Whole Side of Beef Price Per Pound

Are you thinking of ownership a moo-cow? Have you decided how much?

Most people normally retrieve about buying half a cow, but did you lot know there other options. You lot can often buy a sixteenth, quarter, one-half, or whole cow from a farmer, so you need to do research and decide what quantity is right for your family.

We've been selling beef direct off of our subcontract for decades. Without a doubt one of the first questions people ask before buying a cow is "how much beefiness volition I actually get?" That question is usually followed by, "If I buy a cow, what part am I getting? The front half or back half?"

The goal of this postal service is to show you how much beefiness you get when you buy a moo-cow. Nosotros too have a step-by-step guide on buying a cow from a farmer, including what questions to ask.

To put information technology in perspective, we've fabricated our domicile refrigerator the star of the video and photos.

We've taken these pictures twice, years apart. The starting time fourth dimension we only took photos and nosotros had a standard eighteen.1 cu ft refrigerator with a freezer on elevation. The 2d time we did this, we made a video and we had a newer fridge – a 22.1 cu ft fridge with french doors and freezer on the bottom. Hopefully, seeing the beef in two different refrigerators will aid put it into perspective even more.

Jump to:

• Is ownership a cow worth it?
• Buying a sixteenth cow
• Buying a quarter cow
• Buying a half cow
• Ownership a whole cow
• Cuts of beef included
• Freezer space needed
• How much beef do you lot actually go?
• Shelf life of frozen beefiness
• Packaging
• How practice you find a local farm?

Is buying a cow worth it?

Aye! The do good of buying a cow is that you will save coin and get higher quality beef.

Every year, we compare the cost of beef from our farm to local St. Louis grocery stores. With Clover Meadows Beef, the price is approximately $v.45/pound for all cuts of grass fed beefiness. This is compared to $7.03/pound at Walmart, $vii.84/pound at a local St. Louis grocery store, and $ix.86/pound at Whole Foods.

Please notation, every farm and beef processor prices beef differently. You volition demand to practice your own math on determining the price per pound if you're not in the St. Louis area and can't order from our farm.

Buying a sixteenth moo-cow

Hither'south what our 22.ane cu ft refrigerator looks like with a sixteenth of a cow. At our farm, a sixteenth is approximately 25 lbs of beef. This includes 13 lbs of hamburger, ii Ribeye steaks, two Strip steaks, 2 Filet steaks, 2 Sirloin steaks, i Stew Meat, ane Brusque Rib, 1 package Soup Bones, 1 package Beefiness Liver, and ane Roast.

Ownership a quarter cow

Here'south what our 18.1 cu ft refrigerator with freezer on top looks like with a quarter beef, which is 110 lbs of beef. As you can run into, it's a lot of beef, but information technology all fits in the freezer (without the freezer shelf or ice saucepan).

So what comes with a quarter? That reply varies since every cow is unique and weighs something unlike, but here is how it typically breaks out:

With a quarter you get near 50 pounds of ground beef, and the remaining 60 lbs of meat is in steaks, brisket, roasts, stew meat, ribs, liver, soup bones, etc. Please keep in listen that everything is based on the individual cow and how the beef is cut, but typical, the remaining threescore lbs works out to be approximately 6-7 strip steaks, 6-7 ribeye steaks, 5-6 filets, five-6 sirloin steaks, two short ribs, four-5 roasts, i-2 package of stew meat, 1-ii packages of liver, one brisket, and several packages of soup basic.

With a quarter, you besides get the option of the one-per-animal parts like natural language, oxtail and heart. Since there'due south but 1-per-fauna, these are first-come up-first-serve based on the other who requests them first.

Here's what our 22.1 cu ft refrigerator looks similar with a quarter cow. Again, it's 50 pounds of ground beef, and the balance of the beefiness comes in a variety of cuts like steaks, roasts, ribs, and brisket.

Ownership a one-half cow

So, what if you lot buy half a cow? What does that look like? With a half a cow, you'll go approximately 220 pounds of beef. Information technology includes 100 pounds of basis beefiness, and the rest of the beefiness are in cuts like steaks, roasts, ribs, brisket, and tenderloin.

Just for fun, nosotros included a dozen eggs and a half gallon of milk in this picture then you would accept some additional perspective 🙂

Buying a whole moo-cow

With a whole cow you would get approximately 440 pounds of beefiness. It volition be approximately 200 pounds of ground beefiness, and the other 220 pounds are in cuts like steaks, roasts, ribs, brisket, tenderloin, etc. On average, we've constitute that a whole is keen for families of three or more than that eat beef with 4 or more meals a week.

Cuts of beef included

When you buy a cow, you get a variety of cuts such equally

• Steaks like filet, sirloin, ribeye, strip, brim and flank
• Brisket
• Roasts like chuck, sirloin, arm
• Ground beefiness
• Ribs
• Stew meat
• Kabob meat
• Soup bones
• Organ meat (if desired)
• And the listing keeps going on and on!

Freezer infinite needed

The rule of pollex is i cubic human foot of freezer infinite for every 30-35 lbs of cut and wrapped meat.

That means you'll definitely want a stand up-alone freezer when ownership a cow. If you don't have 1 nonetheless, y'all can usually get a expert bargain at a warehouse store like Sam'south or Costco. We have both breast and upright freezers at our firm and we like both of them.

Our biggest slice of advice when buying a stand-alone freezer is to get one with a lock and key.  This is very important for kid prophylactic reasons and because a physical lock will make sure your freezer is deeply closed. You lot can also purchase an aftermarket lock.

How much beef do you actually go?

When you buy a cow, you lot want to know exactly how much beef you lot'll put in your freezer.

Our subcontract is somewhat unique in how nosotros price our beefiness because information technology'due south spread-out – we tell you lot how much beefiness you'll become for a specific price. Our pricing includes all processing fees and complimentary commitment to a specific option-upwardly locations in the St. Louis area.

A quarter cow is 110 lbs, half is 220 lbs, and whole cow is 440 lbs. We've chosen to sell our beef this way considering we think it's easier for our customers and in that location are no surprises – yous know exactly what you're going to get.

The other manner to figure out how much beef you'll put in your freezer, is to explain it with agronomics manufacture-lingo like hang-weight and parcel-weight. If these terms are new to you, here are quick definitions:

• Live weight (or "on the hoof") is how much a cow weighs when it's live and walking around. This includes meat, bones, claret, etc.
• Hanging weight (or "on the rail") is after the animal is slaughtered and all the unusable parts are removed (like caput, skin and hooves), Hanging weight includes basic and meat. Typically, the hanging weight is about 60% of the live weight.
• Boxed weight (or packaged weight) is the weight of all the packages of individual cuts of meat that you will put in your freezer This is typically about 60 pct of hanging weight.

So, what does this mean in apparently-terms? If y'all're told it's $three.75 per pound hanging weight, then expect to pay approximately $6.25 per pound ($3.75 / 0.60)  PLUS the butchering fee, which is usually virtually $600.00 for the unabridged moo-cow (you lot'll split this fee if you're sharing with another family).

No matter who you purchase from, make certain you know exactly what you lot'll be taking abode before you lot buy and so you have adequate freezer space.

Shelf life of frozen beef

Approximately 1-yr if frozen and vacuum sealed. The corporeality of fourth dimension will be shorter if it is packaged in paper or shrink wrapped.

Packaging

Most farmers will requite you an pick betwixt paper, shrink wrapped, or vacuum sealing packaging. We recommend vacuum sealing because it will keep the beef fresh for longer.

Here's an instance of what a vacuum sealed steak looks like.

How do y'all discover a local subcontract?

And then, practice you lot still desire to buy a cow? If you're in the St. Louis area, let u.s. know. We are happy to answer any questions you lot may have.

If you're outside of St. Louis, read our pace-by-step guide on how to buy a cow from a farmer. It will tell you how to find a farmer, the right questions to inquire, and how to know if y'all're getting a good bargain on beefiness.

1 MORE Matter!

Do y'all desire to learn more than about beef? Join our weekly eastward-newsletter where we share farm happenings, recipes and beefiness availability. Sign-up and get a cheat sheet with 9-must-inquire questions earlier buying beefiness directly from a farmer. Or, nosotros take an entire ebook most beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beefiness from a cattle farmers perspective.

Here are a few other links yous may like:

• Exercise Cows Have Teeth?
• What everybody ought to know almost beef cuts
• Buying a Cow. How Much Beefiness Is It?
• vii Steps to Grilling a Steak to Perfection
• How We Raise Our Grass Fed Beef
• Piece of cake Beef Brisket Recipe (oven-roasted)
• The Best Farm Books for Kids

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We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Plan, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees past linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details.

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Source: https://www.clovermeadowsbeef.com/buying-half-a-cow/

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