How Many Pounds Is a Third of Beef

Are yous thinking of buying a cow? Accept you lot decided how much?

Most people unremarkably think about buying half a cow, just did you know there other options. You lot tin often buy a sixteenth, quarter, one-half, or whole cow from a farmer, so you need to do research and make up one's mind what quantity is correct for your family unit.

We've been selling beef directly off of our farm for decades. Without a dubiousness one of the beginning questions people ask before buying a cow is "how much beef volition I actually get?" That question is usually followed by, "If I buy a moo-cow, what function am I getting? The front one-half or back one-half?"

The goal of this postal service is to show y'all how much beef you get when you purchase a cow. Nosotros also take a step-by-step guide on buying a cow from a farmer, including what questions to ask.

To put it in perspective, we've made our habitation refrigerator the star of the video and photos.

We've taken these pictures twice, years autonomously. The outset fourth dimension we just took photos and nosotros had a standard 18.1 cu ft refrigerator with a freezer on top. The second time we did this, nosotros made a video and we had a newer refrigerator – a 22.1 cu ft refrigerator with french doors and freezer on the bottom. Hopefully, seeing the beef in two different refrigerators will help put information technology into perspective even more.

Spring to:

• Is buying a cow worth information technology?
• Buying a sixteenth moo-cow
• Ownership a quarter cow
• Ownership a half cow
• Buying a whole cow
• Cuts of beefiness included
• Freezer space needed
• How much beef do y'all actually go?
• Shelf life of frozen beef
• Packaging
• How do you discover a local farm?

Is buying a cow worth it?

Yep! The benefit of buying a cow is that you lot will salvage money and get college quality beef.

Every yr, nosotros compare the cost of beefiness from our farm to local St. Louis grocery stores. With Clover Meadows Beefiness, the price is approximately $5.45/pound for all cuts of grass fed beef. This is compared to $vii.03/pound at Walmart, $7.84/pound at a local St. Louis grocery store, and $nine.86/pound at Whole Foods.

Please notation, every farm and beef processor prices beefiness differently. You will demand to exercise your own math on determining the price per pound if y'all're not in the St. Louis area and tin't order from our farm.

Buying a sixteenth moo-cow

Hither'southward what our 22.1 cu ft fridge looks like with a sixteenth of a cow. At our subcontract, a sixteenth is approximately 25 lbs of beefiness. This includes xiii lbs of hamburger, two Ribeye steaks, 2 Strip steaks, 2 Filet steaks, 2 Sirloin steaks, 1 Stew Meat, 1 Short Rib, 1 package Soup Bones, 1 package Beefiness Liver, and 1 Roast.

Buying a quarter cow

Here's what our 18.1 cu ft refrigerator with freezer on meridian looks like with a quarter beefiness, which is 110 lbs of beef. Equally you tin can see, it's a lot of beef, but it all fits in the freezer (without the freezer shelf or ice bucket).

So what comes with a quarter? That answer varies since every cow is unique and weighs something different, but here is how it typically breaks out:

With a quarter you become about 50 pounds of ground beef, and the remaining 60 lbs of meat is in steaks, brisket, roasts, stew meat, ribs, liver, soup bones, etc. Delight keep in mind that everything is based on the individual cow and how the beefiness is cutting, but typical, the remaining 60 lbs works out to be approximately 6-7 strip steaks, 6-vii ribeye steaks, 5-half-dozen filets, five-6 sirloin steaks, 2 brusque ribs, 4-v roasts, 1-ii package of stew meat, 1-2 packages of liver, 1 brisket, and several packages of soup bones.

With a quarter, you also become the pick of the ane-per-animate being parts like tongue, oxtail and heart. Since there'south only one-per-animal, these are start-come-starting time-serve based on the other who requests them first.

Here'south what our 22.1 cu ft refrigerator looks like with a quarter moo-cow. Over again, it's 50 pounds of ground beef, and the rest of the beefiness comes in a multifariousness of cuts like steaks, roasts, ribs, and brisket.

Buying a half cow

So, what if yous buy half a cow? What does that await like? With a one-half a cow, you'll become approximately 220 pounds of beef. It includes 100 pounds of footing beef, and the remainder of the beef are in cuts like steaks, roasts, ribs, brisket, and tenderloin.

But for fun, we included a dozen eggs and a half gallon of milk in this picture and then you would have some additional perspective 🙂

Ownership a whole cow

With a whole cow y'all would get approximately 440 pounds of beef. It will be approximately 200 pounds of footing beefiness, and the other 220 pounds are in cuts like steaks, roasts, ribs, brisket, tenderloin, etc. On average, we've constitute that a whole is great for families of three or more than that consume beef with four or more than meals a calendar week.

Cuts of beef included

When you buy a cow, you lot become a variety of cuts such as

• Steaks like filet, sirloin, ribeye, strip, skirt and flank
• Brisket
• Roasts like chuck, sirloin, arm
• Ground beef
• Ribs
• Stew meat
• Kabob meat
• Soup basic
• Organ meat (if desired)
• And the listing keeps going on and on!

Freezer space needed

The rule of pollex is ane cubic foot of freezer space for every 30-35 lbs of cut and wrapped meat.

That means y'all'll definitely want a stand-alone freezer when buying a moo-cow. If yous don't take ane yet, you lot can usually become a good deal at a warehouse store similar Sam's or Costco. Nosotros have both breast and upright freezers at our house and we like both of them.

Our biggest piece of advice when buying a stand up-alone freezer is to get one with a lock and key.  This is very important for child safety reasons and because a physical lock volition make sure your freezer is securely airtight. You can also purchase an aftermarket lock.

How much beef practise you lot actually go?

When y'all buy a moo-cow, you want to know exactly how much beef yous'll put in your freezer.

Our farm is somewhat unique in how we price our beefiness because it'south all-inclusive – nosotros tell yous how much beef yous'll become for a specific cost. Our pricing includes all processing fees and costless delivery to a specific pick-up locations in the St. Louis surface area.

A quarter cow is 110 lbs, half is 220 lbs, and whole moo-cow is 440 lbs. We've chosen to sell our beef this mode because we think information technology'due south easier for our customers and there are no surprises – you know exactly what you're going to get.

The other way to effigy out how much beef you'll put in your freezer, is to explain information technology with agronomics manufacture-lingo like hang-weight and package-weight. If these terms are new to you lot, here are quick definitions:

• Live weight (or "on the hoof") is how much a cow weighs when it's alive and walking around. This includes meat, bones, blood, etc.
• Hanging weight (or "on the rail") is after the animal is slaughtered and all the unusable parts are removed (like caput, skin and hooves), Hanging weight includes basic and meat. Typically, the hanging weight is about sixty% of the live weight.
• Boxed weight (or packaged weight) is the weight of all the packages of private cuts of meat that yous will put in your freezer This is typically near 60 percent of hanging weight.

So, what does this mean in plain-terms? If you're told it's $3.75 per pound hanging weight, then expect to pay approximately $6.25 per pound ($iii.75 / 0.60)  PLUS the butchering fee, which is usually virtually $600.00 for the entire moo-cow (you'll split this fee if you're sharing with another family unit).

No matter who yous buy from, make certain you know exactly what you'll be taking abode before you buy so yous have acceptable freezer space.

Shelf life of frozen beef

Approximately 1-year if frozen and vacuum sealed. The corporeality of time will be shorter if information technology is packaged in paper or shrink wrapped.

Packaging

About farmers will requite yous an selection between paper, compress wrapped, or vacuum sealing packaging. Nosotros recommend vacuum sealing because information technology will keep the beef fresh for longer.

Hither's an case of what a vacuum sealed steak looks like.

How practise you find a local farm?

So, do yous withal desire to buy a cow? If you're in the St. Louis area, let united states of america know. Nosotros are happy to respond any questions you may have.

If you're outside of St. Louis, read our pace-by-step guide on how to buy a moo-cow from a farmer. It volition tell you how to discover a farmer, the right questions to enquire, and how to know if you're getting a good deal on beefiness.

Ane More Matter!

Do y'all want to learn more about beefiness? Join our weekly east-newsletter where we share farm happenings, recipes and beefiness availability. Sign-upwardly and get a cheat canvass with 9-must-ask questions before ownership beef directly from a farmer. Or, we take an unabridged ebook almost beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beefiness from a cattle farmers perspective.

Here are a few other links you may like:

• Do Cows Have Teeth?
• What everybody ought to know about beefiness cuts
• Ownership a Cow. How Much Beefiness Is Information technology?
• 7 Steps to Grilling a Steak to Perfection
• How We Heighten Our Grass Fed Beef
• Easy Beef Brisket Recipe (oven-roasted)
• The Best Farm Books for Kids

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We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Plan, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for u.s. to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. See our disclosure policy for more details.

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Source: https://www.clovermeadowsbeef.com/buying-half-a-cow/

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