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Started By
Message
Buying a half cow butchered
Posted on 7/12/16 at 9:20 am
Posted on 7/12/16 at 9:20 am
Anyone have any recs on this? My parents and I both have a deep freezer, so we're thinking about buying a half but maybe a whole cow and splitting it.
9
Posted on 7/12/16 at 9:24 am to baldona
Me and my family buy a full cow every year and split it 4 ways
It's plenty of beef for us
It's plenty of beef for us
Posted on 7/12/16 at 9:32 am to baldona
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.
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.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 9:44 am to baldona
How much would a half of cow cost butchered???
Posted on 7/12/16 at 10:09 am to Salmon
I'm interested. How much meat does it yield? Is the meat packaged similar to a grocery store butcher? How much did it cost?
Posted on 7/12/16 at 10:31 am to biggdogg
Cost depends on the size of the animal. Obvi, buying half a calf is cheaper than buying half of a steer. Price will vary, depending on the farmer's cost & butchering/packaging costs.
My last purchase was half of a roan shorthorn cross steer who lived a very pampered life as a middle-schooler's show steeer. He dressed out at ~1100 lbs; my half cost me $2,300 for abt 525 lbs of meat. I paid $4.39/lb.
My last purchase was half of a roan shorthorn cross steer who lived a very pampered life as a middle-schooler's show steeer. He dressed out at ~1100 lbs; my half cost me $2,300 for abt 525 lbs of meat. I paid $4.39/lb.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 11:14 am to hungryone
Awesome, appreciate the info
Posted on 7/12/16 at 11:33 am to baldona
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.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 12:09 pm to CHEDBALLZ
There's a place by me that advertises $3 a lb before butchering and they say a half of a cow is 700-800 lbs. All I really need is someone to cut the steaks and piece up for me but I'm assuming if I pay a butcher anything they are going to have to do it properly? I've butchered a bunch of deer myself but I don't make t-bones and what not, I don't have a band saw.
Is a butcher going to cost more than $1/ lb for 750 lbs? I'd think they could easily do a half cow in a day and $750 seems like a lot for that work? I'd be curious how much ground you'd get from something like that? I mean $4/ lb is great for some cuts, but for ground its nothing special?
Is a butcher going to cost more than $1/ lb for 750 lbs? I'd think they could easily do a half cow in a day and $750 seems like a lot for that work? I'd be curious how much ground you'd get from something like that? I mean $4/ lb is great for some cuts, but for ground its nothing special?
Posted on 7/12/16 at 12:10 pm to baldona
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.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 12:36 pm to Mo Jeaux
It looks like a 1200 lb steer gets about 490 lbs of retail cuts. So that's actually not cheap to do, I found someone else that does $725 1/4 shares plus $130 for processing. So you are looking at 120lbs for $850, that's $7/lb retail.
So I'd look to actually split 1/4 with my parents to get 1/8 of a cow which would be 55 lbs. We could probably eat through 1/4 in a year but that'd be pushing it and I don't see the reason to do that.
So I'd look to actually split 1/4 with my parents to get 1/8 of a cow which would be 55 lbs. We could probably eat through 1/4 in a year but that'd be pushing it and I don't see the reason to do that.
This post was edited on 7/12/16 at 12:38 pm
Posted on 7/12/16 at 1:17 pm to Mo Jeaux
quote:
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.
So don't buy a half...buy a 1/4 or 1/8. It is also important to find a processor who will vacuum seal, not just wrap in butcher paper. The vac sealed stuff, properly frozen, lasts a long damn time without declining in quality.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 1:25 pm to Salmon
quote:Can I have the hanger steak?
Me and my family buy a full cow every year and split it 4 ways
Posted on 7/12/16 at 1:32 pm to baldona
quote:
All I really need is someone to cut the steaks and piece up for me but I'm assuming if I pay a butcher anything they are going to have to do it properly? I've butchered a bunch of deer myself but I don't make t-bones and what not, I don't have a band saw.
The slaughterhouse is doing quite a bit more than cut steaks and piece up the meat. There's, umm, the actual killing & bleeding, skinning, evisceration, etc, plus the meat is hung (aged) as sides before it is portioned into the various cuts.
You specify exactly how many larger cuts vs ground you want. If you want only the trimmings as ground, that's what you'll get.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 1:46 pm to hungryone
When we were having our calves slaughtered, the packer would also hang the meat for 5 days to a week before they would process the cuts. Be very specific on what you want and make damn sure they are reputable. We went through three slaughterhouses/butchers before we found one that wasn't stealing cuts or replacing the calves with old steer meat.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 1:49 pm to hungryone
quote:
So don't buy a half...buy a 1/4 or 1/8.
I don't really have the space to store it, to be honest.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 1:58 pm to convertedtiger
quote:
e very specific on what you want and make damn sure they are reputable.
So true. Go by the place during business hours, if at all possible. Humane treatment before slaughter is important to me, and this is at times overlooked. (A calm animal also yields better quality meat.)
Posted on 7/12/16 at 1:59 pm to convertedtiger
quote:
Be very specific on what you want and make damn sure they are reputable.
so true
one year we brought our cow to this community college that had a class or something dealing with butchering cows...and yeah....don't do that
that was a mistake
Posted on 7/12/16 at 2:46 pm to baldona
We did it before we got into deer hunting. 1 steer would feed 3 families easily, and we got after it eating.
Kurt in Lafayette/Carencro is great.
Kurt in Lafayette/Carencro is great.
Posted on 7/12/16 at 3:04 pm to convertedtiger
quote:And what was the name of that one?
We went through three slaughterhouses/butchers before we found one that wasn't stealing cuts or replacing the calves with old steer meat.
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