Category: Meat Processing

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How is wet-aging different from dry-aging?

So what’s wet-aging and how is it different from dry-aging? Wet-aged steaks are vacuum-sealed in plastic bags and placed in the refrigerator for days or weeks. Dry-aging, on the other hand, involves storing beef in a temperature and humidity-controlled area for around two or three weeks. Dry-aged beef is considered superior to its wet-aged counterpart since it tends to have a more earthy and robust flavor (via Serious Eats).

Since dry-aging is more expensive and takes more time than wet-aging, many restaurants opt for the latter to cut costs.

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New deposit policy for animal slaughter and processing

Effective Jan 1, 2021, Burks Farm will require a deposit for all animals that are brought to us for slaughter and/or processing. The deposits will be:

  • $100 per beef
  • $50 per hog
  • $25 per sheep, lamb, or goat

Deposits should be paid at the time of scheduling. If the animals are delivered on the scheduled date, the deposit will be deducted from your final total.

If you cancel prior to seven days of the scheduled date of drop off, your deposit will be put toward the new drop off date. If you cancel or reschedule within seven days of your scheduled date of drop off, your deposit will be forfeited.

Thank you,
David and Ann Burks

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Beef Processing pauses on October 15th

Burks Farm must stop slaughtering beef on October 15th due to deer season. We will resume cutting beef on February 4th, 2021. We still have openings available on September 3rd, 17th, and 24th, and October 1st, 8th, and 15th. Schedule your beef or hog soon while there are still spots available this year. If you would like to schedule for 2021 please call and I can get you on the calendar starting February 4th.

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Thanks for another record-breaking deer processing season!

The 2019-2020 hunting season crushed last year’s record by 312 deer, with 1670 Deer(and 9 Bear) processed. Thanks to all the hunters who kept us busy during the season, and to our great team here at Burks Farm who worked hard and long to keep up with demand. You guys and gals are the best!

We couldn’t do it without all of you, and look forward to next season!

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Supporting Medical Research

Burks Farm is proud to participate with multiple research facilities for forensic testing, medical research, and specialized medical training. Doctors from VCU have been coming for over a year now harvesting pig bladders. They have created a machine that they hook these bladders up to and they can watch the bladder function as if it is in the animal or human. First time in history. They have already published 2 papers on their findings and they think the possibilities of what they can learn are endless. About 8 years ago we had another doctor from VCU come and harvest the largest nerve in the body to attempt to discover new ways for nerves to regenerate.

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The Importance of Field Dressing Your Animals

All animals should be gutted and cooled as soon as possible. This is especially true of bear because their fur and fat are designed to hold heat in. A bear should be gutted as soon as possible after it is killed, then packed with ice inside and out until it can be skinned. A bear will go bad even at temperatures below 40 degrees if not packed with ice because the hide will not release heat.

Unfortunately, we’ve had a couple of total losses with some bears as of late because they weren’t properly dressed, so much so that not only was the meat bad, the bear couldn’t even be mounted or skinned for a bear skin rug.