How Much Does It Cost to Buy Beef From a Farmer

So you're looking to counter the rising cost of beef by buying a whole cow for meat.

Purchasing meat in bulk may be a significant money saver, provided you take the foresight to plan ahead and the room in your freezer. It also gives you the option to control what type of meat you lot are consuming – you tin can get truly grass fed beefiness or grain fed beef – and yous'll know how information technology was raised.

Many farms and meat processing facilities provide consumers with placing a beef order of purchasing a whole, half, or quarter moo-cow.

The way pricing works when buying a whole cow for meat is that you're charged a dollar number for each pound of "hanging weight," which is the animal's weight before it gets aged and candy.

However, some butchers base the pricing on the cow's weight when it's still alive (rather than pound hanging weight), and so y'all'll need to ask about that with your butcher before placing your order.

The butcher volition take care of all the processing and packing, so all you have to do is place your order and pick up your meat once information technology'southward prepared. From the time of guild until selection-up, the process typically takes anywhere from ane to iii weeks, depending on the season and availability.

Where to Buy a Whole Cow for Meat

Buying a whole cow for meat is a chip of an undertaking. Therefore, fewer people do it compared to those who have the more user-friendly route of ownership their meat in small quantities at the grocery store. You tin can also look into just getting a side of beef or quarter cow.

For those who are adamant to buy a whole cow for meat, the reward is lower cost and fewer trips to the marketplace.

However, with that said, buying a whole cow for meat does accept its challenges, and you may take to get artistic and stray off the beaten path to find a source for ownership cows.

If you lot haven't already, an excellent place to start is by request your close friends and family members if they've ever purchased a whole cow from a nearby farm. Then, ask about their experiences – in that location'due south no better way to acquire about a local business concern than by talking with a real customer.

When in doubt, expect up your local options on the internet . Try search queries such as "buy whole moo-cow + your area" in your search engine of choice. The results should give you a range of at least a few options from which to cull.

Then wait for an email address or phone number to call . Don't hesitate to phone the farmer and ask them personally if yous take any questions. The farmer will inform you of the length of time y'all will be required to wait for pick-upwards. Buying a whole cow is not a click, click, online buy (nevertheless).

Another option for finding a source to buy a whole moo-cow from is to seek a butcher business on its own holding . In other words, not the butcher at your local big chain grocery store. A butcher will be able to tell you who the local farmers are and give you their contact information.

One other source worth looking into is your local farmer's market. Usually, you'll just be able to purchase pre-cut meat at a farmer's market. Still, it also opens up the opportunity to meet any farmer/rancher/butcher who sets upwardly shop at the market place.

If you strike upwardly a conversation, you lot can inquire as to whether they would be open to selling you lot a whole moo-cow or even if they would raise a moo-cow for yous, and you can arrange to pay for it.

One time y'all've plant a cattle rancher or farmer , information technology'due south commonly a pretty simple procedure to pick up every bit long equally y'all have a vehicle with decent space. Load your boxes into your car and get to the address. A complete cow's worth of meat can be transported in a truck or SUV.

Available Cuts

One of the perks of buying a whole cow for meat is having every possible cut of the cow available to you.

Prepare ahead of time by doing some preliminary research and thinking near what your family unit enjoys eating: more steaks or more roasts, for case.

Would you like to have more ribs or more hamburgers? Would you like to have more hamburgers or more meat for stews? How do you program on cooking your steaks?

The meat you get may be stripped of excess fat and exist well-marbled, depending on your tastes. Know what you want in advance then you can permit the butcher know if you want a lot of fat or if you lot want most of it trimmed off.

Vacuum-sealed tubes comprise the basis beef, while vacuum-sealed bags contain the other cuts. Equally a result, you'll likely receive a finished product that weighs slightly more than half of the full hanging weight.

The answers to these questions will guide you in the right direction for what yous desire the butcher to prioritize.

Y'all have a slap-up deal of control over how your beefiness is processed when y'all purchase it this style.

For example, steak thickness and the number of cuts or pounds of meat in each bundle may all be customized by the processor.

In other words, if you detect that usually your family needs an additional half-pound or pound of footing beef for dinner, or if you know that a one-pound package is normally as well much for you and your household, you may arrange your purchases to preclude waste.

Benefits of Buying a Whole Cow for Meat

To someone who has never bought a whole cow for meat before, they may look at y'all crazy if you tell them you're thinking near doing it. Withal, at that place are various benefits of buying a whole moo-cow for meat. Here are just a few of them.

Yous save a lot of coin on your meals if you eat a lot of beef.
Once y'all have a whole butchered cow in your freezer, you don't have to make every bit many trips to the market.
You have more than control over each private cutting of meat (and get otherwise expensive cuts like the tongue and skirt or beef knuckle).
You have the pick of buying only a grass-fed cow, which is more natural and healthier than meat from typical grain-fed cows.
You'll exist able to load your freezer with meat from a cow that roamed on lush meadows and gained weight organically while eating grass. Compare this to the cattle that were removed from their mothers at an early on age, kept in cow-lined stock pens, given corn, unnatural supplements and antibiotics, and growth hormones.
Y'all get to support small local farmers and ranchers

What to Ask Yourself, the Rancher & Butcher

How long do you lot think information technology will take your family to consume a whole moo-cow?
Will you lot crave a larger freezer?
How far will y'all have to travel to collect the meat?
How long will the beef remain good for you to eat once it has been frozen?
What volition the price of the meat exist per pound?
Is my payment dependent on the hanging weight or the weight of the butchered stop product?
Is there an additional charge for processing the meat?
When tin can the meat be picked up from the subcontract?
What kind of quarter do you want to buy?
Is it a mixed quarter or simply the front or the rear quarter?

Cost of Butchering a Moo-cow

How much should yous conceptualize paying for a whole cow? When purchasing a moo-cow for meat, it's customary to pay a "market rate." Well-nigh always, ranchers will requite you an judge of how much the hanging weight will be so that you can make up one's mind how much information technology will cost.

The cost you lot pay per pound covers anything from ground beef to steaks that you would probably pay more than $10 per pound if purchased separately. So one of the benefits of ownership in bulk is that you save money .

On boilerplate, y'all can look to pay effectually $five.sixty per pound, which is quite a bit cheaper than buying store-bought beef, which comes out to approximately $vii.xl per pound.

And so that'due south a 25% savings. It's an even bigger savings compared to high-quality beef that you might find at an online retailer like Oversupply Moo-cow, Porter Road or Snake River Farms. For 750 pound of beef from a 1200 pound moo-cow, that works out to $4200.

Keep in heed that you can likewise asking for the butcher to include the bones, marrow, heart, tongue, oxtail, and liver, which have many uses, from making your own soups and even soaps.

By buying a whole moo-cow, you lot become to utilize the unabridged animate being, eliminating costs on things you would have already purchased, like soap or broth.

How a Cow is Weighed

If you haven't purchased a whole cow directly from a farmer, you may be perplexed by some of the terminology. Cows are weighed in various ways that you lot should be enlightened of so you accept a better idea of what the overall cost is going to be.

Offset-time customers need to empathise that fifty-fifty if their one-half cow weighs 1200 pounds while live, you won't receive that much meat.

It's common for processors to dry-age the meat for several days, which reduces the corporeality of moisture present in the meat, and thus the weight decreases.

Bones and undesirable organs are removed from the carcass during the butchering process, lowering the overall weight. Of class, you can asking for these parts to be included if you want. Yous tin expect to see about 750 pounds of meat from a 1200-pound half cow, depending on various circumstances.

Alive Weight

Equally the term implies, live weight refers to how much the cow weighs while nonetheless living. You can expect a alive moo-cow to weigh an estimated 900 pounds at the age of 1-2.5.

Hanging Weight

Hanging weight is the cow'south weight after it has been killed, skinned, and gutted. In most cases, this is the weight at which frozen beef is normally sold.

Take-Home Weight

Take-habitation weight is the weight of the meat you take dwelling house with yous later on it has been sliced and/or basis to your liking. Depending on the cuts you lot choose, you lot should look this to account for around 60% of the total hanging weight.

Required Freezer Space

You will almost likely require more room than is already bachelor in your kitchen. Because there is a lot of meat involved (even if it's all in tubes and packaging), the platonic solution is to set up a specialized freezer in a garage or basement for storage.

Prices for freezers capable of storing beefiness range from a couple hundred dollars for a model capable of housing a quarter cow to more a one thousand for bigger versions with more storage infinite.

A quarter moo-cow can fit into around a 4-cubic-human foot freezer. A fully-butchered cow will need a freezer of about 16 cubic feet most likely.

Once you've returned home with your marbled treasure, beef will stay proficient in the freezer for 9-12 months.

That's a long time, but keep in mind it's a lot of meat , and so information technology'due south a good thought to consider your household's current monthly beef intake so that you lot don't buy more than you lot demand. If yous don't call up your household would swallow a whole moo-cow in that amount of time, or you're unsure, you can always first with a one-half cow or quarter cow and then reassess.

Storage temperatures range between x and xv degrees Fahrenheit, with the meat existence taken out of the freezer one twenty-four hour period or two before being used. Foreclose repeatedly warming and spooky the meat to avoid spoiling the meat.

FAQs About Buying a Whole Cow

Here are a few FAQs about buying a whole cow.

Is it worth information technology to purchase a whole cow?

It's worth information technology to buy a whole cow if you lot consume a lot of beef, you care about where that beefiness comes from, you lot desire to save a lot of money, and yous have the storage space to preserve your meat while you eat information technology.

How much meat do you get from a 1200 pound cow?

You can expect to meet most 750 pounds of meat from a 1200-pound cow, after removing organs and wet, depending on various circumstances.

How much meat do y'all get from a 1000 pound cow?

You lot can expect to see nigh 625 pounds of meat from a chiliad-pound cow, after removing organs and moisture, depending on various circumstances.

How much meat practice you get from a 800 pound cow?

Y'all can expect to see about 500 pounds of meat from a 800-pound cow, after removing organs and moisture, depending on diverse circumstances.

How long does it take to raise a moo-cow for slaughter?

If the boilerplate daily weight gain for a 500-pound dogie is ane.five pounds per twenty-four hour period, it will accept about a twelvemonth (367 days) to abound it to 1000 pounds – source.

How much should a whole cow cost?

It depends on the market rate, but at $v.60/lb, the meat from a whole cow would be $4,200.

How much should half a moo-cow price?

It depends on the market charge per unit, but at $5.threescore/lb, the meat from a one-half cow would be $2,100.

How much is a 1/four of a cow price?

It depends on the market rate, but at $v.60/lb, the meat from a one-half cow would be $ane,050.

What do yous go when yous buy a whole moo-cow?

You can get really whatever yous asking from the farmer and butcher. Most butchers will exclude the organs and volition dry out age the meat to remove nearly of the moisture.

Final Thoughts

Depending on where you get your meat, you lot may also benefit from developing a personal connection with the cattle rancher who raised the cow so yous can become a improve idea of where and how the animal was grown. That aforementioned goes for your relationship with the butcher, who tin piece of work with you to figure out what kind of cuts you like most and things similar how much fat you lot go on.

Buying a whole moo-cow for meat is an involved procedure that is a lot less user-friendly than but picking upwardly a couple of steaks here and there from your local grocery shop. Withal, the terminal result will exist a freezer full of beef that you lot can eat for up to a twelvemonth, one less incentive to get grocery shopping, and a large amount of coin saved on your grocery neb.

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Source: https://www.priceofmeat.com/2565/buying-a-whole-cow-for-meat/