So I'm thinking about buying half a cow.
Does anyone have anyplace they could suggest or info/suggestions they could offer on the subject? A lot of what I'm finding is grass finished and my family is telling me I'm not going to like the taste at all.
I found one place in Marquette that does a 30/60 or 90 day grain finishing process but I don't know enough about meat to convince me it's worth the drive.
We're thinking about starting off with just buying a quarter cow. I realize this is totally random. Thanks for any info.
Odd...yes. Odder...my parents just bought a quarter of a cow last week. I've had some and it's great. I think they got it from South Dakota. When I talk to them again I'll ask them about it.
Buy a 1/4 every 8 or 9 months. If this is your first time buying a quanitity of beef make sure you have room for it. While it may not seem like a bunch, a 1/2 of beef takes some space.
Grain feed... the only way to go for flavor. Grass feed is OK but given the choice I knpow where I fall. There is a reason that Corn feed beef from the heartland sells at a premium.
If you are getting it butchered yourself with hoever you are splitting the animal with make sure you give some thought to how you get it cut. Hamburger is always an option but there is soom much more that you can do and you can get good quality ground beef at a reasable cost at the counter at HyVee, Fairway, ect.
We use a small town locker about an hour from omaha to do the work and we but the animal live and pay for the locker work ourself. It is USDA inspected just like the big boys but you get the personal touch.
I just realized this could be done this year. It's all very strange to me.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
Bugeater is right go with the grain fed. I grew up out in the sandhills and we always butchered our own beef. We would grain feed them. The taste is much better and is going to be more what you are used to eating.
You are going to want a bit of everything including steaks, roasts and stew meat the rest can be made into ground beef. In fact here is a pretty cool chart you can look at to see what cuts of meat come from where. http://www.angus.org/pubs/beefchart.pdf
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