Posted: 1/18/2008 7:00:54 AM EDT
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Anyone here raising their own beef for sale or consumption? Anyone buy a 1/2 or quarter from a friend or neighbor? School me on the process,cost etc. Thanks |
We buy quarters from a local farmer who has developed a niche business selling "organic beef." The steers are pastured then briefly finished on grain. No antibiotics involved and we get to pat the cow on the head before the field trip to the butcher.  It couldn't be much easier the way we do it. I tell the butcher how much I want in roasts, steaks and burger and they do the rest. Even though I do a lot of vacuum packing at home, I let them vac pack it for me as the cost is trivial. Our butcher will age the beef at no extra cost and we opt for that. If you're gonna get a quarter, then you won't, obviously, have all the cuts available to you. Here's a site that'll give you a sense of what you'll get from front vs. hindguarter. A quick conversation with the butcher will give you a good sense of what you'll get from the cow. I don't remember the exact breakdown of what we got from our last quarter, but here are the roasts and steaks:  There was, IIRC, 49 pounds of burger. One of the questions to ask the butcher is whether the burger you're getting comes strictly from "your beef" or whether it's pooled. Our butcher will only send burger that comes from the quarter/half/whole cow he's working on. I suspect that most butchers doing this kind of work do it the same way, but it's worth asking. A quarter fills about a third of a medium size freezer:  In terms of costs, the farmer charges us $1 per pound live weight. The butcher is paid separately. Our last quarter cost $300 to the farmer and $125 to the butcher. When I looked at the cost vs. what we got, I found that this beef was ever-so-slightly cheaper than supermarket beef. Not a huge cost savings, but the quality of the beef is much higher and we know where it comes from and how it was raised. |
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I have a friend that raises beef cattle. Last year myself and two other guys bought one from him and had it butchered. The final cost ended up being about $2 pound for everything. Basically we paid a little less than normal burger price for steaks, roasts, and burgers. From what I have been told the more grain feeding the better. Our animal and his were seperated from the others and grain fed. Another important factor is the butcher, if you are getting your animal from a reputable farmer they should be able to steer (haha) you towards a good processor. The processor has as much to do with the end product as the farmer. I consider myself a high volume beef eater and do notice a considerable difference in the quality of the meat. Even my girlfriend noticed an immediate difference the first time she cooked with the hamburger in a skillet. She was very impressed by the lack of "slime" as she put it, left in the pan. Grove |
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I bought half of a cow about a year or so ago. Huge waste and ripoff, IMO. First, the beef was raised on grass, no oats or grains. Therefore, the meat does not taste good nor is it as tender as meat from Kroger's, Walmart or Sam's. Even the hamburger I use for spaghetti doesn't taste all that good. Second, I paid about $500 for the meat, which came in two boxes the size of a Zerox box. That's it. Processing was about another $65 or so, don't remember. I could deal with the cost and the seemingly small quantities, but the fact that it doesn't taste as good or isn't as tender, bad move, never again. Merlin |
If they're not finished on at least some grain, they won't have the taste and marbling we've come to expect in this country. Sounds like you should find a different producer. If you're ever traveling through PA, let me know in advance and I'll hook you up with a steak that, I promise, will be far tastier than anything you can get in the stores you mentioned. 
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well, in fairness to your supplier, the first cutting of hay contains grain in the form of seeds or what you'd call wheat berries. So pastured cattle are going to be fed hay here in SC during this weather. feeding pure grain costs more and more these days, it is up to 15 dollars a bag now. |
My mom lives in east Pittsburgh, off of Rodi road. Whereabouts are you? Thanks, Merlin |
| My family ownes 500 head, more or less. To get the best beef, pick which STEERS you are thinking of butchering. For the last 90 days, put them on all the grain they will eat. When you take them live to the butcher, make sure he kills them while they are just standing doing nothing. Do NOT get them worked up. Try to find a butcher that vacuum packs their beef. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Been doing this my entire life. Oh, check out the butcher's entire operation for cleanliness before you take anything in. We have someone we have been using for 25 years. |
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In addition to my real job I raise 3-4 head of cattle a year. I sell some, eat some and keep the others for later. A cow is usually sold by the pound. Live weight or "on the hoof weight". For easy math think around $1 per pound. A 1000 pound cow will net around 500 pounds of meat. So, roughly $2 per pound plus the Butcher fee. Assuming of course that you are not going to do it yourself. Not the cheapest hamburger in the world but it should be better and certainly a good price for the steaks. Plus of course you know where it comes from. Look at all the food recalls last year... An animal raised all natural on grass will be healthier meat. It will also help you loose weight as it sucks so you will eat less. Also as said before - If the cattle are not feed grain at least at the end, there will be little fat or "marbling" and therefore little flavor. If your meat is tough, assuming it was cooked correctly, it could have been an old Bull or used up dairy cow. Bulls are sent to the butcher after they are so old they are not good for anything else. Old dairy cows that have been hormone up for milk production and are all used up are a big part of what you buy at your local grocery. A little research will show you what mass produced meat (what most grocery stores have) goes through before it gets to you. In my real job, we install machinery and conveyor in many different types of factories. We put some conveyor in a so called chicken farm as well as a bacon factory...  Finding a good producer and butcher may take a while but once you do, its all good. You might put a question in your hometown forum to see if anyone can give you a hand finding someone. |
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The toughness or tenderness of beef as a whole, has little to do with feed or breed, but here are some factors. •Older cattle (bulls and cows) may be tougher than steers and heifers. •The idea that cattle should not be stressed before slaughter is good. Stressed animals build up lactic acid in their muscles that resist going into rigor and if cooled too quickly after slaughter, can lead to tough meat. •Ask the slaughterer if they use "electrical stimulation), stop laughing! It is a technique used by large slaughter houses to shock carcasses with electricity to use up muscle energy which helps the carcass go into rigor faster before cooling. •Ask the slaughterer how fast they chill the carcass after slaughter. Too quickly and the animals natural muscle energy may still be high which will toughen the meat at cooking. Make sure it goes into rigor mortis before it is cooled! There is no way to look at beef to see if it's tough. Toughness is an animal by animal phenomenon. I bought a prime rib roast for Christmas from the same guys I always buy my meat from. I have had very good luck with these guys. I cooked the prime rib roast as I always do, normally to great results. The inside muscle (eye of the rib – longisimus dorsi) was as tough as round steak. We ate what we could and used the rest in stew. I hope this helps. |
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a lot of the "hobbiest" cattlemen around my area will sell grass/hay fed/grain finished steer singles on the hoof for the current market 3 to 6 lot rate just to keep from hauling them to the stockyards market, and in times of drought or fast rising feed cost, they'll sell for below market rate to get out of under or having to transport them to market, but you usually have to buy several of them at a time when this occurs. some will even trade/partial trade a steer for other livestock, work, feed or equipment. either way you buy them, even with a butcher processing is much cheaper than you could buy an equivelent amount of beef in a grocery, and the price gets even better if you butcher them yourself. |