how to get a cow butchered?

[mama-aya]

I'll have half an Angus beef in the fall.We should have 300 lbs or so of meat. Right now we eat about a pound or two of beef a month- always ground beef. Before the last six months I've been vegan or vegetarian my whole teen and adult life.
I'm looking forward to being able to (having to?) try cooking more than just ground beef- though the one time I made beef stew it was awful and noone wanted much. I'm a confident cook, so I know I'll be able to figure it out. Last year my Mom ordered a half-beef and ended up with about 50 lbs of ground. I think I want more than that. That's about all I know, though.
Tell me what to tell the butcher!
Also- what do you think of my chances of trading patured beef for other meats? I'm thinking Craigslist, trading beef for lamb, fish, pork, venison or goat? Lots of people have goats around here, though I haven't had it since I was a little kid, I don't know if its good? Or if DH will eat it if he knows what it is. Anyway, I haven't exactly seen anyone else trying to trade meat- but I know I won't be able to afford to buy much else meat-wise this year, and 300lbs of beef seems like an awful lot for a year. There are just 4 of us!
What do you think?

[saratc]

If it's a good butcher, they should be able to walk you through it. Otherwise, the butcher should know the standard cuts to make. Unless you know specifically what you want to do with each cut, the general things you will need to tell them are:

• How thick you want the steaks and how you want them packaged. For example, 1/2 inch, 3/4 inch, 1 inch, 1 1/4 inch; two steaks per package.
• How you want the substandard cuts -- mostly roasts, mostly stewing meat, or mostly ground. You can also get a mixture. For example, I ordered a 1/4 cow, and they told me I could either get ten 3 to 4 lb roasts, and about 20 lbs ground beef, or reduce the roasts and get ground beef instead.
• Unless you specify, most butchers will not include organ meat or bones. If you want the organ meat or plan to make broth, tell the butcher you want the liver, heart, etc and all bones leftover.

Goat is very good, but different than any other meat. You could try to trade, but it may be hard. You'll need a scale to find out what the weight of the different packages are and find out what the going rate is for the particular meat. For example, goat meat is usually a lot more expensive than beef so to be fair, you wouldn't be trading pound for pound.