Where are you buying your beef from?, locker, dealer, farmer? Price all depends on who you get it from. Then you have cut and process price on top of how much that side of beef weighs. You will get from 300-400 lbs. from a side of beef. Here it cost $275-$350 to cut and wrap only. You might spend $575-$650 for the side of beef alone, So it could cost you $850-1000 Make sure you talk to who ever cuts it up for you what you want in cuts of meat and what you don't then have put into hamburger. And yes, 99% of the time it is much better then what you buy in stores.
Here my DH fattens 1000's of cattle a year, we never buthcher our own unless something happenst to it, broken leg, prolapse can't fix. Any more we just have it put to hamburger and I give it away to people in the community who I know can use it. Hope this helps some.