" or "dry" cut of beef. This can absolutely be avoided with our beef but you need to pay special care.

Roasts.

Any cut of beef that is braised or stew will become tender if the Low and Slow method is observed. Using a lid and moisture when cooking a cut of beef will keep the meat from drying out and allow for the slow break-down of connective tissue that will result in tender beef. When in doubt, use this method.

Dry roasting can also be done but much more caution needs to be followed. A very lean roast (rump) is more difficult than a fatty cut (brisket). I have many, many times, prepared a brisket in the oven with a dry rub and never covered it and have had nothing but wonderful meals.

Steaks.

Steak tenderness is typically evaluated based on the Inter-muscular Marbling of the cut. Wagyu beef is a perfect example of well marbled beef but our Parthenais cattle create very limited to no marbling. Don't worry! Certain breeds (including Parthenais) have what has been called the "tenderness gene" which means their muscle fiber has tenderness.

What does all that mean for cooking?

Fat usually creates a buffer for those that overcook their steaks since fat doesn't dry out like the meat itself, which means you have more room for error with more fat. So, Wagyu beef is virtually indestructible!

With the Parthenais grass-finished beef however, you can get a tender steak as long as you don't overcook it. Sear each side, add another 4-5 minutes total and you'll be nearly perfect, giving you a Med-Rare finish.