Apparently, we’re going in with the neighbors on a cow that was recently shown at the county fair. I understand that we can have it processed how we want and I’m looking for recommendations on what to request.
A good butcher is important. They should be able to explain the cuts and you should be allowed to have it packaged for your needs. If the butchering is a crap shoot I wouldn’t do it.
Yes. I went in on a 1/4 share. We wouldn’t do it again because we had way more ground beef, and fewer decent steaks, than we wanted.
Seconded. And if its available to you use a processor who does “house calls”. Last time me and a couple cousins did a whole cow like that we had the wagon roll out (large truck actually) and it was all done in front of us. No doubt what we got was our meat and that it was packaged and prepared how we wanted it.
You’ll want to make sure you have a proper meat freezet
A truck just pulled up to your house and carved up a cow right there? That’s awesome!
Went in with my brother on 1/4 last month. Pastured beef, not finished in a feedlot, tastier than any run-of-the-mill supermarket stuff. Even the chuck roast was tender and magnificent.
Ended up costing less than $5/lb. post-processing. Got ribeye, sirloin, chuck, the heart, a roast, and I dunno maybe 20+ lbs. of ground that I’d say is probably 90% lean. Maybe other odds and ends I’ve forgotten. Liver?
I’m going to get an entire quarter when he butchers again in August. If I never buy beef at the store again I’ll be happy.
My brother went and picked it up and I guess the guy liked him, because he has some “Wagyu” and gave him a couple cuts of that. I’m doing the chuck roast tomorrow, I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Never bought a side of beef. Grew them a few times, however.
Yes and I hated it. The cow had been fed something that made it taste just awful to me. I could not even give it away.
Blech, never again.
This was my experience when we got a 1/2 pig. It was edible, but tasted funny. I know part of its feed was waste grain left over from alcohol distilling, I think that was part of the flavor.
My BIL bought a half cow but didn’t realize how much meat that was. He showed up at our house with two big coolers of meat, which he sold to us for an unbelievable price. It was delicious.
I do that routinely; either a half or a quarter, a mixed quarter if available (you get some each from front and hind quarters in a mixed quarter.)
You want a good farmer who’s raised the animal properly, and a good butcher who knows what they’re doing. Some people do have breed preferences. You also want a good freezer and a fair amount of freezer space.
Be aware that hanging weight and dressed weight are not the same thing (and live weight is yet a third thing.) You’ll probably be charged for hanging weight, while what you get is dressed weight. Around here, at least, that’s normal. You may be charged separately by the farmer and the butcher – in NY state, at least, what’s happening legally is that you’re buying a live animal or a share in one, and then paying to have it slaughtered and processed.
You might have the option of doing your own cut and wrap, and this may be a separate charge from the slaughter charge. Unless you’re really experienced or really ambitious, pay for the cut and wrap. It’s worth it, and you’ll almost certainly get a better product. It’s also better if the slaughterhouse will do the freezing in their own freezers, which are better designed to get that much meat frozen fast enough to prevent deterioration.
Find out whether you’ll have to pick up as soon as it’s ready, or whether they’ve got room enough in their freezers to hold the meat a few days until you can get it at a time that works out for you. Some places may also rent freezer space, for people who don’t have enough space at home; others don’t have any extra.
How you want it cut depends a whole lot on how you personally like the cuts and how much you want in a package. Talk to the butcher – they’re probably used to working with people new at this, and will walk you through a sheet of choices. Some places are used to doing different sorts of cuts than others, and some cuts have different names in different places. If in doubt, ask. If you want your pot roast to fit in a particular pot, tell them the size of the pot. If you want your steaks cut thick or thin, tell them that. Etcetera.
Whatever you do, you’re going to wind up with quite a bit of hamburger. That’s just the nature of how this works. You can probably get some of it as stew instead, but not all of it. And, if you’re getting a half, a mixed quarter, or a front quarter, you’re going to get some of the tougher cuts (which need slow moist cooking) as well as the tenderer ones which can be broiled or roasted – if you get a front quarter it’s going to be mostly tougher cuts.
ETA: different places are used to doing different things about organ meats and suet and bones. If you do or don’t want particular organs and/or the suet or bones, discuss that – it may be on their standard cut sheet, but they may be assuming that you do or don’t want those things.
One of my uncles used to buy a side of beef once a year. He knew of a small farm in southeast Pennsylvania someplace where you could go and actually pick out your beef, alive. You had to buy at least a whole side, and you had to make an appointment because they only killed one animal a day. Supposedly shooting one made all the others nervous and it made the meat tough, but luckily, apparently bovine memories only last 24 hours.
Or at least that’s what I remember of the story I was told when I was like 12.
This has been helpful. I had a feeling there was more to it th noan what I thought.
I’m not so much worried snout the price as I am the freezing and the space. I think the garage freezer will be able to handle it, but I need to make sure before we pull the trigger.
Assuming everything is wrapped correctly, how long should frozen beef last in the freezer?
Here is the common take. In a nutshell, 4-6 months for ground beef, 6-12 months for steaks. IME, if properly wrapped, that is a bit conservative but it’s a pretty good rule of thumb.
IME, if properly wrapped and in a chest freezer (less heat gain every time you open it) that’s running at 0ºF or colder, quite a bit longer than that; up to a couple of years, any cut.
That however should not be taken as medical advice. But I suspect the standard times given are for the little freezer on top of a refrigerator, which is usually frequently opened, intermittently warmed by the defrosters, and often isn’t kept cold enough even when shut.
ETA: again, get the slaughterhouse/butcher to freeze it for you, if you can. Most household freezers will take a long time to freeze that much meat at once, even though they can keep it frozen just fine once it already is hard frozen.
My wife and I went in on a 1/4 once. My observations: as mentioned, it’s only a 1/4 of one cow, so you get what you get cut-wise: only a few “premium” steak cuts like t-bone or ribeye; lots of ground beef and some strange cuts I had never heard of, like “arm roast” or “blade roast”. I still made some awesome stews & such out of the weird cuts.
The flavor and texture on the other hand very pleasantly surprised me— the meat was tender and delicious, much better than grocery store beef, I thought.
Price-wise it wasn’t as much of a bargain as we thought it would be, but it had been arranged indirectly through friends of friends and we think someone had their thumb on the scale at some point.
Overall, I was up to do it again but my wife didn’t want to.
I’ve done it a couple of times but for the most part, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. The quality and flavor of the beef was just too much of a crapshoot. Some of it was sublime, some of it tough and nasty. Grocery store beef may not impress but it’s predictable.
We do it all the time. My BIL raises beef. He’ll put a steer in the lot, feed it, and take it to the locker plant. Sometimes he lets me pay him for half and sometimes I just pay the processing.
The best part about it is that you’ll get to decide how you want your hamburger packaged, what size you want your steaks cut, what type of roasts to keep and what to put into hamburger, etc. We’re lucky in that our locker is owned by one of my favorite people in the world and so we always get great service.
This is what I heard when a friend did the same thing. He said you get way too much ground beef, and a lot of meats that you don’t really want. I think it ends up being $4-7 a pound. Ground beef goes on sale for $2 a pound where I live, and sirloin steak goes on sale for $5/lb. Thats cheaper than buying a cow.
This website has a rundown on what you get with a quarter, half or full cow. If you get a half cow, thats about 200 lbs. Of that about 100 lbs is ground beef, and 20 lbs is bone, another 20 lbs is chuck/arm roast.