How do I figure out if buying a quarter of a cow is worth it?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I know the approx. hanging weight of a quarter cow.  I know the approx. finished weight of a quarter of a cow.  I know how much they charge per pound (is that for the hanging weight or finished weight? they give me both but don't tell me).  They say that it costs extra to butcher it but that I have to call to find out how much?  Grr.  Is there anything I have to know when I call to ask?  For example, do I order certain cuts?  How do I know which quarter of the cow I"m getting?  If I figure out all of this how do I compare it with the price per pound at the grocery store?  Is all this even worth it?  (The only reason I'm considering it is because it is organic grass fed meat and a friend with auto immune issues like mine wants to do this together.)  

[Tess in the Burbs]

I paid about $750 for a quarter of a cow years ago. They had a list of cuts on their site so yes, ask for it. I was able to swap with another family that day for some things I wanted more of. That meat lasted us a year. And it tasted amazing!!! Worth every penny. I will saying going into it I knew all those prices but didn't know my total until they called. All depends when they butcher the cow. Expect $500-800.

[rjand6more]

It really depends on the seller how they price it out.  Ours sells at market weight.  It is a lot less cost per lb obviously. The butcher has their own fees separate from the seller. Ours charges a cutting fee and a per lb processing fee.  Most cuts are included.  I pay extra for patties and cubed steak.  Once a butcher charged extra to pkg ground beef into 1 lb pks instead of 2.  It is important to ask.  The butcher can help you through it.

 

Costwise, it is NOT cheaper for us compared to grocery store meat.  Cheaper is not better imo in this instance.  Quality is very important to me and I am willing to pay for it.

 

These costs vary widely.  I usually pay around $1000 for 1/2 cow.  Cost includes both fees.

[Prairie~Phlox]

It's really hard to figure out the costs of all of the different cuts, but taste wise, SO MUCH BETTER!

[Punchie]

When we went in on a cow w/DH's family, it cost a bit more than what you'd pay at the grocery, but the meat tasted so much better. It was well worth the price difference. As to the cuts, the farmer gave us a little bit of this and that, but mostly we got hamburger (since that's what we go through in our house). We also got two soup bones that made a very tasty broth.

[BigMamaBird]

We went in with another family and ordered "Half of a half of a cow."  The other fella was very set on ordering it like this, rather than a quarter because I guess you with half of a half you get half of all the cuts where as if you order a quarter you only get cuts from the front OR back, not both.  We crunched the numbers and after processing it came to $2.95 a pound which around here is a very good price.  We knew the farmer and knew the conditions the animal was raised in.   It's not organic beef, but I like the fact that we know our cow lived outside and wandered around and lived like a cow on a small farm rather than being chained up in a filthy feed lot.  I also like that we're patronizing local family farms rather than large faceless corporations.  It's also comforting to know that I have a freezer full of food and we don't have to worry about weekly beef prices.

[MomtoCandJ]

We paid about 800 for a half cow, that included the cutting and packaging

[dm379]

Dh and I were looking into this a few weeks ago. The butcher told us it was $3.99/lb so it would come out right at $500 and that included all packaging. They had a list of what is included but we could swap it around until we got the right amount of pounds. So if we didn't want ground beef we could swap it for certain kinds of steak. But we couldn't get something that wasn't on the list.

[aug17girl]

Ask the farmer which quarter of the cow you are getting, then find a butchering chart that shows the standard cuts for front or back.  You also need a have a good talk with the butcher to determine real costs.  Some have standard packages you can choose one.  The one I've used let me really customize my order.  He charged extra for making hamburger patties and extra for smaller packages.  I got to pick the thickness for the steaks and how many steaks for packages.  I got to decide whether I wanted tougher cuts of meat in marinating steaks, pot roasts, or in hamburger.  I got to pick my appropriate roast weight.  If you eat organ meats, it doesn't hurt to ask for them.  When I've bought, the buyers of the rest of the cow haven't wanted them, and the butcher gave me all of them.   If you want soup bones, say so.  I usually get a big bag. 

[Joyofsixreboot]

For us, the convenience of knowing all I have to do is go to the freezer is worth the little extra it costs (not to mention it's better quality, grass fed beef).

[TracyP]

In my area the norm is that the /pound price is on the hanging weight.

 

We generally pay $80 - 100 for butchering. All 6 of the butchers we have worked with give mixed quarters - you get cuts from the front and back. You may want to double check that with your butcher. They will ask how thick you want your steaks, how many per package, weight on roasts, do you want patties (extra $), cube steak (extra $), sausages (extra $). They will walk you through it.

 

A normal price around here is about $500 for a quarter when it is all said and done. Grass fed will be higher. And the size of the steer could make this vary widely. It is very hard to price exactly, but you will likely end up spending somewhere between $4-$6 per pound. You probably cannot buy grass fed hamburger in your grocery for that cheap and you will be getting the more expensive cuts along with the hamburger. Very worth it, IMO.

[Momof3littles]

We've done 1/4s a few times and  a half once on grassfed beef. 

 

My tips are 1). Make sure you understand how much you are getting in the end so you can calculate the price per pound. 2) If you can't swap cuts around, be realistic about your cooking skills.  For example, certain cuts like short ribs may be more difficult to use if you aren't accustomed to certain things, kwim?  3). Some places list the weight of bones as part of the package. I like making stock, but if you don't, or aren't going to use them, then mentally factor things like that in to the price per pound you are paying.  Do the cuts listed have value to *you* and will you use them?  4) Do you want everything vacuum sealed or butcher paper wrapped, and make sure you understand the price for that.  5) Since grassfed is leaner, if you are going that route, consider that there is less fat cooking off and more meat than you'd get out of a pound of 80/20 at the local grocery store. 6) do they age it?  Is it tender?  Have you tasted it before buying a bulk amount?  Some grassfed beef is really gamey tasting to some people.  I don't really take issue with that, but basically I'd suggest knowing you like the overall flavor of what you are buying before you are stuck with a massive amount of it, particularly if you think your family may have trouble adjusting if the meat has a slightly different taste.  Some people really are supertasters and are very affected by that. 7) if you are splitting it, make sure you understand the cuts you are getting.  Will they be reasonably easy to divide in a way that the value is correct for both of you?  Sometimes when I look at packages I think it could be a challenge to split it with someone. 8) extra cost for things like patties vs. ground beef?   Some places will interchange those pretty freely, others mark up the patties an extra 1.50/lb or so IME.

[Plateau Mama]

We bought 1/2 cow from Klesick farms up north last fall. It is fabulous meat. All said and done we ended up paying about $5 a pound which is a steal for grass fed beef, and the quality is so much better than what I could find (when I could find it) in the store. The butcher called when they were getting reay to process my beef and I was able to tell him what I wanted. How big the roasts should be, how many steaks per package, yes/no to stew meat etc. The only downside was there was a ton of ground beef.

 

My 13 yo can tell when we are having Bob (yes we named him) or regular meat and much prefers Bob. 1/2 was the perfect size for us. (We have 3.5 people who eat beef in our house) We maybe eat it 2x a week. We would eat it a bit more but child 2 is allergic to beef.

[swellmomma]

I used to buy a 1/4 cow when we lived in the city.  It generally cost me between $500-600 and kept us in beef for a full year.  Hoping to do the same this year if I can find a seller.  It's been a few years since I have done this and I miss it very much it was very cost efficient and much healthier than store bought beef

[Dahliarw]

We've done 1/4 cow for several years. The way my farm/butcher do it is that you essentially "split" half a cow with someone else. So they cut all the ribeye steaks from that half, and then divide them in half (so if there are 12 ribeyes, I get 6). Same with roasts, ground beef, soup bones, etc. Sometimes if other people getting cows butchered from the same farm don't want parts of theirs (i.e. soup bones) I can get extra for free. We pay per pound hanging weight, then a flat kill fee and then a small per pound processing fee.

[K&Rs Mom]

Costwise, it is NOT cheaper for us compared to grocery store meat.  Cheaper is not better imo in this instance.  Quality is very important to me and I am willing to pay for it.

 

 

This is why we're thinking about it too (as soon as we can clear enough freezer space).  The per-lb rate for 1/4 cow ends up way more than what I pay at the store, but I usually buy cheap cuts of meat at the store - if you average in the better cuts that would be included, it comes closer to even.  I have an uncle who used to buy partial cows, and he said it's the cheapest steak but most expensive hamburger he's ever bought.  The websites of the places we're considering mostly list the package options - what cuts are included, cost/lb, whether you can substitute anything - but since all cows are different, you don't know the exact total until you've ordered.