Every animal in the case came from one of three ranches we have worked with for years, all within a day of driving. We buy the whole animal, not a box of primals picked by someone else, so nothing on the shrink-wrap is a guess.
Buying whole means using the whole animal. That is why the case carries paté and stock bones next to the ribeyes - a butcher who only sells the popular cuts is quietly throwing half the animal away.
Ask at the counter which ranch a cut is from and how long it has aged. If we do not know the answer, it is not in the case.
