Buying 1/4 Cow -- What To Order?

[momtosam]

Any suggestions on what to order when having a 1/4 cow butchered. I need to have my list for the butcher tomorrow!

 

[dizneechic]

Freezer Space?
Seriously, we get our meat from a CSA (15lbs per month) so it all comes pre labeled and cut for us. Sorry I can't help with what to ask for. I can say there were some cuts of beef like top round that because they were so lean it was tough to cook "as is" so we ended up crock potting them (as a stew or stroganoff) or grinding them into steak burgers. Enjoy it though!

 

[lady9]

We get a 1/2. What I tell the butcher is as many steaks and roasts as possible. I tell him how many pounds (usually 3lbs. for my size family) for each roast. I get a standing (prime) rib roast but those can be made into steaks if you want. With everything else, I have it ground into hamburger with about 1/2 of that made into 1/4lb patties, the rest into 1lb. packages. I don't get the short ribs or bones.

 

[TheRatPack]

We buy a 1/2 and we got a list of what was included (roughly) and we just went with that....maybe you could ask the butcher to recommend some cuts based on your family size and what kind of beef you normally eat?

A 1/2 got us (again this is an estimate...we won't pick it up for another week or two).
10 roasts
50-90lb of ground beef (depending on how you want other things cut)
12-14 rib eyes
12 t bones
6-8 sirloins
12-14 round or cube steaks
and then liver and stew chunks

 

[amez]

When we get half a cow we usually get 1/3 roasts, 1/3 steaks, 1/3 ground beef. We usually have roasts left over which I can grind into ground beef. We also bought a 1/2 cow from a different butcher and they had sooooo many different cuts to choose from-we actually had to look up what the heck they were on the internet. They were a little too specific for us.
Amy

 

[Handbag Lady]

Having never bought any portion of a cow as described, how much does it cost?

Is the flavor better doing it this way?

 

[SOnotLayuh]

Holy cow! What does this sort of thing cost?

 

[4Seasons]

Holy cow! What does this sort of thing cost?

I was thinking the same thing

 

[HHSTigerFan]

I really hope the butcher isn't selling any of you a cow...

 

[HHSTigerFan]

Having never bought any portion of a cow as described, how much does it cost?

Is the flavor better doing it this way?

Kill and processing around here- about $150 for 1/4 and $250 for half
Beef is currently pushing $1/lb live weight, avg steer is around 1200 lbs...

 

[Handbag Lady]

Kill and processing around here- about $150 for 1/4 and $250 for half
Beef is currently pushing $1/lb live weight, avg steer is around 1200 lbs...

Those seem like really nice prices. Do I just ask any butcher in town? (I live in a big city.)

 

[nymets]

Does anybody know where to buy in N.Y

 

[HHSTigerFan]

Not sure about that, we live in a semi rural area and have a place near us that does it all, from the kill to the box, seems very unlikely you will find that in a larger city..

I bought our last steer from a local farmer, went with him to deliver it, next time I saw it he was in 4 boxes... (the steer, not the farmer)

 

[4Seasons]

Not sure about that, we live in a semi rural area and have a place near us that does it all, from the kill to the box, seems very unlikely you will find that in a larger city..

I bought our last steer from a local farmer, went with him to deliver it, next time I saw it he was in 4 boxes... (the steer, not the farmer)

You saw the steer before it was butchered? That wouldn't go over well with me, LOL.
Sounds like a good deal if you have freezer space but we don't eat that much beef to make it worthwhile for us.

 

[amez]

I think we usually pay about $1.90 a pound - on the hoof- which means while it is alive. This covers the cow and the processing. Our butcher actually owns cattle so we can buy directly from him. We've also bought grass fed, hormone-free beef and it runs about 20 cents more a pound. This farmer takes it to the butcher and then we can either pick it up at the butcher or at his house. It doesn't matter how they cut it up it is still the same price for ground beef, steaks, or roasts.

 

[amez]

Is the flavor better doing it this way?

in our opinion it is much better-no dyes, fresh, our butcher cuts it beautifully and its always aged nicely.

 

[Evans Family]

Sorry....TMI....I could easily be a vegetarian

 

[HHSTigerFan]

You saw the steer before it was butchered? That wouldn't go over well with me, LOL.
Sounds like a good deal if you have freezer space but we don't eat that much beef to make it worthwhile for us.

I have actually seem them killed as well, didn't think you would want to know that.. As high tech of a society as we live in, this is a process that hasn't changed much in decades...

 

[dizneechic]

For those in big cities or without places around them that do this you may want to look into CSA's (community supported agriculture). For us we choose how many lbs of meat we want per month and the farm takes care of the processing of the animals and wraps everything in 1lb packages and flash freezes them. We pick up our cooler once a month and it's been great.

FYI they not only have meat CSA's (with a meet your meat event 2x a year), but also veggie and flower CSA's.

 

[denise5374]

I live in suburban Phila and get a 1/4 cow about 2x a year. If you check out the website eatwild.com, there is a list of farmers in many states. That is how we found the farmer we use, after we found him online we visited the farm, ended up being about 2 hours from us.

The beef we get is grass fed and hormone free and it is about $2.50/lb total. The last time we got it we had about 135lbs of meat, steaks, roasts and ground beef. The meat does taste a little different but it is (IMHO) better.