Massive animals, reminiscent of cows, are sometimes bought by the quarter, half, or complete by farmers.
This can be a “customized sale,” and your neighborhood farmer has given the go-ahead for direct gross sales.
Legally, relying on the state, this will indicate that you’re buying a “cow share” versus particular person, explicit cuts. Technically, you’re buying an animal “on the hoof,” whereas it’s nonetheless alive and earlier than a butcher can course of it.
Farmers usually ask for a deposit earlier than agreeing to reap the cow to gather orders for a Cow Share. A Farmer could due to this fact hold monitor of client orders, handle their stock, and coordinate processing dates with a butcher.
Your Cow Share is “weighed” after the cow is harvested (often known as “hanging weight”) earlier than it’s ready into explicit items.
1 / 4 cow could also be between 160 and 225 LBs in weight (relying on the age, breed, and feed). Your price for that share can be between $800 and $1125 if the hanging weight value had been $5/LB. Chances are you’ll count on your cow share to be divided, packaged, labeled, and frozen.
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You have to be conscious that once you buy 1 / 4 of a cow, you’re paying for the animal’s hanging weight somewhat than only a single steak or roast. Count on to lose 25–40% of your cow share over the 14–28 days of hanging (moisture loss however higher style!) and slaughtering (eradicating cover, cartilage, bone, and many others.).
Suppose your Quarter Cow is 33% “lighter” than the preliminary Hanging Weight after the cuts and age. Meat for take-home would most likely weigh between 120 and 160 lbs. (primarily based on the unique weight minus 33%).
This suggests that you’ll have 4-5 buying baggage full of varied cuts (together with New York steak, roasts, and floor beef), and the calculation in your take-home meat is round $7–$8 per pound.
Full Breakdown
- For meat that you simply take dwelling, there aren’t any extra charges.
- You pay $5 per pound of hanging weight, for instance. The amount of meat that could be taken dwelling varies primarily based on the breed, butchering technique, size of hanging, and many others.
- The burden of the animal hanging is calculated instantly after it has been harvested and hung. Cows “dangle” for 14–28 days after being weighed. That is the right vary, and it enhances the flavour.
- Meat that may be taken dwelling will weigh 25–40% lower than what’s hung. That is typical owing to moisture loss whereas hanging, breed (the proportion of meat to bone and non-meat), and waste produced by cartilage, bones, and butchering.
- As soon as the ultimate take-home meat has been weighed, the common value is decided and cut up by the unique quarter share fee. We calculated take-home beef at $7-8 per pound for the scenario talked about earlier. This covers every part from tenderloin and New York steaks to floor beef and roasts.
- There must be numerous steaks, roasts, floor beef, and stew meat. Roughly half of your meat might be used for floor beef and stew, 1/4 for roasts (chuck, shoulder, rump, sirloin tip, and many others.), and 1/4 for steaks (sirloin, prime rib, T-bone, filet mignon, tenderloin, and many others.).
Closing Ideas
Whether or not to buy a full cow or 1 / 4 of a cow is totally as much as you. In the event you’re a single particular person residing alone, you might discover it unattainable to buy an entire cow; however, 1 / 4 cow can work only for you.
However, a big, meat-eating household could uncover that a complete cow doesn’t even final them the entire yr.
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