Wednesday Aug 18th, 2010
Who wants some beef?
Calling all grass-fed cow lovers! I’m trying to gauge interest in purchasing a grass-fed Bessie to be divvied up among interested parties.
Here’s the facts:
We can get a cow from the nice people at www.landisdalefarm.com.
The cow is sold wholesale at $3.45/pound HANGING WEIGHT - this includes all the bones, guts, and extra tidbits that many people won’t be interested in. The actual price of the beef will be slightly higher once it’s butchered, but we have to pay for the hanging weight. This is still a fantastic bargain.
All meat is purchased at the same price per pound this way.
The meat can be cut up or ground to order. We’ll have to figure out how to decide who gets the filet mignon and who gets the rump roast. I’m proposing cage fights, but a round table discussion could work too. For example, we may want interested parties to pay more for the fancier cuts of meat, meaning the cheap skates get an even bigger discount on theirs. If you’re interested, please respond with how much “meat” you want vs. ground beef.
All meat and ground beef packages are custom-sized, vacuum packed, and labeled.
We can buy in ~150LB increments (150LB = 1/4 cow -ish).
Waiting time for orders is around 30 days.
Respond by September 1 with:
- How much TOTAL beef you want
- How much (1) steak/roasts and how much (2) ground beef
- Any ultimatums (“I get all the filet mignon or I’m out”)
- If you would want any amount of bones, organs, random bits
Once I have this information, I will get in touch with Landisdale Farms again to see how much cow we should buy, and then we will need to decide how we want Bessie butchered. We’ll also have to coordinate a trip to Jonesville, PA to pick everything up.
Get to it in the comments.
21 Comments Posted by Kristin J
Pete and I have a 1/4 cow on order, that’s a lotta beef! I’m sure we’ll have plenty to share, if anyone is interested. Should be delivered sometime in September.
I would be down for taking 75lbs. of the “cowpool” (or roughly 1/8 a cow). I’m pretty much up for any mix of beefs. I typically use ground beef, skirt steak, flank steak, strips, filet, or any type of roast. I’d also be thrilled to have some nice big leg bones for the marrow nomnomnomnom.
Me and my fancy new kitchen appliances want in on this one. I’d be interested in chuck roast, brisket, top round cuts, and I’d love to throw in a couple t-bone steaks, altho I could live with just the strip if someone really wants the filet. Oh, and I’ll take the sweetbreads for sure.
Basically, I’m more than happy to take mostly the slow-cook cuts along with some decent steaks.
I want as much will fit in my freezer. I know that’s not very helpful. Probably 30-40#(?).
Yes! I want cow…
I also like the idea of cage fights for fillet mignon
but I’m also willing to pay higher price for the nicer cuts
I would probably want about 5-6 pounds of ground beef like 85% lean (in separate 1-2lb packages)
2-3lb of heart
3lb of tongue
5lb of rib eye
5lbs of sirloin steaks (divided into 1lb steaks)
3-4lb of stewing meat, chuck or rump (cut into chunks before packed)
4lb skirt steak
4-5lb of short ribs (preferably cut into smaller pieces)
4-5lbs oxtail
maybe some marrow bones
maybe some sweetbreads
umm, hopefully this can actually fit into my freezer
as for butchering poor Bessie…the most humane way possible? I’m not sure what it is, I’ve heard that “knocking” the cow results in instant death? a shot to the brain stem? any thoughts on this? the farm/butchers would probably be able to advise us on this…
Erin and Julia: Are adult beef sweetbreads considerably different than calf sweetbreads? I’ve only had the veal variety.
OMG-i can’t partake-all of a sudden i may have gone vegetarian on you all.
I do have an important question though for my paleo colleagues-how much meat is too much. I’ve been struggling trying to figure out how much is too much…any tips would help..
thanks!
Hey Nicole! I think the answer to your question is dependent upon what you are trying to do with your body composition. Are you looking to lose fat? Maintain your body weight? Build muscle?
@Catlyn: Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve also only ever had veal or calf. I figured if no one else wanted them I would give it a try.
Robyn and I are definitely in on ole Bessie. We would like 30lbs total.
5 lbs ground meat
10 lbs short ribs, cut into smaller pieces
4 lbs stewing meat, chuck or rump, small pieces
11 lbs, t-bone steaks
Will these all be vacuum sealed?
Thanks
I would love to get in on this, but I’m thinking even 1/8 might be too much for me? I’m interested in the steaks - ribeye, loins, sirloins, rounds, and flank steaks. A couple pounds of each. Like Erin, I just want whatever will fit in my regular freezer. Any cost estimates?
yeah Cat, I’ve only had veal or calf sweetbreads…I’ll do some research and get back to ya
Joanna - The beauty of cow pooling is that you can baically order as much or as little as you can handle. As for price, they charge $3.45/pound of the hanging weight. After dressing and butchering the cow, the price for a pound of actual meat will go up a bit since the skin, bones, and organs have been removed. I’m guessing the meat will average out to no more than $4.50/pound, but we won’t have the exact price until after they slaughter and weight the cow.
Should we put you down for 10 - 15 pounds of steaks then?
15 pounds of steaks would be great. Thanks for organizing!
Let me talk to Kim, eventhough we are not Paleo we still are carnivores. Grass fed or not it is still delicious.
I’m in for 5 lbs ground beef, 10 lbs steaks (no preference) and a 5 lb rump roast would be nice. Also willing to go in on the liver with someone but I don’t want the whole thing.
Hey Wil I’ll go in on the liver with you.
I’m also up for some short ribs too nomnomnomnom.
I am in for 60+ pounds of whatever cuts we get ( I want 1/8th of a cow!).
A question: How are we going to divide up the meat. Are we going to charge different prices for different cuts?
If we split the cow into 8ths then …
or if we sell each cut a la cart then ..
Just some things to think about.
I will definitely help come up with some solution/pricing model if needed. I like that kind of stuff!
Oh the humanity. In the interest of equity, how many pounds of human do the cows get? How many pounds in 40 humans: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38766766/ns/world_news-europe/
Jim and I will chip in on the cow if you guys need another buyer. We prefer Filet, skirt steaks, eye round roasts, and brisket please!
If God didn’t want us to eat cows, He wouldn’t have made them taste delicious!!
What is the plan here? Are we going to tally up all the orders and see how much total poundage is on order? Im sorry if I missed this but how much does this cow weigh to begin with and how can we figure out how much usable meat is in that total?