anyone here do that? just curious is it more benificial as have heard many doing it but never really concerned about it. but now I am with 3 growing kids eating eveything and no left overs for me. lol. anyone with advice please let me know. is it cost worthy? seems like it. and I do have the room to store all the meat. plus if anyone raises/butchers/sells pm me so we can talk.
thanks
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anyone here do that? just curious is it more benificial as have heard many doing it but never really concerned about it. but now I am with 3 growing kids eating eveything and no left overs for me. lol. anyone with advice please let me know. is it cost worthy? seems like it. and I do have the room to store all the meat. plus if anyone raises/butchers/sells pm me so we can talk.
thanks
I do it every year. We get a full pig. In the end we usually get about 200# of meat for an average of $2.50/pound processed. That’s ribs, bacon, sausage, chops, steaks, loin, etc. You can’t buy any of those items in a store for $2.50/pound.
I have friends who buy cows from the same buyer and it’s usually $2.00-$2.60/pound processed.
I’d be happy to recommend both the farmer and the butcher I use.
that soudns good. as I am getting quoted about 2.50 a poound inscluding processing and wrapping for 1/4 beef. 
On the beef you’ll want to know what cuts of meat you’ll be most likely to use. The fronts are less expensive but you’ll see the ratio of hamburger to chunk meat higher. The hinds yield more steak.
I’d can the idea of a half of hog, get the whole critter. I’d also lean towards the 1/2 beef. You’ll need freezer space and often times its cheaper to just go buy a second freezer for your meat. The extra freezer will be appreciated since those kids are not going to be LOSING any appetite real soon. And if you hunt, the additional room makes it a lot easier to keep track of which meat is which.
Wade, can you PM me who you buy your hogs and cow from? Been looking for a good place to do this from.
good point I already have a chect freezer for meats and a upright for everything else. so definately have the space. but the price is high if I go 1/2 of beef as puts it about 1K. granted I know that is a lot of meat. but i also go to costco about every 6 months and spend about 300 to 400 on a variety of meat and it lasts that long. co 600 to 800 for a year on meat. plus the deer harveted and turkey deals during thanksgiving. i am just weighing options of course. from what I understand I will et about 135 to 145 pounds of meat. in the 1/4 according tot the guy I am talking to. our basic meat eating is more ground meat and roasts then steaks.
almost everyone i know who buys 1/2 a cow or pig or whatever ever finishes it before its time to buy another. some just keep buying deep freezes to keep up. in the end i wonder how much money are they actually saving.
i’ve been approached numerous times to do this and have passed. i buy about 30lbs of frozen ground beef from a guy who never finishes a cow. he’s always left with cuts that he would never use otherwise.
Did the 1/4 cow in 2010 but didn’t do it this year. Loved responding to teh “What’s for dinner question” with there’s steak, hamburger, ribs in the freezer.
Will probably do it (possibly pork also) in 2012.
We’ve done a 1/4 cow a couple times and it works out really good. The only problem for us was that at the time there was only two of us, and we couldn’t eat through a 1/4 cow in the recommended 6-9 months.
Another downside is that if your paying 2.60/# for the beef (on the hoof), that’s more expensive than what you’d pay in the local store for a 10# tube of ground beef. But it all get evened out when you factor in the steaks and the quality of the meat.
Finally, your taking a gamble that the meat will be to your liking. Once we got a cow that was really tough and was not well marbled. Your kind of stuck with it.
We have two meat shops buy us and they do cows differently. One place will sell either a front or rear quarter. The front quarter is mostly chuck roast and ground beef, and is about 75 cents a pound cheaper. The rear quarter is about half steak, half grind, and is more expensive. The other meat shop has one price for the whole cow, and when you buy a quarter you get one fourth of all the meat on the cow.
There are quite a few upsides…
The beef is generally much better than what you get at the store. It hasn’t sat on the shelf in a package for 2 weeks.
You can tell the butcher exactly how you want the beef cut and packaged.
Your money goes to local business.
You always have it on hand. If you want a steak, or a burger, or you want to make a stew-its all right there.
yeah but choice meat during its shelf life is going to generally taste fresher than choice meat that has been frozen for 4 months. i dry age full loins and the fresh steaks are always better than the frozen ones. that packer they are cutting up has sat a while as well. and while its all on hand, its solid as a rock.
if i lived out of town i’d probably do it. but a butcher shop and grocery store are 5 minutes away.
i eat enough sausage, bacon, ham, ribs to justify a hog though.
Shop your local lockers. I go to Straka in Plain WI and sometimes the kickapoo locker. Many will have a package deal of some kind in addition to a half or quarter or whatever. I find the meat is always better quality than anything you would find at the supermarket. they are also better wrapped for the freezer. Your meat is likely to come from a local farm instead of some corporate lot. You are also supporting your local economy much better by going to the local locker.
Good advice. I actually was going to post this question soon 
I’ve got a friend whose wife grew up on a beef farm. I think we’ll have to pass till we have some hungry young ‘uns at home.
yeha the one I found is in Delano. from what i hear my 2.50 hanging price per pound is about 500.00 even for the quarter but hat gets me about 145 ounds of meat. so technically it is not 2.50 a pound which is the “confusing oaert to me”
and yes I am easily confused to peanut gallery sut it now. 
and mine are hungry ones. I make 4 pounds of meatloaf now and they barely leave enough for me for work. then if I forget to take it they normally eat it for lunch. 
. but at least i know they are eating healthy. and after peaking int he checkbook and how much is spent on eating out I might as well take the plunge.
How big of freezer is needed for a 1/2 cow?
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Another downside is that if your paying 2.60/# for the beef (on the hoof), that’s more expensive than what you’d pay in the local store for a 10# tube of ground beef. But it all get evened out when you factor in the steaks and the quality of the meat.
Are those the prices you’ve paid? We are paying 2.60/pound FINISHED PRODUCT. At least we did last time.
One thing you may want to consider if buying beef is do you want a corn fed/ feed fed cow or grass fed cow. We prefer the grass fed. They seem to be marbled better & very tender. On the other hand, my brother prefers the corn fed beef? Can’t lose either way price wise.
do it soon as food $$$$ are going UP UP and away. 
Whatever you do as far as 1/4 or 1/2, if I were you I would check if you are getting a beef breed or a holstien steer. You will notice quite a difference in taste and texture between the two.
it is a steer.
I prefer grass grazed, corn finished. The corn is where they put on the fat. We have it pretty good down here, just bought 65#’s of 85% chuck ground burger wrapped in 2# packages for $1.99/lb last night. Have several meat processing places here so I have some friends in places where we get a case of ribs or pork loins for $2 per pound. Got 35# of tri-tips last week for $2.50 a pound. My wife wondered at the begining of summer why I had 264 pounds of charcoal in the garage, said it was on sale and we would go through it before Labor Day. Well we are at 1 1/2 bags left. Just saw a great deal on beef ribs, will have to get a couple packs.
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it is a steer.
Yes that is probably true but is it a holstien steer or an angus(beef-breed)type steer. I’ve had both and there is definately a difference. You may have to pay a little more for the beef breed critter.
sorry, yes a beef breed and he only does 6-10 a year and does everything himself, just a small farm.
Broncosguy-My family has been splitting a full beef for the last several years. Now that we’ve moved away, my wife and I buy it by the 1/4…with 4 kids, we may have to step up to a 1/2. Definitely more economical for us, and much better quality once you find a good supplier and butcher. Thanks for reminding me, I’m overdue to get another 1/4 ordered.
I think you’ll find out you like it better than what you’ll find in your store, and the price you’ll pay for the same quality in a grocery will keep you buying it this way. Good luck!
We did that last year with my brother and I can’t believe I;m saying this, but we actually are tired of eating steak! Our cost was $2.49/lb. The only downfall is you need a big freezer and $800 on the front end.
Go to Foley. Only a hour drive for you. There are at least 2 locker plants there to choose from. You might even be able to play them against each other.
They have been there for years and will be able to provide all the answers to your questions.
One is Foley Locker. I believe the other is Dombrowski meats?
Anyway, well worth the road trip.
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Another downside is that if your paying 2.60/# for the beef (on the hoof), that’s more expensive than what you’d pay in the local store for a 10# tube of ground beef. But it all get evened out when you factor in the steaks and the quality of the meat.
Are those the prices you’ve paid? We are paying 2.60/pound FINISHED PRODUCT. At least we did last time.
I was a little high there. I looked at our last receipt from a few years ago and we were paying 2.10/# for the cow, on the hoof-which included butchering. I could find it cheaper from different sources, but we stopped buying quarters because it took us too long to eat. Our neighbor started giving us all his venison too, so it is even harder to eat it all up. Are you close to Madison? We might be interested in doing another 1/4 in the next year.
plantenbergs market in richmond does a bang up job on both hogs and beef. you can pick it up after fishin the chain!!!!!!!!! 
My dad raises black angus beef and every fall we butcher around 15 or so steers. Reading everyone’s comments I thought I could answer some of your questions.
There is definitly a difference between grass fed and corn fed. Our approach is to give them a year in the pasture feeding primarily on grass and then to bring them closer to home and feed them primarily corn and protein for 3 months before butchering to get the best marbling possible.
A typical animal runs about 1200 lbs on the hoof (give or take) which translates to about 800 lbs hanging weight in the butcher shop. A very rough estimate of what you’ll end up with post trimming and de-boning is 25% bone/fat, 25% burger, 25% roasts, and 25% steaks.
Resulting amounts of each type of cut:
Per 1/2 = 100# burger, 100# roasts, 100# steaks
Per 1/4 = 50# burger; 50# roasts, 50# steaks
Our charge (which I think is fairly typical) is $2.50/lb hanging weight (processing included) Even when you factor in the lost weight due to trimming/de-boning this ends up being approximatly $3.33/lb and when you take into account in that you’re getting not just burger but also steaks and roasts for that cost it actually ends up being somewhere around 60% of what you would typically pay in a store due to removing the markups (transportion, fancier packaging, etc.)
If anyone would like further information about anything or if you might be interested in picking up some beef shoot me a PM
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