That's not bad. Hamburger is $4.89/# at my local meat market.

The processor I get mine through lately does whole hogs at $1.99/# hanging weight and beef at $4.99/#. That includes processing. Extra fee for smoked stuff like bacon/hams/smoked pork chops

Buying in bulk like this from a private cattle person and having it processed is the way to go.

Unfortunately, not all of us live where there is access to elk. Just deer here.

My wife always liked her hamburg lean! the last couple years it's has more fat in it.
She complained to me about it,and i said if you threw that fat away at 4.70 per lb it
wouldn't be very profitable.

I was curios to see what the inflation calculator said

I ran 400 pounds x 3 dollars for the 2017 start your weight fluctuates but I used a nice round 400 pounds
2017 = 1200.00
2018 = 1229.31
2019 = 1251.58
2020 = 1267.03
2021 = 1326.55
2022 = 1432.71
2023 = 1491.68
2024 = 1535.68
2025 = 1576.09
2026 = 1616.58 this would be 4.04 just on inflation so beef is up 66 cents a pound the other 1.04 is just how much less your money is worth. approximately because the 66 cents is also worth less than it would have been in 2017
but closer figuring

A friend of mines brother butchered 3 cows and put them up himself, a LOT of work, but well worth it. till he found out the hard way a large size home freezer WILL NOT freeze that large a pile of meat. Had to pay a guy to dig a hole to dump it all in.

oh geez.

Ouch....

My family was in the refrigeration business , since about the time they were invented, before they went all commercial they sold a lot of appliances to homeowners, one of the complaints they would occasionally get was some farmer say the chest freezer isn't working...find out he had just loaded it up with a freshly butchered hog, lol

Yep, they ain't designed for that....

Just got a txt. My cow was 1090lb×2.25 lb so $ 2452.50 for the cow not sure how much processing g will add to that yet.

just paid $3.80 a pound hanging + butcher cost for a half last week . . farmer said he's charging $4.15 hanging going forward

Leftlane, the family i get beef from, are steers.
I can tell ya,she has a nice setup,all stainless steel and electric hoist.
I remember the days that she would wrestle them hind quarters around my herself.

Big ole farm girl!

Maybe in your area up here my farmer is cheaper by a lot compared to other farmers. And I prefer buying from a local farmer i like and respect.. the man needs to make a profit his time is just as valuable to him as mine is to me.

And I just decided I think I might have enough freezer space for half 9f that cow and dont want to buy another freezer right now. So I marked up the cow .50 a lb and sold half of it. That will pay for my processing.

I have to much going on to work about buying a new freezer and getting it home heck has more than one person interested in the half of cow maybe I should sell both halfs and profit $ 500.

A cow is a animal that has had a calf/s and a farmer is getting rid of it for any number of reasons and like mentioned they go for cull/cutter or canner cow price.a fat is a steer/hiefer that has been finished out either on corn,silage or grass and sold.beef prices are higher per lb then holsteins or beef cross cattle.if you know what your buying and are happy with the price that's good.ive bought hamburger from local farmers that had a milk cow that broke a leg and they had a local guy butcher it and get a good deal on it.but if I want good tender steaks and roasts I want a fat steer or hiefer for that and preferably on a steer stuffer which means a diet of ground corn all they can eat and some hay for roughage.

Ok im using the term cow generically like calling sodas a coke. Being not a cow guy cow works, even the farm ask if I wanted another cow this year and at the same time saying they are hoping they grow to are around 1000lb by butcher date. Clearly showing is a young animal still growing. When the ask not an old cow. So even my old farmers wife is using the term generally. He also grows corn to finish his cows, a lot of people like that and like the fat. I prefer them more lean even though they would be smaller and not grain finished. But this is what I have easily available, and I like giving this guy business.


I can easily see the confusion with my using cow vs non specific terms.

Any place that processed beef I was ever in never weighed or charged on the weight of cut and wrapped beef if you were getting a 1/4, 1/2 or whole beef. They charged by hanging weight and charged by hanging weight. A hot beef carcass looses weight just cooling and hanging much less being cut and trimmed. I can pretty much assure you are not getting 1090 pounds of meat. At $2.25 a pound there is a good chance you are being charged by live weight not even hanging weight. You would do good to learn how and what you are buying.