re: Anybody getting a 1/4 or 1/2 cow this fall?

I can only tell you how I do it with my BiL. We usually split two cows between friends and family. I typically get a 1/4 or, more accurately, half of a half.

I pay my BiL, and he pays the processor, but I know what the processing costs are. We do pay based on the hanging weight. The tail, tongue, heart and liver are not an extra cost, it's just a matter of whether we want them.

My BiL raises the cows on the family farm, so all they eat is grass grown on that farm and hay that he cuts on that farm. For the last 4 months or so, he separates a couple and supplements their diet with corn that he grew on the farm. He has bred them to be 95% or more black angus, though he brought in Chianina bull a couple of years ago, which resulted in some huge steaks (tasty too).

The processor hard freezes it and, depending on what you want, will wrap it in paper or shrink wrap. A half of a half will fill a medium freezer at least half way. I also have a 120qt cooler and it will hold a half of a half but no more.