Questions about buying a cow or a pig for food?

**momof42003** · 03-11-2008, 06:32 AM

We too will be buying a half cow.. Last year was the first year of doing so and we learned what we got too much of/ or too big of cuts.. We still have at least 4 huge roasts in the freezer, and figured we had tooo much hamburger and not enough steak.. This is what we will be tweaking this year. DH mom and grandmother will be going in on the other half (I think)... Remember it may taste a little "off" at first since it is FRESH cut meat. It took us by suprise at first and then it was just getting use to it. We had steaks probably within the first 12-24 hours after it had been slaughtered.. Kind of weird to know it was alive just the day or so before... You are lucky though to be getting a half cow...

**rachelj** · 03-11-2008, 08:36 AM

Dh's family are farmers (dh's dad is part owner but it is his uncles who run the farm). They have cattle. We "do beef" a couple of times a year. This means (to us

) that the uncles take a cow to the butcher and we get it back in quarters. We then take it back to the shed where the men in the family stand around and trim the meat off thebone and fat. One uncle uses a saw (purchased years ago from a butcher going out of business) to make roasts and steaks etc. The women package it all. It is quite the assembly line

. We don't know how to get a lot of "cuts" of meat. We do hamburger (sometimes patties too), round steak, club steak, T-bones, ribeye, roasts, sirloins. B/c dh grew up with free beef (steaks) he would rather have a nice marinated chicken breast than a Tbone!!

**Sara Noel** · 05-05-2008, 05:31 PM

Heather, How did your order end up? Meaning are you happy with it? We just ordered 1/4 cow to see if we want to order more. I'm thrilled with the variety and the cost. I didn't want liver and other "parts," cube steak or short ribs. I am really happy that they'll make patties for me and also will cut the round steak into strips for my stir fry.

Gabe will be happy with his filet mignon. Believe it or not, I don't like it. I was walked through all the options and it was a great experience. He's packaging everything to fit the amount we use each meal. Our 1/4 is from all sections and that's great. I wasn't sure what to expect. lol So if I order 1/2 it would just be a larger quantity of the same cuts. This farm has pigs, too. I see a pig order in our future.

**YankeeMom** · 05-05-2008, 05:33 PM

Well we didn't get all the cuts we wanted & ended up with more hamburger than we wanted. But it was because the cow was small, a dairy cow not a beef cow. Other than that, the experience was great. The meat is the best we've ever tasted. Even the hamburger, and I'm not a big hamburger person. It usually grosses me out. But this stuff is so lean and yummy.

**YankeeMom** · 05-05-2008, 05:34 PM

Oh yeah the place we got ours does pigs too. They do sausage, bologna, even "slim jims". We'll be getting a pig at the end of the summer. I have a friend who just ordered on from them. It came to $1/lb

**dwallyfam** · 05-05-2008, 06:19 PM

You can ask the meat processor to make your hamburger very lean. Mine has very little grease to it. He likens it to 95-98% lean beef. You can't touch that lean of beef for 1.60 a pound.

Kellie

**Sara Noel** · 05-12-2008, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by YankeeMom

Oh yeah the place we got ours does pigs too. They do sausage, bologna, even "slim jims". We'll be getting a pig at the end of the summer. I have a friend who just ordered on from them. It came to $1/lb

We ordered the hog over the weekend. Ours ends up $1/lb, too. It should be ready in about 3 weeks or so.

I decided to get the soup bones with our beef order. I'm glad I did. The butcher left a lot of meat around the bones. I was surprised. I expected just the bones. lol

I haven't cooked any yet. I'll probably cook some tomorrow.

I feel so meat educated now. roflmao Not really but more than I before.

I have to call him back because I ordered the shoulder section (picnic ham) as sausage links. I want some sausage patties and not just all breakfast links, rope or bulk.

I tried some of their smoked bacon and it was delicious. Woohoo.

**YankeeMom** · 03-12-2009, 08:01 AM

Yes, it smells a little weird (mine smells like a farm lol) when you cook it but it doesn't taste weird at all.

**ladytoysdream** · 03-12-2009, 08:19 AM

I grew up on a dairy farm, and Dad also raised a few pigs each year. I know he sent the pigs out to be butchered but we got them back cut in 2 halfs. Then each half went on a table, and got cut up. We then wrapped the meat for the freezer. Meat was done in the winter and we had a big house that was for 2 families but rarely was anyone in the second part. So that gave us a extra kitchen for working in. Unheated rooms.
Our most recent pig was one from a cousin we bought. Another family member bought half of it. Hubby got to do the all the butchering, etc. We did our own wrapping. We don't have a big grinder so had to take that part of the meat to a local small store that a butcher will do it for us at so much a pound. I bring it home in boxes and weigh it, and wrap it myself.

Hubby also butchers and cuts up our venison. He cuts as many steaks as he can get. Then some stew meat. And we do have a small grinder we use if the amount to be cut up, is not a lot.
I buy regular freezer paper that come on those big rolls.
It keeps the meat better than the regular stuff you buy in the grocery stores. Don't forget the shelf life of your meat once it goes in the freezers.

I usually look for good deals when grocery shopping for meat. Just the two of us now, and a 1/2 of a cow would take awhile for us to use up.

**aimtosave** · 03-12-2009, 02:31 PM

I only buy organic meat, althoguh i've never purchased a half or full animal. Good idea though. I'd ahve to freeze most of it, becasue i hardly eat meat. Don't cheap out on meat...the industry is saturdated with poor quality meat.

**suki** · 03-12-2009, 05:29 PM

My brother just delivered our half of a hog this week. For us, it's all about the quality, not the cost. My brother raises the hogs and takes them in to be processed. We raise the beef and take it in to be processed. This way we know what we're eating.

**fixer** · 03-12-2009, 05:33 PM

The past few years we have purchased a quarter of a steer from a local farmer. I enjoy seeing the animal on the hoof that I will be eating. The only problem we encountered was with the processing. Our instructions weren't followed which spoiled the experience. There is no other butcher so we are reassessing what to do this year.

**Frugal-Nana** · 03-13-2009, 12:32 AM

I have a question: What about buying a pig and raising it for butchering? Anyone on here that does this? I've been wanting to do this for a while. We have alot of room for a pig pen and free materials to make a pig pen. How much does it cost to raise a pig? We would probably butcher it ourselves since we do all our vension and I have a friend that will do link sausage for us.

**phoeny_moonstar** · 03-13-2009, 12:45 AM

My family just bought 1/2 a pig 112lbs for 200$. They are going to be buying 1/2 a cow here in the summer and they are expecting to pay about the same per pound if not a bit cheaper.

I know in the past when we have bought pigs/cows from farmers/processors the taste was always much better, the price was way cheaper than the stores and the convience couldn't be beat. I would say go for it!!