----- Original Message -----
> Sorry, but I don't think you'll find it easy to locate a ranch that has a
> finished steer of market size just standing around.

Beeves don't have to be market weight (abt 1200#) to go into the freezer.
Most of the raisers I know around here have their own personal freezer stash
processed when the beef is nearing 1000# of weight.  We've personally had a
couple about 800#.  And one, I think, that was about 600#.  (The plants
always give you the gross and dressed out weights.) And then there was the
pastured natural veal calf whose mama stepped on his leg and broke it.
Early fate, poor little guy.

Smaller ranchers, and even some of the larger ones, are pretty obliging.
They don't care who they sell to so long as they sell.  I bet most raisers
will sell a beef on the spot or, if they're like any of the ones I know,
will raise one to any size you want and then haul it to the packing house
for you.   It's really pretty simple to arrange these matters.

Theola