Built for Farmers from the Ground Up
This project started in early 2020 after I purchased a cow from my friendly farmer neighbour. The meat was fantastic and out of this world, and I wanted to help share this experience with my friends and family.
However when I went back to my farmer neighbour, she said that they only like selling their meat to people they knew directly.
Why was this ?
- Too many phone calls
- Too many dumb questions
- Too hard to chase down the money
- Too hard to co-ordinate
That lead to an idea of an online marketplace where ordinary customers could purchase meat online in bulk direct from a farmer… and using the magic of technology solve a lot of these problems, making it easier for any farm to sell direct, and make more money!
How does Half A Cow help ?
1
Online Marketplace
Our aim is to build a trusted online marketplace and a community of loyal customers who want to buy their meat in bulk direct from the farmers.
Customers will be able to find your farm by location (Approximate) and purchase meat directly from their local farmer (Thats’ you!)
2
Simple Ordering
No more phone calls when you’re in the middle of fixing a fence!
Our website allows clients to order their cow directly online from your farm, and walks them through (with pictures) the cutting up form.
This is all done without you having to lift a finger or explain the difference between sale yard weight and dressed weight.
3
Easy Co-ordination
Sure selling a whole cow is easy, but what about half a cow? Or a quarter?
That used to mean phone calls and headaches. But with Half a Cow, the customer order won’t proceed until an entire cow’s worth of meat has been sold, that’s 1/2 + 1/2 or 1/4 *2 + 1/2 or any combination that makes a whole.
This encourages the customer to share your farms online store (done for free through half a cow) in order to push the order through.
Once all 4 quarters are sold, then the order is finalised… and this can happen while you’re asleep!
4
Your cows, your prices
With Half a Cow you’re in total control of your prices and payment terms.
You can choose to sell your cow’s meat on a per KG basis and have a customer pay a deposit with the difference made at the time of butchering.
Or you can estimate a weight and ask for the entire cost up front.
What you charge is up to you. Our site takes a small % fee of the total sale.
5
Your Farm, Your Brand
When I first started Half A Cow, I was surprised at how passionate and proud the farmers I spoke with were about their animals.
Half A Cow allows you to build your farm into a brand with your own page, logo, products and following.
Our website allows customers to find your page via their location, or searching for the name of your farm.
6
No chasing payments
Half a Cow captures your clients credit card information and holds their deposit until the order is ready for release.
This protects both farmers and clients.
Once the final price is known (with deposit sale cows) the client’s credit cards are automatically charged for the remainder.
If the client is unable to proceed with the transaction, they may forfiet their deposit at your discretion.
7
A Plan for the Future
As Half A Cow grows its community of farmers and customers we’re planning to increase the range of products which are available on our website so that farmers can further customise their offerings if they choose.
For example you might want to sell a Meat Pack or a Slow Cook Pack. Or if you’re happy with just selling bulk meat than that is fine too!