Interesting thread. Should I be concerned about multiple cows and e.coli growth? I’ve never gotten sick (not even heartburn) from food (nor has anyone in my family (including extended)). However, germs, bacteria, and the like freak me out. Should I buy my own grinder? How much does one cost? I like the idea of saving money by buying cheaper whole meat and grinding it into ground beef for my spaghetti, lasagna, hamburgers, etc.
I get perfectly acceptable results grinding meat in a Cuisinart (cube it first). I made a meat loaf out of duck breast a couple of months ago, for example. No need for a grinder.
I buy all my meat from one cow at a time. I go select the whole live cow at the butchers, and decide the way I want the meat (in steaks/hamburger/roasts etc) of course I would be getting some contamination from other cows as well.
But that is at the butchers not in a store.
Like most everything else, they range from shoulder busting manual hand cranked models at around $20, up to several hundred for commercial grade electrical grinders. If you’re interested, check any large hunting supplieer (Cabela’s etc.)
“careless operators” makes me think that there are two cows and one finger in my hamburger.
Actually unscrupulous is the right word. Its a big plot by the radical right, they’ve been slipping pork into kosher and halal foods for years, soon they will reveal this fact hoping to push the american jewish and muslim communities into an era of depression and hopelesness.
“Single cow hamburger.” It’s going to be the newest trend at Whole Foods. Yuppies will pay $8/pound just 'cause it sounds better. “Organic” for $10!
Wow – having both muslim fundmentalists and Israeli secret operatives (like in the film Munich) after you would be quite something. Having a muslim fatwa proclaimed against you as well as a jewish Kaballa pronuncement, at the same time? Where could you run to hide – there isn’t even ‘godless communist russia’ anymore for a refuge. 
Absolutely the best way to go.
If you buy the roasts on sale in bulk, you will end up with real cheap, real good, and much safer ground beef.
Where do you live that butcher shops have whole live cows in stock?
This sounds a bit like picking your own lobster out of the tank at a fancy restaurant.
Muscle meat is sterile until it is breeched by cutting, stabbing, grinding or other mechanical damage. Therefore, the more surface area exposed during processing, the more chance of contamination. If you buy a roast, only the outside of the roast is contaminated, if you buy hamburger, the outside of each little nugget is contaminated. However, cooking your hamburger past pink will kill the bacteria and since you have never gotten sick from food, you probably already are. Also, the carcass is hung from its back legs during butchering, so the closer to the back legs you are, the less bacteria is likely on your meat.
Plus it’s just like the scene from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
Do you have a KitchenAid stand mixer? I have the grinder attachment for mine, it works well and was around $60 I think. I got it ages ago.
You know where I live from another thread. The butchers markets I go to is next to the West End. If you have family around here still they can go get there own cow as well.