Half a Cow - Near Chicago

[J-Melt]

I had a friend ask me about going in on half a cow. Do any of you know of good farms that sell half a cow within a 2-3 hour drive of Chicago?

[mrteddyprincess]

You Googled it and found nothing? That surprises me.

B

[J-Melt]

I’ve seen some via Google. More just trying to see if anyone has used someone near me to hear personal experience.

[Donw]

Just a word of advice. When you find the butcher you want to use get a cut list and decide with your friend in advance who gets what cuts and try to get a nice distribution so everyone will be happy.

[rmeugene]

Pasek Farms and Kearns are both excellent out by me in the NW suburbs.

[J-Melt]

I guess my next question is do y’all think buying in bulk like this is worth it. My calculations put the meat at around $7.75+ per pound after processing. That is way more than I’ve ever spent on beef.

[Oak Smoke]

It deserves some thought because some of what you’re buying is bone. You may be able to pick and choose at Sam’s or Costco and do better.

[Donw]

A lot of it will be ground beef, no way around it, We use to buy 1/2 when the family was all at home and then 1/4 later when some moved off to university. Now that it is usually just us 2 except on our big get to gathers we don’t as we think it works out better to put our money towards better quality cuts we will eat. And, no way do I want to store all that ground beef. Just my 2¢

[PGH_RAM]

I buy half steers from a farm about an hour outside of Pittsburgh and it ends up costing around that. My wife and I find it worthwhile because it's 100% grass fed, we know the farmer, we've seen the beautiful and humane conditions in which he raises his beef, and we get to dictate exactly which cuts we want from the butcher. Additionally, there is almost no waste because we use the bones for soup (or for Leo) and we take any organs the USDA will allow.

[Andrrr]

$7.75/lb still seems like a good deal for a steer. I’m incredibly lucky that my total cost for a small farm steer last year was just over $5/lb and my 1/4 is usually around 170-180 lbs.
”Worth it” is a question that’s highly dependent on what you value but to me it’s definitely worth it. Not to pull out my foil hat, but just about anything you can put in your belly that was grown or raised by you or on a small farm tastes better and is far better for you than any commodity you can buy in the store.
Why does this beef look, smell and taste different?
Why are these egg yolks so much darker than in the store?
Why is this pork so much darker?
Why are these chicken breasts so much smaller?
etc, etc.

If anything, just try it this year and see what you think. It’s not a lifetime commitment. If you find it’s not worth it you can go back to store bought stuff once you run out.

[J-Melt]

Andrrr what farm did you get from last year? Being only one state away it might be tempting to drive for that kind of deal.

[Andrrr]

J-Melt It’s a friend’s family hobby farm and they only raise maybe 6 head just to split with family and friends, so unfortunately it’s not something I can bring you in on. They do it for the sole purpose of raising their own food, not for profit, which is why the cost stays low. Like I said, I’m incredibly lucky to be included.

[J-Melt]

No worries at all! Glad you get to be included!

[rmeugene]

We are doing our second 1/2 pig from our nephew and it comes to about that pricing...maybe a bit lower. They raise about 5 pigs a year. The pork is outstanding. We have bought beef from both the places I mentioned, and bounced around the idea of buying 1/4 or 1/2 cow, but seeing as I usually harvest a deer each year, space is a premium in our freezer.

[STEbbq]

I’d get hold of a cut sheet, figure out how you are splitting this cow with your friend, and have a plan to eat this meat, and a place to store all of this meat. It is not super clear you’d save a lot of money especially knowing the local options you have available at $7.75 a pound.

https://thekitchentoday.com/how-to-fill-out-beef-cut-sheet/

[STEbbq]

You could probably work out the savings using your local pricing and compare it to $7.75/pd.

[J-Melt]

Thanks. Since I only ever really buy cheap stuff from Park and Peoria packing and holiday sale Rib roast, $7.75 is definitely a premium price for me. It’s mostly a question of if we really want the nicer locally raised meat vs. the cheap commodity meat from the butcher.

[J-Melt]

Major update in this department! I learned that one of the engineers in the high rise where the coffee shop I work at is raises cows! He does either half or whole cows at $3.50/pound hanging and the processor charges around $500. I have been asking my church friends here in Chicago to get a big enough crew together to do a full cow.

Going to do the cut selection draft style with them so everyone gets some of what they want and evenly splits the ground beef and less premium cuts. We shall see how this goes! As long as I end up with an outside skirt, I will be a happy camper!

[Alan Brice]

Interesting.

[Huskee]

Cool. I summoned Meathead & Max who both live near Chicago too, so maybe they can offer some help as well, just in case.

[SheilaAnn]

Man oh man I wish!

[Meathead]

Front half or rear? Seriously, I do not know a source. We had a farmer selling grass finished beef at my local farmers market but it is closed for the season.

[SheilaAnn]

Front or rear? I always thought it was up the middle? As I type, I realize we got quarters at my old job. And then up the middle for pigs. Lambs always came whole.

And when we processed for the OC fair, we issued cut sheets.

[J-Melt]

I assumed it was a side. I’ll make sure to get a cut sheet from the processor to work through before pulling the trigger.

[Meathead]

I was joking, hence the "seriously". It is almost always a side.

[Max Good]

Me no know neither. I usually get good deals from Costco. Jewel supermarket has good beef and often offers great sale prices on steaks.

[FireMan]

I must say the title of this thread does to me the fourth or fifth time I read it, the same as the first time. Has quite a ring to it.
Half a Cow - Near Chicago!
Yessir!

[jerrybell]

We've done this for several years. I think it's worth it in the sense that the meat is wonderful, and your money is supporting a local farmer and butcher. I can't suggest anything near Chicago, I'm in Utah. I think I estimated ours was about $7.15/lb this year after processing.