Questions

A primal is a large cut as it comes off the carcass, before anyone cuts it into steaks. Rump cap, tri tip and point end brisket come whole. Striploin and cube roll come halved before they're sealed, so one piece is half the primal: a half cube roll is 3 to 4.5 kg, where a whole one is about 6 to 8 kg. Rib caps and tri tips come two to a bag. That's the case size restaurants buy, and it's what we sell.

A box is the whole carton, every bag in it vacuum sealed as it was packed. Each cut's page shows how many pieces its box holds and what a box and a single bag weigh. At 300 g a portion, a 15 kg box is 50 serves. Cut at home at 3 cm, a box of striploin gives you between 30 and 38 steaks.

Laine Thomson manages a 1,200 head full blood Wagyu breeder herd in Emerald, Central Highlands. Every breeding and genetics decision on that herd is his.

People who saw that work started asking how they could get beef like it. Beef Cartel is the answer. We buy from our supplier by the whole primal, and Laine picks the cuts and the grades that go into a cycle. The judgement that goes into the herd is the judgement that chooses your box.

Fifty per cent holds your box for the cycle. It comes off the total, so it is the first half of your price.

Once the cycle closes, every box reserved that month goes to our supplier as a single order. That is what puts these cuts at this price, and your deposit is what puts your box in it. Your box then travels refrigerated to our cold room in Emerald.

Every cut is priced per kilo. No two primals weigh the same, so every cut carries a weight range and it is on that cut's page. The final figure is the weight of what you collect.

The rate per kilo is the rate you reserved at, and it holds. A box is weighed at the abattoir and that weight is printed on the outside, so its figure is set before it ever travels. A single bag comes out of its carton still sealed in its vacuum bag, and we weigh it on our own scales in Emerald. You can ask to watch.

Either way, come in over the top of the range and we charge you for the top of the range. That is the most you can pay for one.

We send you an invoice by email and text, at or before collection. It charges the weight of what you collect at the rate you reserved at, less your deposit. It never charges for more than the top of the weight range on that cut's page.

Pay it by card with the Pay button on the invoice, or by bank transfer.

All four grades come out of the same selection. The number is how much marbling is in the cut, and in practice it sets your portion size more than it changes your technique.

MB 4-5 has clear marbling through the lean and still eats like a classic steak. A good first Wagyu.

MB 6-7 eats like an exceptional steak. Rich, and still a full-sized piece you can put in front of someone who will finish it. This is the grade to buy when you are cooking for a table.

MB 8-9 is the most versatile of the top grades. Enough marbling that the fat does the work for you, still a steak you eat as a steak.

MB 9+ is the richest we sell. Cut it thinner, serve smaller portions, and cook it hot and fast. This is the grade to buy when the beef is the occasion.

Wagyu at any of these grades carries more fat than the beef you are used to, so it renders faster and browns sooner. Get the pan hot, keep the cook short, and rest it as you would any steak.

We order the grade you choose and do our best to get it. Grades depend on our supplier and on what's available each cycle, so a grade can't be promised.

If yours comes up short, we email you and you choose what happens. You can have your deposit back in full. You can take a different cut or grade of the same value or better, at no extra cost. Or we carry your box to the next cycle at the rate you reserved at.

If we haven't heard from you in seven days, we refund the deposit.

Every box is a whole carton of one cut, in the case size restaurants buy, and its weight range is on that cut's page. Buying them whole is what holds the price where it is, and it hands you the decisions a butcher would otherwise make for you: the thickness of your steaks, which end stays a roast, what goes to mince.

Nothing is portioned until you cut it, so a box divides cleanly between two households once it is home. You can reserve as many boxes as you want in a cycle, across as many cuts and grades as you want. Each box is weighed and priced on its own.

Take it out of the bag cold and pat it dry. Work on a large board with a long, sharp knife. A whole loin breaks down in under an hour.

Settle on one thickness before you start so every steak cooks the same way, and cut across the grain. At 3 cm you get steaks that hold their centre. Decide which end stays whole as a roast before you commit the first cut, because that decision is easier to make than to undo.

Vacuum sealed and kept cold, a primal keeps in the fridge for about a week, so you can break it down when it suits you rather than the day you collect it.

Seal what you are not eating that week and freeze it in the portions you will actually cook. Vacuum sealed, it holds in the freezer for months, well past the next cycle. Freeze it flat, label the date, and thaw it in the fridge overnight.

Collect from our cold room in Emerald. We email you the day your box is ready and you choose a time.

Everything leaves the cold room at temperature. Bring an esky if you have distance to cover.

You choose the time. We email you the day your box is ready, you reply with what suits, and it waits in our cold room at temperature until you get there.

If you need more time, say so in that reply and we will hold it until a day that suits.

A cycle opens once a month. This site carries the current one: what is in it, what each cut costs per kilo, and where the cycle is up to.

Once you have ordered with us, we email you as each new cycle opens. Between cycles, leave your email and we will tell you the day the next one opens.