Side of Beef

3ml

Moderator
Trusted Member
One of the best things I have done and don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.
I split a cow with a friend of mine.
For my side of the beef I received 457lbs
Cut and wrapped all in worked out to $3.43 across the board.

The beef is great. Hamburger is lean. I’m in heaven. I mainly only eat beef, and eggs. The odd time I’ll try to choke down some chicken. I like fish and seafood but that gets pricey.

Id highly suggest to anyone to do this. What I also like is it put money directly into a cattle farmers pocket and a local butcher.
This will save me a fortune and it helped the community.
 
My folks used to get a side of beef and a half a pig every year! Ate like champions!
Regards
SonOfOdin
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3ml
One of the best things I have done and don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.
I split a cow with a friend of mine.
For my side of the beef I received 457lbs
Cut and wrapped all in worked out to $3.43 across the board.

The beef is great. Hamburger is lean. I’m in heaven. I mainly only eat beef, and eggs. The odd time I’ll try to choke down some chicken. I like fish and seafood but that gets pricey.

Id highly suggest to anyone to do this. What I also like is it put money directly into a cattle farmers pocket and a local butcher.
This will save me a fortune and it helped the community.

Been doing this for years and I've politely tried to tell my friends to do the same, but then you tell them how much it costs they say "wow.. thats expensive"... It only takes gr 4 math and a calculator to figure out how it is much cheaper than the grocery store, but sadly many of my friends won't take the 5 mins to do the math.

I try to make them understand with a blanket statment like "How can buying direct from a farmer be more expensive then the grocery store after it's been through 3 addional sets of hands whom all take a profit off the top?'.. Still get "thats really expensive for beef" as a reply.. Then I give up
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3ml
Been doing this for years and I've politely tried to tell my friends to do the same, but then you tell them how much it costs they say "wow.. thats expensive"... It only takes gr 4 math and a calculator to figure out how it is much cheaper than the grocery store, but sadly many of my friends won't take the 5 mins to do the math.

I try to make them understand with a blanket statment like "How can buying direct from a farmer be more expensive then the grocery store after it's been through 3 addional sets of hands whom all take a profit off the top?'.. Still get "thats really expensive for beef" as a reply.. Then I give up

They don’t understand.
Mind you most don’t understand that they are paying on the starting price not the finished weight. On a side after aged is around 40% loss depending on how much bone and fat is left in.
You lose about 20% while aging in moisture.
I used to do a ton of hinds and sides in Alberta, around here most want a mix. Which is better because as the butcher you don’t make shit from a side after all the labour and materials.
Plus you miss out on all the value added products because the customer doesn’t come back in the store.
That is why here I strayed away from them. Huge heavy labour’s work for small profits.

So yes, if you have the room it is the way to buy, as long as they age it enough.
A good trick is when it gets to the butcher, tell them you need to talk to the person you are sharing with about the cutting instructions, then wait 2-3 weeks before calling, forces them to age it. Used to piss me off, but I always aged the beef until it grew fur, lol., then one of the students would wipe it down with vinegar and water then I’d cut it a few days later when I had the time. The round steaks were tender then,,lol.

I don’t miss having to carry the fronts to break on the saw at 260 lbs, lol. But when I used to break a lot of beef I had huge forearms and very thick fingers. Back then I had a 11.5 ring finger. :)
 
Last edited:
I used to split a cow with three other people.

Absolutely the cheapest way to do it, but you have to have a cube freezer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3ml
I used to split a cow with three other people.

Absolutely the cheapest way to do it, but you have to have a cube freezer.

Yes it’s definitely far cheaper. Shit my price is almost half of what ground beef is in the store. Not to mention the premium cuts.
I bit the bullet and invested in a great big 20m3 foot stand up freezer
This thing is sweet and I just love opening it and seeing all my beef so nicely organized
 
Been doing this for years and I've politely tried to tell my friends to do the same, but then you tell them how much it costs they say "wow.. thats expensive"... It only takes gr 4 math and a calculator to figure out how it is much cheaper than the grocery store, but sadly many of my friends won't take the 5 mins to do the math.

I try to make them understand with a blanket statment like "How can buying direct from a farmer be more expensive then the grocery store after it's been through 3 addional sets of hands whom all take a profit off the top?'.. Still get "thats really expensive for beef" as a reply.. Then I give up

I hear you my friend. I had one guy tell me “well that not much cheaper than ground beef especially on sale”
Uhhhh wow
I guess he forgot about the few hundred lbs of premium cuts
 
Yes it’s definitely far cheaper. Shit my price is almost half of what ground beef is in the store. Not to mention the premium cuts.
I bit the bullet and invested in a great big 20m3 foot stand up freezer
This thing is sweet and I just love opening it and seeing all my beef so nicely organized

This is true food porn.

Is it vacuum sealed or in butcher paper. I found the beef tastes better from butcher paper.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3ml
They don’t understand.
Mind you most don’t understand that they are paying on the starting price not the finished weight. On a side after aged is around 40% loss depending on how much bone and fat is left in.
You lose about 20% while aging in moisture.
I used to do a ton of hinds and sides in Alberta, around here most want a mix. Which is better because as the butcher you don’t make shit from a side after all the labour and materials.
Plus you miss out on all the value added products because the customer doesn’t come back in the store.
That is why here I strayed away from them. Huge heavy labour’s work for small profits.

So yes, if you have the room it is the way to buy, as long as they age it enough.
A good trick is when it gets to the butcher, tell them you need to talk to the person you are sharing with about the cutting instructions, then wait 2-3 weeks before calling, forces them to age it. Used to piss me off, but I always aged the beef until it grew fur, lol., then one of the students would wipe it down with vinegar and water then I’d cut it a few days later when I had the time. The round steaks were tender then,,lol.

I don’t miss having to carry the fronts to break on the saw at 260 lbs, lol. But when I used to break a lot of beef I had huge forearms and very thick fingers. Back then I had a 11.5 ring finger. :)

So the guy that did our beef suggested we age it min 14 days but recommended 21 days. This was included in the price which I thought was great and let it hang for 21.
The only thing he asked is that you pick it up promptly after it was wrapped in frozen as that space he had was at a minimum. I gladly obliged.
 
This is true food porn.

Is it vacuum sealed or in butcher paper. I found the beef tastes better from butcher paper.

I didn’t go for the vac seal. Regular old butcher paper. I like it, it’s nostalgic. My gf is an absolute food processing machine so it won’t last us even for a year is my guess so another reason I decided not to vac pack
 
I didn’t go for the vac seal. Regular old butcher paper. I like it, it’s nostalgic. My gf is an absolute food processing machine so it won’t last us even for a year is my guess so another reason I decided not to vac pack

First 1/4 I got was vacuum sealed. Swear I could taste the plastic. Enjoy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3ml
We have a local farmer who sells anywhere from a whole cow to 1/16 of a cow. We buy 1/8 or 1/16 every few months. Even if you get 1/16 she makes sure to include nice cuts like tenderloin and rib eye.

It's cheaper and it's the best beef I've had.
 
We aways age 14-16 days... We tried 21 days and didn't notice a taste or tenderness difference, but we notice more loss of meat. Sorbate might set me strsight, but you do loose more the longer you age due to drying out. We didn't notice a difference in taste though so we only do a 14-16 days now.


you guys are red meat pussys.. Each year my house consumes
-2 white tail deer
-2 black bears
-1/2 steer (beef)
-1/3 moose

We still end up buying some meat at the grocery store when thats all gone
 
I never aged on time, I aged on how much mould and slime grew on it. That was my way of determining when it was done.on the hind, under the flap of the flank it would get slimy and the open lean meat on the ends would literally grow fur.

14 days is not enough time, 21 likely good, but like I said I never did it on time.
Normally the beef would be ready on the weekend, when I didn’t have time to process it, so one of my slave students would get a cloth, vinegar and water and scrub it down to remove and kill the slime and fur.

The parts you trim off you’d need to trim anyways.

Now as far as losing weight from moisture, you want it to weigh more to feel better, or do you want it so tender that you can literally cut your steaks with a fork? I’m on the tender side. No one is happy having tough roasts or steaks, lose another 15 lbs out of 400, meh.

Btw it took me 20 min to cut a hind completely and 35 min for a side. But mind you my record for boning a 800 lb moose was 35 minutes, including cutting steaks, just not grinding the ground.

It’s tough work and I don’t miss it at all.
 
We aways age 14-16 days... We tried 21 days and didn't notice a taste or tenderness difference, but we notice more loss of meat. Sorbate might set me strsight, but you do loose more the longer you age due to drying out. We didn't notice a difference in taste though so we only do a 14-16 days now.


you guys are red meat pussys.. Each year my house consumes
-2 white tail deer
-2 black bears
-1/2 steer (beef)
-1/3 moose

We still end up buying some meat at the grocery store when thats all gone
I just dont like the taste of game meat. Never ate bear, but it smells funky, lol. Doesn’t make me go, yum, I want some
But each to their own. I know lots of guys that love game.
 
So the guy that did our beef suggested we age it min 14 days but recommended 21 days. This was included in the price which I thought was great and let it hang for 21.
The only thing he asked is that you pick it up promptly after it was wrapped in frozen as that space he had was at a minimum. I gladly obliged.
None of us ever have enough freezer room, lol.
Paper will give you a year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3ml
I hear you my friend. I had one guy tell me “well that not much cheaper than ground beef especially on sale”
Uhhhh wow
I guess he forgot about the few hundred lbs of premium cuts
On a side
Tbone 20 lbs
Top sirloin 12 lbs
Tenderloin 3 lbs
Prime rib 18 lbs
Those are the premium cuts.
Then you have
Blade(chuck)
Sirloin tip
Outside round
Inside round
Cross rib
Flank
Brisket
Short ribs
And a ton of ground, lol.

I can’t remember the exact weights of each anymore, it’s been a decade, lol.
 
On a side
Tbone 20 lbs
Top sirloin 12 lbs
Tenderloin 3 lbs
Prime rib 18 lbs
Those are the premium cuts.
Then you have
Blade(chuck)
Sirloin tip
Outside round
Inside round
Cross rib
Flank
Brisket
Short ribs
And a ton of ground, lol.

I can’t remember the exact weights of each anymore, it’s been a decade, lol.

That looks about right
I got all my roasts cut into steaks
I’m not a big roast guy I like everything on the grill
 
Top