NorCal's #1 Distributor for Regenerative Ranchers since 2014!

Cut & Wrap Information

Your animals deserve the best!

Call us today - (707) 521-0121

Introduction

Sonoma County Meat Co. (SCMC) is committed to working with local meat producers. We process meat for large & medium scale farmers who resell their meats. We also work with hunters or small scale livestock farmers who raise animals for their own consumption.

At SCMC, we understand the importance of attention to detail when it comes to handling your product. We believe that through effective communication and mutual trust, we can best serve your needs.

By creating this customer manual we hope to save time, while helping you know what to expect -- an essential part of the great customer service we aim to provide.

PLEASE NOTE: It is required that you are on our calendar in order to bring animals to us, otherwise, we may have to turn you away.

 

GUIDE TO WORKING WITH SCMC

Cut Sheets:

Beef - Standard Mixed 1/4 or to customize please use our Beef - Blank Cut Sheet

Pork - Standard Cut Sheet or to customize please use our Pork - Blank Cut Sheet

Lamb - Standard Cut Sheet or to customize please use our Lamb - Blank Cut Sheet

Goat - Standard Cut Sheet or to customize please use our Goat - Blank Cut Sheet

Who Should Read This Form 

All customers interested in cut & wrap should use this document for reference concerning both Custom Exempt and USDA inspected processing, cut and wrap, labeling for resale items, and further processed meat products.

Services Offered

SCMC offers both Custom Exempt cutting and packaging, as well as USDA inspected fabrication for beef, pork, lamb, and goat. Currently, further processing services include:

  • fresh sausages (both bulk and links; standard and special flavors)
  • smoked, heat-treated, not ready-to-eat products including bacon (classic, no nitrite, honey lavender, and salt + thyme), ham (classic only), hocks (classic only)
    • Classic Bacon has maple and red pepper, made with nitrite
    • No Nitrite Classic (uncured) Bacon has maple and red pepper, made without nitrite
    • Honey Lavender Bacon has honey and lavender powder, made with nitrite
    • Salt + Thyme (uncured) Bacon has a salty flavor, made without nitrite, and without sugar

In addition to the services above, under Custom Exemption we also offer pepperoni sticks; and process deer, hog, elk, and buffalo.

FEES 

Cut and Wrap

  • Beef, Pig, Lamb, Goat, & Wild Game: $150 minimum
  • Prices based on hot carcass weight.
  • $1.69/lb for labeled “not for sale,” vacuum wrapped in clear packaging.
  • $1.69/lb for USDA seal, apply custom label, vacuum wrapped in clear packaging. 
  • SRM Removal Fee, for beef over 30 months: $50 per beef
  • Logo on USDA Labels, one-time fee: $75 (Only logos without special claims) 
  • *Any animal sent out of schedule will be rejected and charged a cross dock fee, or be processed at $2.00/lb for cut & wrap. Avoid by scheduling early!

Other fabrication fees:

  • Boning fee, for any Pig, Lamb or Goat shoulder, leg: $4 each
  • Boning fee, for any Lamb or Goat rack that is frenched: $8 each
  • Splitting fee, flat fee to divide beef, pork, lamb, or goat into sides A & B: $150; for quartered beef: $345
  • Pork head processing fee: $10 fabrication fee per head (i.e. for packing any/all ears, snout, jowls, cheeks, skull) 
  • Pricing fee (USDA only), applied to hot weight: $0.15/lb; $100 set up fee; price changes only allowed every 6 months; template to fill in and sign
  • Boxes, we offer packaging in sturdy collapsible cardboard boxes free of charge

Value-Added / Further Processed Items

  • Bulk Sausages packed in 1#, 5#, or 10# bags: $2.25/lb (40# minimum)
  • Link Sausages, pork casings, packed 4 per bag (approx 1#): $3.90/lb (25# minimum)
  • Breakfast Links, lamb casings, packed 8 per bag (approx 1#): $5.90/lb
  • Special Sausages (with allergens): add $1/lb to above prices

All cooked products are charged are on green weight (pre-cooked weight).

  • Smoking (bacon, ham, hocks): $4.00/lb
    • Special bacon (honey lavender, salt + thyme): $5.00/lb
  • Pepperoni Sticks (Custom Exempt only), 50# minimum, packed 1# per bag: $6.75/lb

Cold Storage

We offer 7 days of free cold storage.  Cold storage fees begin to incur 7 days after we email you your invoice. Receipt of your invoice means that your order has been processed and is ready for pick up. If we do not have an email address on file we will call the phone number on file to inform you.

Our cold storage facility is located at 250 Dutton Ave.  Santa Rosa, CA 95407. In general, orders with 14 or more boxes will be sent here but we will inform you if they remain at our processing facility. Payments must be received at our Processing location at 35 Sebastopol Ave. Santa Rosa, CA 95407 prior to pick up, where you will receive a “Pickup Order” form to bring with you in order to release product.

Basic Cold Storage Fees

Cold Storage Fees begin to incur 7 days after you have been informed that your product is ready for pick up. We charge $3 per day, per pallet for basic frozen cold storage. This will be billed and invoiced at the first of each month for the previous month’s storage. Warehousing fees apply to access products.

Long Term Storage Fees

Looking to store long term? We offer month to month frozen cold storage at a rate of $60 per pallet per month. Warehousing fees apply to access products. In order to be eligible, you must submit a Recurring Credit Card Payment Authorization form declaring the dollar amount to be auto charged at the first of each month for the previous month’s storage.

Warehousing Fees

Pallets that you wish to remain in cold storage but continue to access will incur a restocking fee of $30 per pallet for each. Warehousing labor fees will apply depending how long services take.

Communicating with Us

It is required that you are on our calendar in order to bring animals to us, otherwise, we may have to turn you away.

Once you have a place on our calendar, make sure to book your slaughter with your slaughter facility/person of choice.

To schedule processing and submit cut instructions, email (see below) or call our shop and say, "I'd like to give my cutting instructions," and your call will be directed to someone who can take your information. The best times to call are 8am-4pm Monday - Friday.

Call (707-521-0121)

Email: office@socomeatco.com

More information on giving cut instructions see below under heading "Cut Instructions."

Scheduling

Again, do not bring animals to SCMC for cut & wrap without prior scheduling. To schedule processing, please call and speak to Trevor or Xochitl at 707-521-0121 at least 21 days (3 weeks) in advance of when you need the animal slaughtered. During our peak season April - November, to ensure your place on our calendar we suggest booking up to 6 months in advance. Please keep in mind:

  1. Dry aging is not available during our busy months. When available, dry aging costs $10 per roller day.
  2. We prefer Custom Exempt animals to be dropped off between 3pm - 5pm on the day of slaughter.

Cut Instructions

We expect you to call or email us with your cut instructions by the day we receive your animal/s from the slaughter house. Be sure to have your hot weights ready to assign to each cut sheet if you are requesting animals are cut differently. Our strong preference is to cut your animals together, i.e. if you bring in 5 pigs we would cut together and box like cuts together.

Get us your cut instructions the day your animal arrives to us - either by phone, in person, or via email. We are available to go over the cut sheets if you have any questions about how to fill them out. We have both blank forms and standardized cut sheets for each species, which you can download from our website. You can also pick up hard copies in the shop.

If you choose to email, please make sure you are using 2023 forms to fill out your cut instructions (see website). It makes a huge difference in our efficiency if this is done properly. We will send back your cut sheet if it's not filled out on the most current form.

Please use the cut sheets provided. We will not accept cut instructions written in a different format.

There are various ways an animal can be broken down. Please know you will need to prioritize your desire for certain cuts - for example, if you know you want sausage from your 1/2 pig, you will not be able to get other roasts or ham; similarly, if you know you want ham from your 1/2 pig, you will not have enough trim to make sausage.

Please note:

  • You must have a minimum of 25# of trim to make one kind of sausage.
  • The smallest size we will pack bones, fat, or skin will be in 4-5# bags -- no less.
  • If you desire ham hocks, we will gladly make them for you -- whole only, not in pieces.
  • Steaks and chops will be cut according to number of inches thick -- not by weight.
  • Your desired amount of stew meat must be in pounds -- not a percentage of ground.

If we do not receive your cut instructions within 5 days of your animal arriving, we may cut your animal according to our Standard Cut Sheet. Again, we expect you to call or email us with your cut instructions ASAP once your animal is slaughtered. At least by the day we receive your animal/s from the slaughter house. NO LATER.

Selling Quarters, Halves, or Whole Animals?

It takes us a lot of time to take cutting instructions from a farmer’s multiple customers, especially when your customers have no prior information about retail cuts from whole, half, or quarter carcasses. Please educate them as much as you can about what cuts they can expect to receive from the portion of meat they are buying.

It's important that you communicate with your customers that we expect them to call us with their cut instructions by the day we receive your animal/s from the slaughter house. Make sure to assign hot weights to your customers, and make sure your customers have that information to avoid time-consuming data seeking.

Especially for those sharing a 1/4 beef with other people, if we do not get your cut instructions within 5 days of the steer arriving, we will cut your beef according to our Standard Beef Cut Sheet to avoid dry aging fees for the rest of the group sharing that beef.

Pick-up

When your product is finished we will call you and let you know. Your finished frozen product must be picked up within 7 days of notification that it is ready. Please understand that our facility has limited cold storage which is very expensive to run. Product left in our facility past seven days after notification will incur a storage fee of $1 per box per day.

If you request picking up your meat fresh, you must pickup within 3 days of notification that it is ready, otherwise it may be frozen.

Please pick-up Monday - Saturday between 8am - 4pm, or by appointment. 

Payment

Payment for services is expected at pickup. Payment options include cash or check. Though we accept Visa & Mastercard, there is a 2.5% processing fee. We strongly encourage you to avoid this fee by bringing cash or check.  Customers with returned checks will be charged $50, and required to pay with cash thereafter.

If you are selling your meat to your own customers who will be picking up directly from us, make sure you get us their payment before pick-up; or they are aware of our payment policy.

Rush Orders

We understand that, at certain times, you may require a rush order and we are willing to work with you under these circumstances as best we can. We will consider rush orders on an individual basis and in accordance with our scheduled work load. At our discretion, rush orders may incur additional charges. Proper planning and communication will usually avoid rush orders and resulting additional charges. An estimate for emergency expediting is around $100 per carcass.

Sausage Recipes

Our sausage recipes are our own, they contain no MSG, nitrates, nor nitrites. If you have specific ingredient questions please call or email. There is a 25# minimum order, per flavor. If you request link sausage but your carcass does not produce the yield to meet our minimum, we may opt to make bulk sausage, or plain ground pork with your trim. Note: While we make every effort to provide our customers with a diverse line of quality seasoned products, we cannot make “custom” recipes for your sausages. Each recipe we use has to have a label approved by the USDA, a lengthy and time consuming process.

    LABELS

    Plant Generic

    Use of our in-house plant generic label is included with your packaging. For USDA products, the label will have our USDA establishment's legend at the top, and include the name of the cut, weight of cut, date of packaging, and show our plant’s address. If Custom Exempt, the label will include the name of the cut, weight of cut, date of packaging, the term "Not for Sale", and show our plant’s address.

    Branded Logo

    Most farmer's processing under USDA inspection for resale prefer to use their logo/ farm name on our generic label to help differentiate their branded product in the marketplace. This option must be set-up by a paid in-house technician. There is a one-time fee of $75 to set up your logo on our label. This labeling option is available in black and white only. This option does not require you to purchase the labels and keep them in inventory since the labeling machine prints them on demand.

    You must email us a .jpg of your logo in advance of your meat arriving. If we do not receive it we will pack your meat with no logo, and no logo fee, until we receive your logo.

    Special Labeling Claims

    Some farmers wish to use “Special Labeling Claims” such as “grass-fed”, “pasture-raised”, “no added hormones or antibiotics”, etc. These claims must be approved by USDA/FSIS. SCMC offers this application service at a charge of $100 per application submittal. This process also takes time so please let us know well in advance. We prefer to consider new label claims at the beginning of each year.

    Delivery Options

    We encourage you to pick up your meat directly from our shop. If you are interested in delivery, that may be possible in certain circumstances south of Geyserville and north of San Jose along the 101 corridor. For deliveries along our existing route, the standard charge is $60 per carcass. Please contact the shop for more information at office@socomeatco.com, or call 707-521-0121.

    After we call to say your meat is ready – PLEASE PROMPTLY PICK UP YOUR MEAT
    Free storage 1st 7 days from notification –after 7 days Cold Storage Fee
    If fresh meat is not picked up after 3 days of notification, it may be frozen.
    Sonoma County Meat Co. has limited free cooler & freezer space. Livestock producer agrees:
     - to pick up cut & wrapped meats within 7 days of notification that the order is ready
     - any order left after 7 days from notification will be charge $1/day/box after this period
     - if meat is left for over 30 days, producer agrees Sonoma County Meat Co. may dispose of or donate the producer's meat. Producer will still be responsible for all processing fees.