ordering a side of beef

[out_of_the_ordinary]

I've been full of questions here lately!

 

We've been buying local grass-fed beef. It's delicious! We've bought it just in small packages.

 

To save money, we're looking at the options of buying it by the half or quarter this fall. The estimated carcass hanging weight for the half is 330 lbs. and for the quarter is 165 lbs. We're leaning towards the quarter.

 

How much freezer space does that take up?

 

Does anyone else who buys beef this way have advice?

 

Any other questions I should ask?

 

According to their website, when you pick it up, it's already wrapped and frozen. There's not a difference in the price per pound between the half and the quarter. There's no processing fees.

Edited June 5, 2012 by out_of_the_ordinary

[coastygirl]

I have a small upright freezer. It took up two and a quarter shelves. It was all wrapped and frozen. It usually lasts us about 1 yr. Than we get another quarter. Hope this helps.

[LindaLou]

I just got delivery of half of a half, in other words a quarter. My steer was 1400 pounds standing weight and dressed out for my quarter at 232 pounds. I have an upright chest freezer and I thought it would fill it totally (I was a bit worried because I had just butchered chickens) but in the end with all the beef I still had room for chickens and loads of other stuff. When you order your beef in bulk you can give your cutting instructions such as how thick you want your steaks, how many pounds your roasts, what percentage hamburger and fat, if you want soup bones, etc. Where I order from it is picked up wrapped and flash frozen. It is a great way to get quality meat with no hormones.

[Darlene]

A quarter won't take up much freezer space at all. I have a 24 cubic foot chest freezer and a quarter cow took up 1/4 of the freezer.

 

There are processing fees. There are kill fees and then the amount per pound that the butcher charges. Here, the kill fee is $35 and the butcher charges 40 cents per pound, hanging weight.

 

It's just that whatever price you're being quoted has those charges figured into the price/lb already.

 

A quarter cow wouldn't last us a year. I think it depends on the size of the family and their eating habits. Generally, people will count on a whole cow lasting a year for a family, so a quarter wouldn't last me or most people for a year. If you don't eat alot of beef then I guess it would last longer but only you know your family's eating style.

 

I expect beef prices to continue to rise. If it were me (and not everyone thinks like I do), I'd probably lean toward the half cow vs the 1/4 cow, just to lock in the prices. One thing I'm almost certain of is that the prices will not go down.

 

I just took our steer in that we had been rasing. He probably weighed in at 1400-1500lbs. I exoect to get about 700-800lbs from that. He was a larger steer so will net more but I'll keep about half of that which will get me through the year hopefully with a family of 3.

[out_of_the_ordinary]

Thank you for the advice, everyone! One of my big concerns was freezer space. I feel better about that now!

[out_of_the_ordinary]

It's at the butchers' now! I talked with the lady we've been buying our grass-fed beef from. I told her how I was debating between a quarter and a half. She said she'd work with us on getting a large quarter or a small half. I had the cut order form all filled out and a deposit in. We spoke yesterday and I decided on a half. She said the weights are are little lower than normal. With all the heat we've had this summer, they weren't eating us much. (I don't feel like eating much when it's hot out, either!)

 

We should have it in our freezer before the end of the month.

[MomM]

We should get our half the middle of October. Can't wait. The beef we received last year was so good!