FAQ

Dry ice will evaporate into carbon dioxide. You may throw the packaging in the trash, and any dry ice will evaporate. Just don’t put it in a sealed container.

We only take good reviews. Kidding, please look us up on Google, Bing, or Facebook. We love customer feedback and every review is truly appreciated as it helps us build our small business and continue to improve.

Yes.

When we decide to breed a cow, it takes about three to four years for that breeding to result in a delicious steak. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to accurately plan supply that many years in advance. We can’t just speed up the production line. We try our best to keep our beef flowing to our customers, but high demand or rare cuts are sometimes out of stock. Sign up for our newsletter or send us an email to find out when high demand cuts are back in stock.

Please do. Just pop them in your freezer and use them to keep our beef cold when you take it to your friend’s house to impress them.

Once beef leaves us, we can’t ensure that the cold chain hasn’t been broken and therefore the product may not be safe to eat. For that reason, we do not accept returns. If there is a problem with your order, contact us at crafted@hibraubeef.com

We ship on Tuesday afternoons and your order will arrive by the end of that week. Any order placed after midnight on Monday evening will be shipped out the following week.

Yes, and please do. The box and liner are both curbside recyclable. You can also reuse your box as a cooler.

Newberry, SC.

Occasionally. One challenge we’re aware of is that restaurants often want only high end steaks. Heck, we like them too. We love restaurants that can utilize all of the delectable cuts and are happy to work with those that, like us, aim to use all of the animal.

We use dry ice or gel packs, plus insulation, to keep your shipment below safe temperatures during transit.

Noon on Mondays, 12pm est., is the cutoff to receive your beef the same week. Orders received after noon will be shipped the following week and you’ll have to wait that much longer for our beefy deliciousness.

We love meeting customers. If you’re in the Newberry, SC area or simply would like to visit a cool small town, select pickup at checkout and you can pick up in person at our farm in Newberry.

Unfortunately, no. Right now we ship to places that are accessible by one day ground transportation. If we don’t ship to your area yet, we would be disappointed too. We’re always trying to expand though, and hope to ship to the continental US soon. Sign up for our newsletter to find out when we get there and be patient as we grow. If you’re just dying to try our beef, drop us an email and we’ll see how we can get it to you.

We package your order up in an insulated box, add dry ice or gel packs, and ship it either overnight or two-day express. Orders over $199 ship for FREE, and orders under $199 ship for $25. All shipped orders must be a minimum of $99 to ensure that there is enough weight (thermal mass) in the box to keep your beef adequately cooled during shipping. If you would like to avoid the order minimum, please choose on-farm pickup.

No worries. As long as it’s cold to the touch, it’s safe. It’s just like being in a refrigerator instead of a freezer. If for some reason your beef arrives warm, please let us know by emailing crafted@hibraubeef.com. Take a picture of the beef, the label, and your packaging and send them to us so that we can make it right.

Ryegrass, rye, crimson clover, white clover, canola plant (not oil), turnip greens, hairy vetch, fescue, bermudagrass, just to name some. It’s our cattle buffet. We are the only beef supplier that we’re aware of that actually tells you what plants your cattle were finished on so that you can taste and compare the flavor to other varieties. It’s our own terroir.

Yes and no. This is a complicated question, but let’s refer to our no BS guarantee and explain what’s going on… We absolutely never use antibiotics (or any chemical) in our feed. There’s only one reason we ever use antibiotics…when a cow is sick. If we have a sick cow that can benefit from antibiotics, you’re dern right they get them. But only after we consult with our veterinarian and only to that individual animal. Afterwards, that cow is removed from consideration for the Hi Brau Beef Program, where only the finest are selected. We just don’t sell any beef that has ever had antibiotics.

Our cattle receive veterinarian and research supported vaccinations both in calfhood and adulthood. Other than that, we select animals adapted to our environment that naturally resist parasites and diseases in our area. If a cow is ever hurt or sick, we have a licensed veterinarian on call that comes to the farm and administers whatever treatment they deem necessary. Should that treatment be antibiotics or hormones, that cow is removed from consideration for the Hi Brau Beef Program and will never be sold to our customers.

Almost all cattle in the US are grass fed at one time, but then the vast majority are trucked to feed lots in the Western US, where they are confined and fed steamed, flaked corn…delicious. Our cattle are grass fed, meaning they have been fed grass in their early lives, and grass finished, which means the finishing, or fattening, portion of their lives (the period just before harvest) is exclusively on grass. The only exception to this is our grain finished varieties, which are still grass fed for 99% of their total diet. All of our grain finished varieties are clearly represented so that you can make an informed choice.

One breed?! Nonsense. The beauty of the cattle world is that there are hundreds of breeds, each with their own unique advantages and flavors. We want to try them all. Most of our cattle are crossbreeds, which allows us to take advantage of “heterosis”, often called hybrid vigor. It’s when two different breeds are mated and the resulting offspring pulls the best of both breeds. It’s also the reason why mutts make the best dogs. Yeah, science. We think it’s silly to just pick one breed and claim it’s the best breed. Is there a best car? A best beer? A best house? A best whiskey? Of course not. It seems silly to go to the store and only have one kind of soda, and yet that’s exactly what we do with beef. Everybody has preferences and things that they enjoy, and it’s time beef was treated the same way. So to actually answer the question, our most common breeds are crosses of either Angus or South Poll, and often both. In addition, we sometimes have Wagyu, Hereford, Simmental, Charolais, and Akaushi, to name just a few. We’re even developing our own breed combination that we hope to release in 2023. Make sure you sign up for our mailing list because it will be a very limited quantity.

All of our cattle are born and raised for their entire lives on our family farm. They are kept on pastures 100% of the time and are moved to fresh pastures nearly every day during the growing season. In the winter, they are provided with hay (dried grass) in open pasture. Only cattle selected for our mixed grain finishing program are ever fed any sort of grain feed, and even then only as a “dessert” for their grass diet. You will never find a confined animal feedlot on our farm. They also receive a locally mixed “multivitamin” mineral supplement to ensure that their mineral needs are met. Besides feed, they have constant access to clean water, plenty of shade beneath the oaks, poplars, and magnolias, a smorgasbord of plants, and protection from predators. About the only thing they have to deal with is the occasional bark from our farm dog, Sampson. It’s a Bovine Paradise.

The cost of a new facility to slaughter beef is about $3 million. No. No we do not. However, we do have a great relationship with the abattoirs we use and trust them to live up to the Hi Brau standards. They are local to us and locally owned.

Another highly variable question due to the way we experiment. We never harvest before 24 months of age, 28 to 30 is average, and we sometimes go much higher. Our Spring 2022 Special Release was a 40 Month Live Aged Beef. Delicious. Yes, it costs us more to keep cows longer, but we spare no expense in producing the finest beef.

Yes, for a minimum of two weeks and often longer. It depends on what we’re going for.

Yeah, if it’s done wrong. Heck, we had some not-so-great beef when we were learning. Through research, experimenting, and good old fashioned experience, we feel confident that our beef will match almost any in tenderness and surpass any in flavor. One warning: If you’re used to grocery store beef, the intense, rich, earthy flavors will surprise you at first. It’s like going from cheap, light beer to a barrel aged stout. Once you start to appreciate it, there’s no going back. It may be time to mature your beef palate.

Yes, by a real, live, USDA inspector. If you ever get ground beef with a tiny bit of bluish green in it, it’s because that’s where the inspector stamped the beef with food grade, edible ink. Don’t worry, it’s just proof that your beef was inspected and totally safe to eat.

Officially, about a year. Unofficially, we’ve eaten beef that was in the freezer for five years and it was good. We don’t recommend it, but we’re not your daddy.

Absolutely not, but not because it couldn’t be. Though we hold ourselves to the same high standards and sell only the safest, highest quality beef, we prefer to avoid the government paperwork, over regulation, and insane record keeping that comes with certified organic. We’d rather just invite you to the farm and let you see for yourself. Seriously, drop on by. We’re happy to show you how we do it and answer any questions. We’re confident you won’t be worried about whether we’re certified organic or not.

Shipping refrigerated beef doesn’t sound appetizing to us. Our butchers flash freeze it and we believe this puts it on the same level as fresh beef, except safer.

I mean, mainly because it’s better. Seriously though, grocery store beef is grown in the most cost effective way possible: with growth hormones, growth promoters, feed additives, and antibiotics. They are shipped from their birth farm to places with easy access to corn, usually at about nine months of age. From there, they are fed a corn based feed, usually steamed, flaked corn, until the earliest possible harvest age, which is usually about 18 months. It’s the most efficient way to raise beef in the world, but not the best for you or the cow. Our beef is not raised with the cheapest methods, and therefore it’s more expensive to produce. We also pay our farm hands a living wage and provide extra benefits (yes, they get free beef). We unapologetically raise a slow, but responsibly, grown cow to produce a premium product, and thus we must charge a premium price. We hope you’ll take advantage of sales and specials, because once you try our beef, we believe you’ll agree that it’s worth it for your health, the planet, and your tastebuds.

No, just beef. No water, no “saline solution to enhance flavor”, nothing. There are also no gasses added to the packaging or coloring to make the beef look a weird, bright pink. Did you know that grocery store ground beef is often from lean cows grown in foreign countries? They don’t taste good and don’t have enough fat, so then they mix in fat from American beef. Yeah, we don’t do that either. Not so fun fact: Did you know grocery stores can still legally label that as American beef?

All of our beef is flash frozen and vacuum sealed in plastic packaging. We do recommend handling it gently, as even the best packaged meat can get tiny punctures, and thus freezer burn, from rough and frequent handling. This is especially true for bone-in cuts.

Seems obvious, but it’s not. It is legally allowable for foreign beef to be labeled as a “Product of the USA” as long as the beef is packaged in America. This means that beef is grown cheaply in countries with sub par standards, slaughtered, cut up, put in bulk packaging, shipped to America, and then packaged in individual packs with the USA label on it. It’s dirty, deceitful, and totally legal. Go ahead, look it up. Our cows are taught the national anthem in calfhood and are 100% American made.

Plan on about a cubic foot for 25 lbs.

A big shout out to the good folks at EMILY Revolutionary Marketing Group, a local and awesome marketing firm. They were tasked with the near impossible job of coming up with a name that encompassed our philosophy: a sustainably grown beef meant to be enjoyed by connoisseurs and families alike. They knocked it out of the park. Brau is the German word for “brew”, which is exactly what we do when we try our different breed, age, and diet combinations. Hi Brau reflects our dedication to an elevated, top notch, paradigm shifting, beef eating experience. It is pronounced “High Brow”, and lives up to the name.

They get paid in beef and they better like it! Actually, they all get paid at least double minimum wage, are treated with respect, and have opportunities to earn bonuses, bigger responsibilities, and learn tons of skills. We believe in building our community and that providing good jobs and skills is a way to do that. Though we’re full right now, we’re always growing. If you’re interested in joining our crew, email us at crafted@hibraubeef.com.

There are plenty of companies out there that have slick marketing campaigns, huge advertising budgets, and talk about how they work with small farmers and have quality beef. They all have one thing in common though: they’re not farms. They’re middlemen. When you support them, chances are good that you’re supporting VC funded startups with investors and executive boards. When you support Hi Brau Beef, you’re supporting a third generation family farm and real, lifelong farmers. We do have an Executive Board, but most of the members are cows. There’s also a dog.

Yes. We try to improve the air, soil, and water around our farm each day through practices like: No till farming No commercial fertilizers, only locally sourced manure Judicious use of herbicides No pesticides Rotational grazing Proper rest periods for our plants We believe that all of these practices taken together, plus many more, have helped us to create a farm that produces more than it consumes, and helps nourish and revitalize the surrounding resources.