Pastoralism - Saguaro Juniper

BEEF SALES

HEALTHY CATTLE PRODUCE HEALTHY BEEF, WHICH IS HEALTHY FOR YOU

SAGUARO JUNIPER NATURAL BEEF is produced by Saguaro Juniper Corporation, a small non-profit organization. We work together on range and pasture land to steward a wildlife corridor in the San Pedro River Valley. Beef sales and donations go to support our conservation and education activities.

NATURALLY HEALTHY

Our cattle are raised in a clean, low-stress environment with plenty of exercise. For that reason, we neither need nor use the antibiotics or hormones routinely found in conventional beef production. We also don’t feed any urea or animal products to our cows.

WE ARE LOCAL

We live about 40 miles as the crow flies from Tucson and we offer the beef for pickup cut, wrapped, and frozen in Tucson or Willcox. Nearly everything our cattle eat is a local plant product.

DIRECTLY FROM US TO YOU

Most grocery-store beef has passed from the rancher's care as calves... to "stocker" operators... to feedlot operators... to meat packers... to grocery stores. These steps put stress on the cattle and distance between you and the ranch where your cows are raised.

WE CARE FOR CATTLE

For us, every steer and heifer is an individual living creature. When it is time for slaughter, we personally deliver the animals to be processed by a small, family-owned packing house.

WE COEXIST WITH NATURAL PREDATORS

We manage our herd to minimize predation. Instead of blaming and seeking to kill the predator, on the rare occasions when predation occurs, we use the incident as an opportunity to modify our herd management practices.

PRESERVE OPEN SPACE

When you purchase our beef, you support the preservation of wild lands integrated with small-scale, local food production.

Arranging Your Purchase

ORDER SIZE

We sell beef in quarters, halves, or whole animals. Buying a half or whole animal gives you the maximum flexibility to customize your cuts. If your family cannot use that much meat, you can get together with a friend or neighbor to split an order amongst yourselves. If you want to order a quarter (known as a “split half”) we offer a standard quarter cut sheet with an assortment of roasts, steaks, ground beef, and other cuts.

STORAGE SPACE

Depending on the size of the animal, a half beef should yield 180 - 240 pounds of meat and require about 6 - 7.5 cubic feet of storage space. A quarter should yield about half that amount. Most refrigerator-freezers can accommodate a quarter if filled completely.

COST

The price of beef is variable and will be set near the time of sale. To give you a ballpark figure, our price in fall of 2026 was $5.70 per pound of carcass weight. (Carcass weight is the weight of the beef when it is hung for aging, but before it is butchered into individual cuts.) There is also a separate fee to the packing house. Accounting for both of these fees, the fall 2026 cost for the final packaged meat was about $10.50 - $11.20 per pound, depending on the size of the original animal and type of cuts requested. Cost for a quarter was
around $1000 - $1200.

TO ORDER (Updated October 2026)

Animals are ready for slaughter in late summer to early fall. We are a small operation, and we currently have a wait list for meat. We are sold out for 2026, but if you are interested in beef in the fall of 2027, contact us now to get on the list.

Contact Katie at beef@saguarojuniper.org if you would like to be added to our waitlist for beef when it is available, or if you have any further questions.

WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Support our conservation and education work.

We envision an Earth with harmonious and respectful relationships between wildlands and their inhabitants.

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN 86-0613688). Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.