cow questions!

[lrpurro]

We are interested in splitting a cow with another family and have a few questions:

If a cow is being sold at, for instance, $3.50 hung weight, approximately how man pounds would we be paying for?

Is there any way to estimate how many cubic feet storage of freezer space we would need to accomodate 1/2 a cow?

If you buy the cow at "hanging weight," is there then a separate per pound butchering charge? And is the meat wrapped or vacuum sealed and labeled from the butcher?

I grew up with venison but don't know anything about cow!

Thanks for any advice or info!

By the way, we live in Southeastern Massachusetts.

Lisa

[kl5]

Here is a really good information page from the people who produce our beef giving general estimates for pounds, freezer size and other questions.

Whether there is an extra charge for butchering or it is built into the per pound price is simply a matter of how each farmer decides to do it. If they have a website, it will probably answer that question. Our beef comes shrink-wrapped and labeled by the butcher. The live steers are delivered to the processor who kills, cleans and hangs the sides to age for a period (usually 21 days) before cutting them down into individual cuts, packaging and freezing (usually, some will do fresh).

If you plan on keeping and using the "extras" (liver, heart, tongue, tail and suet), make sure to make that clear when you place your order and again when it gets closer to time for slaughter. Nothing is a bigger bummer than waiting months for a beef (or hog, which recently happened to me) and find out the butcher threw out the good stuff.

good luck!

[cschick]

Originally Posted by kl5

[B]
Whether there is an extra charge for butchering or it is built into the per pound price is simply a matter of how each farmer decides to do it.

How they do it also seems to be strongly regional.

Because of where we live, I've been looking at purchasing a half cow from places within our state (Illinois), and within the next state over (Wisconsin).

All the farms in Illinois that I've looked at include the processing fees in the quoted price per pound, none of the farms in Wisconsin do. I suspect that's because Illinois is really lacking in regards to small butchers: it appears that all the farmers around here send their cows to one of a couple large processing locations and then get the meat back to send to the end consumer. Where as in Wisconsin, a lot of farmers seem to still be working with smaller, local butchering locations.

[lrpurro]

thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction!

Lisa

[Carson]

OT, but CSChick - I don't know where you are in IL, but we bought a cow from a farmer who uses Jones Packing in Harvard, IL which is most definitely a small, local packing plant. You could try calling them and seeing what farmers they work with.

[dogmom327]

Just sent you a PM since I'm not sure if I can post the particular link...

Additional info: A whole cow generally takes up about 20 cubic feet of freezer space (half takes 10, quarter takes 5, etc.) but this rule is really dependent on the size of the cow (which can vary greatly) and if you have a chest or stand up freezer. I have a 14 cf chest freezer and a 20 ft stand up freezer. A quarter cow is about a quarter to a third of my chest freezer but I can also tell you that it takes my entire stand up freezer to fit the contents of my smaller chest freezer so I'd allow for half a freezer for a quarter cow if it's a stand up freezer.

[lrpurro]

thanks dogmom!
headed over to check it out right now!

Lisa