Buying a half cow butchered

I do this, it's a damn fine way to save money & to support a local farmer. A quarter calf will last my household of two for 8-12 months. I bought a half steer last year & I'm still eating my way through it.

Depending on your location, you might be able to find a local slaughterhouse/packer who will connect you with a farmer. In Louisiana, small slaughterhouses don't have the level of USDA inspection that allow them to buy, kill, & re-sell to consumers. So you are technically buying the animal on the hoof from the farmer, who pays the slaughterhouse for its services. You pay the farmer for your share of the meat.

Not all slaughterhouses are created equal, either in terms of animal welfare or in their packaging quality. So if you want everything vacuum sealed & labeled, ask up front. They'll usually provide you with a list of their standard cuts, and you get to decide how much you want left as larger roasts, how thick to get the steaks, and how much ends up as ground beef. You'll also need to request less common cuts (I like hanger & flap steak, which require a special request at the particular Mennonite slaughterhouse my rancher friend uses).

It is worth getting a freezer alarm as well as completely filling your chest freezer w/ice or other frozen items. A half-full freezer is less efficient & should you have a power failure, it will defrost much faster than a packed one.

I bought one at a benefit auction a few months back..... some of the best beef I've ever had. We got as many roast as possible and had them cut into 2-3lb portions. Cook a little quicker and not as much left overs.

I feel like I would have some ruined, freezer burned meat on my hands before I could finish it all. And I eat a lot of beef.

I buy a half cow about twice a year from a local farmer.

She brings it for processing, etc. I specify everything I want, from thickness of steaks, size of ground beef packages, and size of liver (having small packs of liver really helps).

$5/lb live. Grassfed and really good. No effort on my part.

I've read about this and I'm interested as well, but I don't have the foggiest idea how to get started. I think a 1/4 or even 1/8 would be plenty enough at first. Dropping 2K on meat is a chunk even if it would last me a year.

I've done some research online and I've found there are some places out of state that will basically sell shares to the general public. But I can't find anything close to NOLA that does that. Anyone know of anything around here?

Heck, I'd even be willing to go in on a portion of deer meat. I'm not a hunter but I love me some venison sausage and venison burgers. I'd be willing to buy chicken straight from the farmer as well, although I do enjoy 2.99 Tuesday at Fresh Market.

It's probably been two years since I bought any meat from a grocery store. Every six weeks or so we do a big order from Cutrer's in Kentwood, and if I need something before I place another order in the interim, I go to Tag's or Jeanfreau's in Chalmette. All three places sell good meat at a good price, but I'd like to go in more direct with a local farmer. $5 a pound average sounds pretty good as well.