Have you ever bought a half beef or quarter beef?

(Ethan) #21

We do it ourselves. We go to a farm, kill the cow, and then pick up the meat 10 days later.

(Melissa Marie) #22

We bought 1/4 last September. Was about 700$ and was sold by hang weight. Was a smallisg box maybe 70lbs in the end. After looking at the cost comparison we decided it was better not to do it again. We have a local market that has great grass fed sales and the cuts are fattier that is quite cheaper than the 1/4 was after all said and done. The other issue was that each package of ground I found bones and what appeared to be tendon/gristle in it. Actually completely turned me off of the meat for some reason. So I still have 20+ lbs of lean bony ground in my freezer. I’d consider it again from a different company depending on price/quality but this one wasn’t for us.

(Ethan) #23

By going directly to the farm, we get $4.00 per pound organic (though grain fed, since the others who split with us prefer that) beef. I have not ever found bones in the ground meat. We completely customize what they do, too.

(Chris) #24

Growing up, it was the only way I knew. My parents would get a pig, half a beef. It was great, but as I got older I understood that you take the good with the bad. Rump roasts, just a lot of undesirable cuts included. I believe a lot was requested to be ground into burger eventually.

Today, with the availability of box meat, I prefer to spend my money on the specific cuts I want. Maybe if I knew a farmer personally, Id be more interested in purchasing

(Tubeman) #25

Just wanted to throw out a couple good sites to find local food. They didn’t have all the farms near me, but between these sites and a little google-fu, I found a lot of sources near me.

http://www.eatwild.com/

https://www.farmfreshri.org/

(Brian) #26

Hmmm. It doesn’t sound like you got a very good deal. It also sounds like you didn’t end up with a very good butcher. Sorry to hear about that. I can see how that would taint your view of the whole idea. :frowning:

(Brian) #27

Just thought I’d paste in a little blurb from the website they use:

For a half beef you will receive approximately:
Steaks (3/4" thick)
    12–T-Bone or New York Strip and Filet Mignon
    12–Ribeye or Rib Steak
    6–Sirloin  or Sirloin Strip/Fillet
    6–Round or Cube Steak
Roasts (3 lb.)
    5–Chuck
    3–Shoulder
    2–Tip
    2–Rump
6–Beef Stew (1 lb. packages)
3–Short Ribs (1.5 lb packages)
50–Ground Beef (1 lb. packages)
2–Soup Bone
Variety offal cuts (tongue, liver, heart.)

Multiply by 2 for a whole beef and divide by 2 for quarter beef. Please understand that this is approximately what you receive. These portions may be greater for larger cows and less for smaller cows. The shape of a cow also is a factor when it comes to the amounts.

Also:

Quarter Beef

$4.20/lb. dressed weight plus processing (processing cost approximately $.70 per lb. * hanging weight)
Half final take home weight range approximately 50–90 lb.
Final price range $420–$650 ($100 deposit)

I was talking to my wife about it last night and she’s all for the idea of it. I may still do some shopping around to see if there might be better deals out there for just as good of quality. It does kinda sound like they pretty much know what a person is going to get out of a cow, maybe not exactly, but an idea of what to expect. It might be that we’d enjoy the variety. After all, that new sous vide does do a wonderful job on even a chuck roast. :slight_smile:

(Bill DeVore) #28

I have a friend who raises about 15-20 head of cattle, and sells them to friends and co-workers. He sells us the cow, and we work directly with the locker for the processing. He also matches up the people based on needs - people who want innards are paired with those who don’t, since they are difficult to split at the locker.

The cow price is based on market price on the day he takes them to the locker for slaughter - so this varies a bit with current market prices and the hanging weight of the cow. Generally, we get 1/4, with a hanging weight around 400# so our costs are between $400-$500. It has been closer to $600 in years with high beef costs, or when we got a bigger cow.

The locker charges a set fee based on the hanging weight, usually around $.25/pound. Our average costs for locker and processing fees are $100-120. But, this includes any customization that we want, and packaging to our specifications - e.g. 2# roasts, hamburger in 1.5# packages, 1.5" steaks, etc.

Our general output is ~100 (+/-) pounds of processed meat, and we figure our costs are about $5/pound - but that includes hamburger, all the way up to strip, tenderloins, and brisket. Not a bad cost, and we have done this for over 10 years.

Hope that helps.

p.s. BEST beef you’ll ever taste… IMHO

(Melissa Marie) #29

If i had the oportunity again… I’d buy some single cuts and ground seperate to try the meat. What we got was all grass fed. They don’t process their own meat but it was all vacuum packed per 2 steaks, soup bones, etc. We were alowed to select most of our cuts and the thickness. But the price just wasn’t worth it in the end. I can pretty much get any grass fed cut at less than 10$ per lb at a local market by waiting for their grass fed sale. Ground at less than 5. Bones are 2.99 every day. But 4$ would be worth a look depending on quality? Maybe check out their reviews on line and see whar others are saying.

#30

We buy a half each year… Do you live is city, rural area.? Local butchers can set you up with a farmer if you are the least bit rural. Also, drive around and stop at farm houses with cattle grazing. If the farmer won’t sell you a beef, he knows somebody that will.

We tell farmer what we want as far as finishing, and then get to tell butcher how to cut it up, slice thickness, trim, how much hamburger etc. I know everybody wants grass feed but I like it feed a little corn so there is a lot of fat. It’s grass fed and lean or its fatty thus corn fed. I don’t think you can get a fatty grass feed beef. I think people that buy grass fed beef and it’s real fatty are being feed a bunch of bull (pardon the pun). Corn fed taste better because there is more fat. I’m ready for the attacks from the haters but life is to short to eat lean beef on keto.

(Brian) #31

No attacks or hate from here. You’re definitely entitled to your preferences! I appreciate your thoughts.

I wouldn’t call myself well studied but I am told that there are certain breeds that do better with things like marbeling when they’re grass fed and grass finished. ?

#32

That’s interesting, we need to find out that breed. We can get us a keto beef business going. lol

(Todd Allen) #33

For the past couple years this is the way my wife and I have bought most of the meat we eat. Twice we bought a 1/4 beef as boxed frozen cuts. But the place we buy from also offers everything item by item and often offers discounts that match or exceed the discount of the 1/4 beef pricing when buying individual items in bulk. We’ve shifted to buying large amounts of things like liver, heart, bones, fat and ground beef and only buy premium cuts like roasts, steaks, prime rib, etc. when they are offered at aggressive sale prices. By making this shift we have more than halved our average cost per lb. Last night we had sous vide beef heart and beef cap fat cooked at 135 F for 5 hours. The end result might have grossed us out a year or two ago but we now love it as much if not more than the premium cuts and it doesn’t hurt that the complete large meal for 2 was less than $5.

(Tubeman) #34

Wow, that’s kind of amazing actually. Do you do the slaughter yourself for ethical reasons? How did you end up with this arrangement?

(Ethan) #35

We do it for religious reasons. The farm we go to has a lot of people do it.

(Dave Miscavage) #36

Can anyone with experirnce share their cut list for a quarter? I’m new to this and don’t want to screw up. I’m not familiar with some of the cuts listed, for example, flat iron and ranch; are the roasts all similar? TIA