Wacker Farms and Livestock

09/08/2026

🚨Our October beef pickup is filling up fast! 🥩 Now is the perfect time to reserve your quarter, half, or whole beef and stock that freezer with quality, delicious, locally raised beef just in time for winter!

🐮Need ground beef instead? We also have 1-pound packages in stock and ready to go! Choose between 80/20 or 90/10 ground beef, available in your choice of vacuum-sealed or paper-wrapped packaging.

🌽 SILAGE SEASON SPECIAL: To celebrate the start of one of our busiest times of year, use code SILAGE at checkout for 10% OFF your order, up to $100!

‼️Orders (for this pickup) close, and sale ends September 18th, so this is your chance to get your beef ordered, save up to $100, and fill that freezer before winter!❄️

📍If you don’t see a pickup location near you please reach out via email and we will get one added.
📧 [email protected]

👉 Reserve your order now at

For over 120 years, our family has been proudly serving Colorado agriculture. We raise beef for custom slaughter, and have a complete farming operation. We take

09/08/2026

Make sure to head to the Brush fair grounds September 11th for a great event and auction! Fun starts at 5:30pm!

🍔 Get ready for some incredible, home-raised beef!

A huge thank you to Chris and Deb Wacker of Wacker Farms & Livestock for their generous donation of 25 lbs. of hamburger for our upcoming live auction! 🌾🐄

Mark your calendars for September 11th and head over to the Brush Fairgrounds Event Center. The fun kicks off with dinner starting at 5:30 PM, followed by the live auction.

Come hungry, support a great cause, and bid on some top-tier, local beef for your freezer. We can't wait to see you all there!

Wacker Farms and Livestock

09/07/2026

This time of year, our days start to look pretty much the same every day! The regular chores still have to be done—feeding and checking cows, checking and filling water, and making sure everything around the farm is taken care of—but the rest of us will spend the next month or so somewhere in a corn field, in a truck, or in the scale house. 🌽 Silage season is a big job!

Silage is whole corn plants that are chopped into small pieces and harvested while the plant still has plenty of moisture. The chopped corn is hauled from the field, weighed, and then packed tightly into a pile — so the oxygen is pushed out and it can ferment. That fermentation preserves the feed and creates a nutritious, energy-rich feed source for the cattle throughout the year.

With the amount of corn we chop, along with keeping trucks moving, unloading and packing the silage, weighing loads, and making sure everything stays on schedule, it takes a lot of people, equipment, and long days to get it all done. So for the next several weeks, if you’re looking for us, there’s a pretty good chance we’ll be covered in dust and corn somewhere! 😂🌽

09/02/2026

Sorry we’ve been a little quiet around here—busy season has officially kicked into high gear! Although, it’s always busy season around here! 😉 We’ve been spending our days getting ready for silage, rebuilding truck motors, tackling equipment repairs, and juggling all the other jobs that come with this time of year. There is always something that needs attention, whether it’s preparing machinery, checking trailers, servicing trucks, or making sure every piece of equipment is ready to handle long days in the field.

Naturally, right in the middle of hay season, the swather decided to join the repair list! For anyone who may not be familiar with it, a swather is an important piece of haying equipment that cuts the standing crop and lays it into long, tidy rows called windrows. These windrows allow the hay to dry evenly before it is raked and baled. When everything is working properly, a swather helps keep the haying process moving efficiently—but when it breaks down in the middle of the season, it can quickly turn into an immediate shop visit!

Of course, we’ve had plenty of help from the dogs along the way, with Paisley taking a special interest in helping us repair the swather!🩷🐾

Now we’re gearing up for silage, which is projected to start this weekend and keep us running hard for quite a while. Silage season means long days, busy fields, a lot of loaded trucks, and plenty of coordination to keep everything moving from the field to storage. Until then, you’ll find us in the shop getting trucks, trailers, and equipment serviced, repaired, and ready to roll. We’re looking forward to getting back out in the fields and bringing you along for the fun, controlled chaos that lies ahead, so stay tuned for updates! 😅🌽

09/01/2026

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝘂𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗳 𝗕𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗳 𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲? 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁.

One of the most common points of confusion when buying beef directly from a producer is the difference between live weight, hanging weight and packaged weight. If you’ve never purchased beef this way before, it can be surprising to hear that your half has a hanging weight of 440 pounds and then discover that you aren’t taking home 440 pounds of packaged meat.

Nothing disappeared. These are simply different stages of the process.

Live weight is what the animal weighs before harvest.

Hanging weight is the carcass weight after harvest once the hide, head, blood, internal organs and other non-carcass portions have been removed.

Packaged weight is the finished product that actually goes into your freezer after aging, cutting, trimming, deboning where requested, grinding and packaging.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵:

Let’s use a 440 lb hanging-weight half as an example.

• Hanging weight: 440 lbs
• Estimated take-home yield: approximately 60–70%
• 440 × 60% = 264 lbs packaged
• 440 × 70% = 308 lbs packaged
• Estimated take-home range: roughly 265–310 lbs

That range is an ESTIMATE, not a guaranteed packaged weight.

So where can the other weight go?

• Moisture loss during aging
• Bones removed for boneless cuts
• Excess fat and trim
• Connective tissue and other fabrication loss
• Bones you choose not to keep
• Fat you choose not to keep for tallow
• Available organ meats or other portions you decline
• Your individual cutting and processing selections

This is also why Arrow M charges by hanging weight rather than packaged weight.

Our processor charges us based on the hanging weight of the carcass. We aren’t charged according to how many pounds of steaks, roasts and hamburger ultimately go into your freezer, so hanging weight gives us a consistent measurement for pricing halves and wholes.

It also allows YOU to decide how much of your beef you want to utilize.

Your cut sheet matters. A lot.

You may choose bone-in steaks and roasts, keep soup or marrow bones, keep fat for rendering tallow, request available organ meats and utilize considerably more of the animal. Someone else may request boneless cuts, heavily trimmed meat and decline every bone, organ and piece of fat available to them.

Those two customers can start with essentially the same hanging weight and go home with different packaged weights.

If an available portion is declined on your cut sheet, those pounds don’t turn into extra steaks or hamburger. They simply aren’t coming home with you. That’s perfectly fine if you don’t want them, but it is important to understand how those choices affect your final take-home weight.

This is why transparency matters on BOTH sides of a direct-to-consumer beef transaction.

For the customer: Read your contract, pricing information and cut sheet. Make sure you understand what weight you’re paying from, what you’re choosing to keep and what you’re declining. If you don’t understand something, ask before submitting your cut sheet.

For the producer: Put it in writing. Define hanging weight versus packaged weight. Clearly state what your price is based on. Explain that packaged yield varies and that any percentages provided are estimates rather than guarantees. Put the information in your customer agreement AND your cut sheet so there is a written record of what was explained and what the customer selected.

Good paperwork protects the producer, but it also gives the customer the information necessary to make an informed purchase.

At Arrow M, we want people who are new to buying beef directly from a ranch to understand exactly what they’re purchasing. Buying a half or whole beef is different from buying individual packages across a grocery-store counter, and there is a learning curve the first time.

The easiest way to remember it:

• Hanging weight = what the transaction is based on
• Cut sheet = how you choose to use your beef
• Packaged weight = what remains after aging, fabrication, trimming and YOUR processing choices

And that’s why a 440 lb hanging-weight half does not equal 440 lbs in your freezer.

💭 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂
If you buy beef by the half or whole, what do you keep that others might overlook: bones, organs, fat for tallow, or something else?

— 𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐌 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐨.
𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦.

𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨
University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. How Much Meat to Expect from a Beef Carcass.

University of Missouri Extension. Buying Beef for Home Freezers.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. How Much Meat Can You Expect from a Fed Steer?

08/28/2026

🍔 Big news!
We’re now sourcing fresh, local ground beef from Wacker Livestock for the burgers you already love.
Same juicy flavor… even better knowing it’s raised right here in our community.
Come taste the difference!
Wacker Farms and Livestock

08/27/2026

Last night, Debbie caught some really pretty pictures of the sky! 🌅☁️ Those big, beautiful clouds sure looked like they were carrying some much-needed rain. We hope they made their way over to you guys and brought you a little moisture! 🌧️🤞🏼

There’s just something about watching those big clouds roll across the sky—it’s a beautiful reminder of how lucky we are to have this view everyday.💙

08/26/2026

🚨 OUR WEBSITE IS LIVE! 🚨

It’s officially time to FILL THOSE FREEZERS! 🥩❄️

If you’ve been wanting to stock up on high-quality beef, now is the time! We have 1lb packages ground beef available (vacuum seal tubes or paper wrap; specify at checkout otherwise it will be vac seal), along with bulk beef options in a quarter, half, or whole beef.

Our next round of bulk beef will be ready for pickup mid-to-late October! Once those spots are sold, we’ll open up additional dates for future beef.

When ordering, you’ll be able to choose your preferred pickup location. 📍 If you don’t see a location near you, please reach out to us at [email protected] and let us know! We’ll do our best to add a closer pickup location.

Don’t wait until the freezer is empty—save your spot now! 🐄🥩

Head over to our website, check out what we have available, and get your order started!

👉 It’s time to fill those freezers! 🥩❄️

For over 120 years, our family has been proudly serving Colorado agriculture. We raise beef for custom slaughter, and have a complete farming operation. We take

08/24/2026

A few days ago, we had to do a little work on the end gun of one of our sprinklers. At upwards of 20 feet off the ground (yes we have to climb that every time it goes down!!😬) an end gun is the large sprinkler nozzle mounted on the end of a center pivot that throws water beyond the reach of the regular sprinkler heads, helping get those outside edges and corners of the field covered. Depending on the setup, an end gun can put out hundreds of gallons of water per minute, making a big difference in keeping those hard-to-reach areas watered. While we were working on the sprinkler, we were also busy grinding hay to add to our cattle rations. We typically grind around 20–30 bales of grass hay and cornstalks at a time to use as a filler in the ration. This adds bulk and fiber to the feed without the cost of feeding as much of the more expensive ingredients. It’s a big help in keeping our feed costs down while still keeping pounds going on both our cows and feeder cattle. It’s just another one of those behind-the-scenes jobs that helps keep everything running efficiently and makes the most of the resources we have!