Buying beef and pork by the ¼ or ½

[Smoke]

I'm thinking about buying ¼ or ½ beef or pork from local farmers.Does any one have any info or thoughts on doing this?
Also what size freezer is required to store such a large purchase?

 

[Jim6820]

We did that some years back and it was not a good experience. I do know of others who have had a better experience, however.

In our case, the farmer arranged for the butchering and wrapping. The selected butcher must have starred in a chainsaw massacre movie; the meat was very poorly cut. Some of the cuts were unrecognizable. Then, only about half of the wrapped meat was identified; the rest was just wrapped in plain paper with no markings. It was a nightmare trying not figure out what was what.

When we complained to the farmer that supplied the beef, he just shrugged his shoulders and said “that’s the way Ol’ Bill does it.” As a result, we never made another bulk purchase.

As for the freezer requirement, for a half steer, you will need a pretty big unit. We bought a beef front quarter and had an existing 17 cubic-foot chest freezer. Our quarter-beef purchase alone filled it a bit more than half full. I don’t think it would have contained a complete half-beef. For that, I think I would be looking for a 20+ cubic-foot unit.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

 

[Greg Jones]

What @Jim6820 said is spot-on. I grew up on a farm where we raised cattle and we butchered our own beef every year. We would dress it on the farm, then take it to the butcher for processing. It’s important to find the right beef and perhaps even more important to find a good butcher.

You will also want to know what kind of cuts you want out of your share of the beef. You will want to know if your butcher does mixed quarters and halves, which means you would get cuts from the entire beef. The butcher needs to know what you want-a lot of the larger/tougher muscles are automatically ground up if you don’t specify. Buying a half as opposed to a quarter will expand your cut options as well. Also, you may want to ask what happens to the single cuts in the beef. The heart, tongue, and brains are a delicacy that most folks pass on because they are what they are.

As to freezer size, I used to have a 21 cu ft chest freezer that would hold half a beef and a whole hog at the same time. I’ve since owned the same 13 cu ft upright and it comfortably holds a quarter of beef. I’d be surprised if it would hold a half beef. Good luck!

 

[JGW]

We have a shop here where you can do that, but you get to specify what cuts, how thick, etc. They do good work but I normally get their butcher packs so it's a mix of beef cuts, chicken, pork, etc.

 

[BNeal]

I'm thinking about buying ¼ or ½ beef or pork from local farmers.Does any one have any info or thoughts on doing this?
Also what size freezer is required to store such a large purchase?

Watch this:

Actually, watch them all if you're serious about buying bulk meat. These guys are rock stars!

 

[Greg Jones]

Watch this:

Actually, watch them all if you're serious about buying bulk meat. These guys are rock stars!

Great video! It explains in detail what I mention above with respect to mixed quarters vs split quarters. Good info!

 

[Jim6820]

Watch this:

Actually, watch them all if you're serious about buying bulk meat. These guys are rock stars!

Excellent! Thanks for posting the link. The Bearded Butchers post a lot of first-rate videos.

 

[Simarti28]

The farmer we used to buy from had the meat processed which included vacuum sealing each cut, labeling with name of cut and weight. We’d buy 1/4 at a time and our 16 cu. ft. upright freezer held all of the meat then some.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

With the lack of knowing what grade you'd be getting, slow freezing meat (cell damage), having to get another freezer and getting cuts we don't normally eat, it wouldn't be attractive to us. But I could see it if cost savings was critical. We just haven't gotten there yet. But prices are on the rise.