Buying Beef Shares

[itchmesir]

So i've been looking into 1/2 and 1/4 beef shares.. But overall I guess I just don't understand it all... If someone could explain to me how I go about buying a share and then processing it.. that would be great.. also is there an overall decent amount of savings in going this route? what is the average cost I'm looking at?

Sometimes I see that they sell at full weight.. and some at cleaned weight? which option is better? Do I normally have to find a butcher to process it all or do these folks normally do it themselves? How do I get the share to a butcher if I don't have any way of transporting it myself?

Thanks

[nofishfisherman]

I've done shares of beef before. When we did it we normally would do a half or full share and then would split that with a friend or family member.

The places that we purchased from provided you with processed, wrapped and labeled cuts of meet. Looked like it came straight from the butcher shop. When you purchased you could look at the list to see what a 1/4 share, 1/2 share, full share included in terms of pounds. You'd get X pounds of ground meat, X number of roasts, X number of steaks, etc. You wouldn't get just a quartered cow and be expected to handle the processing yourself. Perhaps there are places out there that offer that but not the ones I looked at.

So really all you need to do is find a supplier and see what 1/4 or 1/2 of a share will get you. It will all be broken down by pounds and numbers of the different cuts. Just figure out what amount works for you.

I should also say its a nice way to go for your beed. Better quality beef and its nice having it right there at your finger tips when you want it. No more going to the store and trying to figure out what looks decent. Just open the freezer and pick your cut and go from there.

[pike79]

Most butcher shops in my area sell beef by the half or the quarter. It sounds like you are buying directly from a farmer. Most likely the whole group will decide where to take it live. It will probably be up to the person selling it if he wants it sold as live weight or hanging weight ,hanging weight would be my choice for pricing. When buying just a quarter the front will be cheaper because you don't get the better steak cuts and more meat out of the front is gound beef. I don't know about it being a savings but you wont have to worry about pink slime. Hope this helps.

[nofishfisherman]

Yeah I'm not sure if its a cheaper option, probably depends on what sort of beef you are buying now. The advantage is no pink slime and just better meat all around. Its always nice going direct to the source for your foods whenever possible, at least in my opinion.

The shares we did were a 1/4 or 1/2 of the total cow. You didn't buy the front quarter or the back quarter and just take the meat from that quarter. They butchered the entire cow and then took the entire stock of meat and broke it into 2 or 4 equal shares so that every share recieved equal portions of each cut plus equal portions of the ground meat.

[reinhard1]

we had a thread in this forum [maby more than one] regarding buying beef by the 1/4,hind, side or whole. pro's and con's. the most important part of this is finding the place that will give you the best buy and takes your order according to the way you want it processed. a reputable place that you know others are happy with.

some go with a farmer and some with a locker plant or meat market. the grade should be US Choice and the yield number should be no higher than 2 in my opinion. i have never heard the word share on this but i have been out of the buisness since 2007.

there have been some who have had terrible results like steaks and other cuts not even trimmed and ground beef to fat to cook. this should be explained to you before you order. if you want leaner ground beef and a good trim on your steaks and roasts then dont expect to get more return as far a weight that you paid for assuming you are paying for hanging weight. tell them you want as close to 80 percent in the ground beef and no more that a 1/8th to a 1/4 inch of fat trim on your steaks.

tell them how many steaks per pack and how many pounds per pack on ground beef. the front quarter is mostly roasts in general and soup meat and ground meat. you do have the prime rib roast in the front quarter. you can have that cut into 2 or 3 roasts or all into steaks. you can have the chuck cut into steaks also and they should be marinaded but are tasty.

the hind quarter you have more steaks than roasts. the steaks that are for the grill are the sirloin, t-bone, porterhouse, tip steak, top round steak, and bottom round steak. bottom round steaks are generaly tough so i would have that into roast [you can slice them for jerky also]. there is also some soup meat and ground beef.

so you should decide what you want more--steaks---or roasts. and choose the proper 1/4. front quarters are cheaper than the hind quarters. i personaly buy whats on sale and go from there on all meats. good luck.

[Jigging Joe]

We buy all of our beef this way, never heard the term "share" though. We buy from a friend of mine. He takes care of the transporting to meat market then we usually call the butcher and he asks us questions such as how many roasts, how many steaks per package, etc. We pay the meat market for processing and then according to hanging weight I pay my friend directly off the weight on the reciept from the meat market. We usually buy a 1/2 and it runs just over a $1000 with processing. Which works out to about $3 a pound of actual meat you recieve, that includes hamb, steaks, roasts, and ribs. Its expensive initially but I think cheap overall when you think what you pay for good hamb., but I've also heard of horror stories of bad meat so its probably best to get recommendations.

[Leaky]

This is good stuff! Thanks! I haven't purchsed like this before, but would like to. Would lean more towards pig than cow.

[itchmesir]

Thanks for the info! Lot to take in.. I appreciate it.

@joe.. when you pay right around a $1000.. how many pounds of meat total are you getting?

Also.. Is pork sold in the same manner?

[pike79]

ich, pork is sold by a whole hog or half a hog. With a half you can count on about 100 pounds of hanging weight. For example if it costs $1.20 a pound to process you are looking at 120 dollars cut wraped fozen and sometimes that includes curing and making sausage. I also prefer getting pork over beef.

[Toe_Mater]

I used to buy halves all the time from one farmer. Everything was grass fed and the meat was so tender and tasted really good. Now I buy my own bottle calves and raise my own.

[fowldreams]

This year I am buying a 1/2 from a local farmer. He said after processing it will be 2.90 /lb. And a yeild of roughly 350lbs. This will be my first go at this. I have bought whole hogs before and the only thing I can say about that IMO get smaller ones. The pig we had that weighed in the 170lb range on hoof was fantastic. Next year we got one that pushed 280lbs, that was a tough piece of meat all the way around. As far as is it cheaper? Maybe? But you do know where your meat is coming from.

[reinhard1]

that has to be some pretty hefty beef there. i think on average of USDA Choice beef we used to cut [yield 2] sides that had hanging weights on average around 300 pounds. that included the hind quarter with the full flank on and the suet. so a net return of 350 pounds is quite a bit. of course how a farmer weighs and processes's their beef is something i'm not familiar with. good luck.

[Jigging Joe]

I think it was around 300-330 pounds. I thought when I figured it out I paid $3 - $3.50 a pound total with processing. That included hamb., steaks, roasts, etc.