Anyone ever buy half a cow?

The CSA I belong to (Sandhill Organics) put a note in there last newsletter that their friends sell steers for beef by the half or split half. I am very intrigued by this but have never done anything like this myself or know anyone who has. The cost is too high (about $425 for about 100 lbs of beef) to just take a shot at it and hope I like what I get. Anyone have any experience with something like this?

Thanks

What is your main concern? Storage? Preparation? Quality?

When I was younger our family was gifted a side of beef by a farmer in our extended family. It was excellent, took up a good portion of our chest freezer, and fed us well all winter.

Best,
Michael

Make sure that you understand what you are getting. Do you realize that in addition to the "good cuts" that you are going to also be getting a lot of "less desirable" cuts including a ton of bones.

I have a freezer full of "less desirable" cuts from friends who bought a portion of the steer and don't know how to cook a shank or make stock from beef bones. And I got those for free.

Personally, the price sounds VERY high but I do not know what you are getting.

For the record, my in-laws raise their own beef steers and used to have a dairy herd. Periodically, they have a steer butchered and can their own beef and beef products.

Agree with prior poster, that with proper planning, a steer will feed a family well for years.

jlawrence01 wrote:Personally, the price sounds VERY high but I do not know what you are getting.

Yeah, a quick search around the web shows sides of beef going for about half that per/lb. cost.

I was thinking somewhere around $2/lb personally. However, since I always get the cow free (why buy it?), I just didn't know.

Personally, I am not really into the "whole steer" experience as you can generally do better looking for "loss leader" specials in the market. Also, I do not like to tie up all my money in one steer just in case the animal is not as tender as I hoped. And I have not as of yet invested in a large enough freezer.

I have friends who do this annually with organic beef; the cows come in smaller portions as well - last year they got 1/8 of a cow, but upped it to 1/4 since they liked it so much.

Interestingly, they got some things pre-processed, for instance, liver sausage.

Thanks for all the replies. Its grass-fed organic beef and the cost is only $2.55 a pound (for about a 145 lb portion). But once you include the processing cost and the amount of beef you get (about 100 lbs) it gets it up to about $4.25 a pound.

I still don't know whether or not I am going to do it but if I do I will let you know how it all turns out.

(I am sure whatever bones I don't use for stock my dog will happily take care of for me)

It seems like a good deal to me, for grass-fed organic beef. Back when I was a kid, lots of people did this. I think the freezer salesmen had something going where you bought a freezer and then a quarter or half a cow for a real loss-leader price. But of course back then people were used to cooking meat with bones in it.

I've never done it with beef, but I'm just finishing up my last of half a lamb I got a year or so ago. I enjoyed finding recipes for the cuts I wouldn't have bought on my own. It probably also helps that I'm not afraid of organ meats and love stews. If I still had a freezer, I would definitely consider this.

Ann Fisher wrote:It seems like a good deal to me, for grass-fed organic beef.

I meant to say this same thing the other day.

I've noodled on the idea of doing this; like Ann, I like the idea of the challenge. As it stands, I think I am gonna get Farmer Vicki to let me take over the parts of a cow she is slaughtering, that she does not normally use, like the head and sweatbreads. How offal.

A somewhat interesting aside, if you want to keep the head, so to speak, extra steps and inspection are necessary during the processing--for obvious reasons.

And another aside, there was a good article not that long ago on Slate.com on the superiority of grass-fed beef. One thing the article noted was how beef is very seasonal, that is grass fed beef, or better put, cows slaughtered at different times of the year taste different because of seasonal changes in their diet. Vicki told me that her beef tastes especially sweet now because the cows eat all the pumpkins and squashes that did not make it to the market.