buying a cow or shares for meat

[the simple life]

Okay, I am trying to find out how you can buy a whole, half or shares of a cow for meat.
Is there an organization you can go through?
I cannot find anything in my area.
I went on line to that Farm Swap America web site and even though I was able to join fine, I cannot get access to post a question, it keeps telling me that my password and name do not match their records even though they have confirmed it to be correct.
After much frustration and attempts to fix it I gave up.
It doesn't look like too many people post there anyway so maybe it wouldn't have helped me anyway, I don't know.
So now I am trying to figure out where I could look.
I went food shopping tonight and spent almost $400.00 on groceries.
No junk food, all fresh produce and meat, cheese etc. but still cost me a small fortune.
I feel like they make it harder and more expensive now for you to eat healthy, especially if you are buying for a family.
Crazy money now for meat.
A double pack of hamburger meat cost me $20.00 and its only going to make one meal here.
So I am thinking that if I go this route it would save me alot of money.
The other option is for everyone in the family to become a vegetarian like me and I doubt that will fly.
So any ideas are welcome.

 

[Wildsky]

Check here:
http://www.eatwild.com/index.html

 

[user251]

we've got a fireman friend that sells meat like that you can get quarters halves or whole, he processes it and everything. I would check the local co-op or feed store for farmers offering this.

 

[the simple life]

Thanks for the info, I checked out that link and it had a list of farms that aren't too bad of a ride away.

I didn't think of the feed stores either, I will do that.

I really hope to be able to find something like this.
It seems weird to me in a way, a few years ago I would never have pictured myself looking to buy a side of beef or a whole cow especially when I haven't eaten meat in almost 20 years, but my family likes it and I want to be able to provide it for them but the expense is getting ridiculous.

 

[FarmerChick]

hey simple

2 places to check

call your local custom butcher shops and local processing center. usually they have other customers looking to split a cow for processing with others.

call your local department of agriculture (or go online) and your local agri. co op extension service. ask for the meat man in the dept. he can direct you to who sells cows and who can process.



see my local processer, Kevin, down the road does my hogs for me. He also does cow, deer, goats. So a customer calls him and wants 1/2 a cow, he then gets another customer that wants half, calls the farmer, has a cow delivered, and done deal.

maybe you can find that in your area

and YES it will save you alot of money....here it comes out to about $2.50 or so a pound for all cuts.

 

[reinbeau]

Nat, have you checked out LocalHarvest.org? I'll bet someone there can help you.

 

[Henrietta23]

I found several local farms that do that by searching "humanely raised meat."

 

[farm_mom]

http://realmilk.com may be another place to look. Our small, local organic dairy sells beef, pork and chicken along with their raw milk shares. So if you haven't had any luck at the other wonderful sites mentioned, you may get lucky with a dairy. Another thing to look closely at are your local CSAs. Ours advertises heavily for his veggie shares, but if you look at the checklist at the bottom of his localharvest page, you also see that he sells pasture raised beef, pork, and poultry. Also, farmers markets are a great place to find local sources! Good Luck!

 

[patandchickens]

Okay, I am trying to find out how you can buy a whole, half or shares of a cow for meat.

Feedstore bulletin-board notices, or local pennysaver-type advertising listings, is what I've seen most often.

So I am thinking that if I go this route it would save me alot of money.

Possibly not as much as you might think, but most likely some.

FWIW, I have no idea about Massachusetts, but up here, buying a bulk amount of hamburger direct from the farmer is about the same price as buying the cheapest tube-packed stuff from stores, i.e. maybe 25% less than typical sale prices for Yer Basic Grocerystore Hamburger. (It is better hamburger, though, and less of the money goes to middlemen). How a half-cow works out for you budgetwise depends on what you would have been buying instead. If you would have been buying some of the more expensive cuts anyhow, you will save a fair amount (although you will also have to find recipes, or a meatgrinder, that use up all the *other* cuts too); OTOH if we're comparing it to eating hamburger all the time, you will not save much money, possibly none at all if you don't consider 'using the bones for soup' to be a savings measure. Again, this is for prices up here, dunno about your area.

Be worth taking a look at the 'recipes with less meat' thread that Cassandra started, too, if you haven't already

Have fun,

Pat

 

[miss_thenorth]

I was talking to a friend of my sil's and she raises pastured beef. We discussed buying 1/2 a cow, and their price was $1.79 /lb--wrapping extra. Don't know how much wrapping would be. If hubby doesn't get a deer, then we will get a side of beef from her.

At this price, I would think it is fairly reasonabe. Thing is--you will get some cuts that you normally wouldn't buy--unless you turn it all into ground beef.

But my advice on finding someone to sell is--just drive around and if you see meat cows, stop and talk. I have two neighbours that only raise a handful or two of beef, and they would sell 1/2 no problem. That, or word of mouth, or feed stores.