I bought a cow!

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jabbur

Master Chef
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
5,638
Location
Newport News, VA
Well, my sister and I did. We should get the beef from it in about 5-6 weeks. This will be my first experience buying meat this way. My parents always did it like this but I live in the city and there are no butchers near me. I'm excited and looking forward to some good meat!
 
So you've brought it alive? I've brought a pig before and it was good. :) That cow sounds interesting. :D Hope you can take some pics.
 
Holy Cow! Keep us posted on how everything goes. We would love to hear about the economics, the quality, how you had it butchered, etc!
 
My sister is running the show. Where she lives (about an hour and half away) she has a butcher she goes to for most of her beef. He suggested she buy a cow so she got me and two other friends to all go in together for one. None of us could afford it alone or use that much meat! This way we will get a quarter of a cow each. I don't expect to see the cow alive. She says the butcher already has one picked out for us. It should be ready to butcher mid July. I hope this is worth it! I will be nice to not have to buy the stuff at the grocery store!
 
Two people I know went in on a cow and it was $350 each. They say they'll be cooking some great things for me...these are two aides that I have been cooking for over the years.
 
i am both for & opposed. logistics..... that may be plain 'ol too many cuts of beef; meat cryovaced or frozen or both,- that meat expires, regardless of when; eventually, that meat may be inedible. costing contributes & leaves ya kinda shaky on purchaing meats.
ex;// we took 2 classes early in my learning- costing & meat cookery, & EP ought be considered, as there is plenty of the meat that gets trimmed & if too fat-laden for stock, so into the garbage.
we've many many various venison cuts from jakes last venison going un-used.
& while we were trimming meat, meat/seafood-fabrication was being explained & then we imitated Chef or yelled for him often! :), as he was teaching us :), & great tips on costing were sent on again & again by 2 of my Chef instructiors & a non-Chef instructor.
& meat expires. of jake's last season's venison meat, we've used less than 4 types.
so that's the realist in me.
now, for me, & my preferences:
if there were a freezer , i'd take a quarter of a cow, yepper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in my humble opinion, i luv a great steak or carpacchio or a meatloaf or a great roast! bring on them cheeseburgers! & excellent purchase!

unless the cow was a resident in my yard.....~if i owned a yard~:rolleyes:.....
soon, pink, fuzzy barettes, faux multi-colored eyelashes, a bottle of nair for that excess fur that gives her that unibrow, & jewelry would adorn my new pet cow. if a bull, i'd hide & make jake feed him.

j/k, lol. great purchase. you'll dine rather well, & also keep a few $$ that may've gone into purchasing eef elsewhere, non-whokesale. keep us informed of if this was a purchase you may consider again, & the likes of if this was great budgeting, that kinda info.
 
i am both for & opposed. logistics..... that may be plain 'ol too many cuts of beef; meat cryovaced or frozen or both,- that meat expires, regardless of when; eventually, that meat may be inedible. costing contributes & leaves ya kinda shaky on purchaing meats.
ex;// we took 2 classes early in my learning- costing & meat cookery, & EP ought be considered, as there is plenty of the meat that gets trimmed & if too fat-laden for stock, so into the garbage.
we've many many various venison cuts from jakes last venison going un-used.
& while we were trimming meat, meat/seafood-fabrication was being explained & then we imitated Chef or yelled for him often! :), as he was teaching us :), & great tips on costing were sent on again & again by 2 of my Chef instructiors & a non-Chef instructor.
& meat expires. of jake's last season's venison meat, we've used less than 4 types.
so that's the realist in me.
now, for me, & my preferences:
if there were a freezer , i'd take a quarter of a cow, yepper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in my humble opinion, i luv a great steak or carpacchio or a meatloaf or a great roast! bring on them cheeseburgers! & excellent purchase!

unless the cow was a resident in my yard.....~if i owned a yard~:rolleyes:.....
soon, pink, fuzzy barettes, faux multi-colored eyelashes, a bottle of nair for that excess fur that gives her that unibrow, & jewelry would adorn my new pet cow. if a bull, i'd hide & make jake feed him.

j/k, lol. great purchase. you'll dine rather well, & also keep a few $$ that may've gone into purchasing eef elsewhere, non-whokesale. keep us informed of if this was a purchase you may consider again, & the likes of if this was great budgeting, that kinda info.


ok
 
I don't know anyone that has purchased a side of beef and let it go bad in the freezer. In our part of the country it is common practice, economical, and healthier meat (yes, a generalization, based on local beef fed on local grass.)
Try and have a checklist of all the cut and wrapped pieces, you can check off what you take out of the freezer, keeping track of what you have left.
 
We've been getting beef by the side for years now. Even with just two of us, nothing ever goes to waste. The best part from my point of view is that the Angus ranch we buy it from gives us first refusal on a cow from the same lineage every year. It makes for a consistency that would be impossible otherwise.

As a precaution, we do have two freezers and a generator though. We've been ten days without power in the past during a snowy/icy period. The second freezer normally only holds ducks for training the dogs....but if need be could be pulled into use for holding people food.
 
I do have a freezer. In the past, I have purchased large cuts of beef from Sam's Club and cut it up myself before freezing. It will be nice to have all that meat in the freezer! I remember my parents would get a quarter cow and half a hog. We'd pick up the packages of meat from the butcher (who labeled and froze it for us) and pack it baskets wrapped up with the sleeping bags for the 3 hour drive home. We ate really well for long time. You could always tell when the supply was getting low. Dinner would become creamed salmon on toast! Or pancakes!
 
I do have a freezer. In the past, I have purchased large cuts of beef from Sam's Club and cut it up myself before freezing. It will be nice to have all that meat in the freezer! I remember my parents would get a quarter cow and half a hog. We'd pick up the packages of meat from the butcher (who labeled and froze it for us) and pack it baskets wrapped up with the sleeping bags for the 3 hour drive home. We ate really well for long time. You could always tell when the supply was getting low. Dinner would become creamed salmon on toast! Or pancakes!

Let me know if it is too much beef for you. I'd love to buy some fresh meat from you!
 
My parents used to order half-cows on a regular basis (we're a fairly large family and had a large chest freezer). One time she even insisted on having all of it, fat and bones included (usually they'd be butchered to order), and she rendered fat and used it instead of cooking oil & crisco (believe me, that smelled terrible during the process, but tasted delicious).
 
i've always had friends that will sell me venison that they kill. i need to find a good source for beef. does anyone know if any other large game is available whole, like bison?
 
i've always had friends that will sell me venison that they kill. i need to find a good source for beef. does anyone know if any other large game is available whole, like bison?

My dad shot a bison once, several years ago. A very big one too. After it was processed he had 600 lbs of packaged meat. Steaks, roast, sausage, jerky, etc. He filled 2 upright freezers, gave away as much as he could, gave a bunch to the local food bank, etc. So just find a hunter that wants to get one. He'll likely give you some for free. Can you really use 600 lbs of meat?
 
Bison here are raised like cattle (except they are kind of wild, require really tall fences, too!), except for those in Yellowstone! ha!
You buy it like beef... no one around here hunts for bison.
Where to Buy - National Bison Association

Hmm, that's interesting. It wasn't a hunt in the sense that he went out and stalked one down. More of a ranch type hunt. And the theory of a fence for bison is interesting. Those big bulls are the size of an F-150!
 
What do you mean by "theory?" Of course there are fences. They can jump vertically like CRAZY! There are bison ranches out here and you can tell because of their fences.
 
What do you mean by "theory?" Of course there are fences. They can jump vertically like CRAZY! There are bison ranches out here and you can tell because of their fences.

All I mean is that I would like to see the fence that could contain a full grown bison! Like trying to fence in a tank. Of course if they have everything they need they really have no motivation to get out. And I think that's part of it.
 
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