Hey guys and gals! Moved back from a place far away last year and out there we could buy half a beef and pork from processors with no issue. Went to a local meat place and they said that the only way to do so was if the beef or pig was yours.

I'm in SW LA and and looking for sources on where I can procure 1/4 or 1/2 beef and a whole pig. Anyone got any insight on how to approach this? I appreciate any help/info!

What you are looking for is custom butcher meats. To avoid being required to meet all of the high end USDA requirements for commercial meat packing plants it is as you say. You buy an animal or a share in an animal from the owner/farmer. They will deliver it to the processor as a service, but it is not their animal any more, its yours. And the processor will butcher your animal for you. They cannot/will not do it for resale because that is where the USDA stuff kicks in.

So you need to look for a local farmer/rancher to get it from. They will usually have a processor they normally use.

The bottleneck now still seems to be finding a processor with space available.

That's the road I've been going down, but have had very little luck on coming up with stuff on the interwebs. Do you know of a source I can find local(ish) folks selling @notso ?

Thanks for the info!

Call weavers meat processing.  I've bought several pigs from them.   I'm sure they could line up a farmer for beef also.

Weavers is up around Cullman right? Used to get deer processed there when up that way (if same place).

If you need to split a cow I may be in for a 1/4 or a 1/2. I will have to give the freezer a hard look but think I have enough room

A bit north of Cullman, near Hartselle.

Where are you located?  if you already said it, I missed it. NVM, I see it now.  Other end of the state:  My cousin sells beef, they are north of Hwy 72 near Athens.

Yep, same place I used to use for deer. Good people there. If nothing pans out on this end of the state I may hit you up. Thanks!

Thanks @whiskerz

I may be in for the same for 1/4 or 1/2 as well. I appreciate your checking!

A guy I work with raises cows and sells a few occasionally, he even delivers them to weavers for you.  
He doesn’t give the cows anything other than grass and finishes them on grain, the meat is extremely good.  He typically sells in the fall just before weavers switches over to deer only.  

I last bought from him…. Early 2021.  It was half of an average size steer and came to just over $4/lb, but I had lots of jerky made and that added about 10% to the cost.  With a lot of jerky and ground beef it barely fit in a 7 cu-ft chest freezer after I threw a few bulkier steaks in the house freezer.  

If anybody is interested I’ll ask if he has any to sell and when they would be ready.  No idea what the cost will be these days, but certainly over $4/lb since the world has gone crazy.

Appreciate it @Morgan321