What Is Hanging Weight for Beef

This step-past-step guide walks you through all you need to know and the questions to enquire when ownership a moo-cow directly from a farmer. One time you know how to purchase a cow, you'll wonder why yous didn't practice information technology sooner!

Are you thinking of ownership a cow from a local farmer? That's a dandy idea because y'all'll get quality beef at a fraction of the price.

But, we know there are lots of other questions yous need to ask besides. We've been selling beef from our subcontract for over a decade, and we've answered hundreds of questions from customers.

In this pace-past-stride guide, we'll walk you through everything you need to know on ownership a cow from a farmer. Here are a few things we'll encompass:

• How do you discover a farmer to buy from?
• What questions should you lot ask before buying a cow?
• How do you make sure you're getting a good bargain on beef?
• What type of beefiness should you get? grass fed? grass finished? grain? organic?
• How much beef will you actually get?

How do y'all purchase a cow from a farmer? Where do y'all start?

Believe information technology or not, buying a cow is just similar whatever other purchase. You make a decision by getting feedback from friends and family, local experts, and the internet.

Firstly, talk to family and friends and see if whatever of them have purchased a cow from a local farmer. If yes, did they take a good experience?

Secondly, visit your local farmers market. You'll probable observe several beef farmers at that place, and you tin can talk to them and try a few steaks and ground beef earlier y'all purchase from them in majority.

Another cracking resource is contacting your local Extension office or USDA function. You can ask for a recommendation of a local farmer that sells beef directly. If you've never heard of these offices earlier, exercise an online search for the closest one to y'all. You'll quickly see that these offices frequently partner with local universities and they offer lots of gratuitous information on a diversity of topics — like ownership a moo-cow, planting a garden, running small business, then much more.

And of class, there's always internet searches. Some sites aggregate local farmers, similar EatWild or Local Harvest. These sites can be groovy, simply keep in mind that farmers have to pay to be function of these sites. Therefore, the lists aren't all-inclusive.

Will y'all really save money ownership a cow?

Aye! Depending on where you lot usually shop for beef and what blazon of beefiness you buy, you tin can save over $ii,000 a year on beef.

We do price comparisons every twelvemonth, and compare our beef prices to local St. Louis grocery stores. With Clover Meadows Beef, the price is approximately $5.45/pound for all cuts of grass fed beef. This is compared to $7.03/pound at Walmart, $7.84/pound at a local St. Louis grocery shop, and $nine.86/pound at Whole Foods.

What cuts of beef come with ownership a cow?

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

Depending on who you lot gild your cow from, you'll get the pick of customizing your cut list. More on that later.

At Clover Meadows Beef, if you guild a sixteenth, quarter or a half beef, nosotros utilize a standardized cut listing since you're splitting the cow with other people and the entire cow needs to be processed the same way. If you order a whole moo-cow, you lot tin accept it custom cut withal y'all want.

Can my family actually swallow a whole cow? How much beefiness does a typical family consume in a year?

It varies by family. On average, our customers with a family of four eat well-nigh a half cow every year. Hither's an piece of cake formula that volition aid you figure it out:

My family unit normally eats ______ meals a calendar week with 1 pound of beef

ten

52 weeks a twelvemonth

=

My family eats ________ pounds of beef per twelvemonth.

Should the beef be inspected when buying a cow from a farmer?

All meat for public consumption in the U.S. must be inspected by the The states Department of Agronomics (USDA).  In some states, like Missouri, yous can also have an inspector from a state inspection bureau inspect meat, but state-inspected cannot cross state lines for auction.

USDA inspectors are very thorough, and the U.Due south. has the safest nutrient supply of whatsoever state.

The USDA inspectors check the alive brute to make sure they're good for you from caput to hoof and treated humanely. They besides inspect the slaughtering procedure, the animal's organs, the temperature of the meat, and make sure the carcass stays equally make clean as possible during the entire procedure.

If beef doesn't pass inspection, it is removed entirely from the food supply. When beef does pass inspection, it is stamped or labeled with the USDA inspection postage stamp, and that ways information technology is fit to eat.

When ownership a cow, should the beefiness exist certified organic? Grass fed? Something else?

Having beef certified as organic or grass fed requires the farmer to have additional government inspections, file tons of paperwork and pay additional fees. It's a very expensive and long process.

Many farmers, like us, choose non to go through the process of having our beef certified as grass fed or organic. However, the beef oft meets these qualifications.

When you're talking to the farmer you're because buying beef from, enquire them how they raise their cattle and if there are any standards they follow raising their cattle. How they raise their cattle is more important than a government characterization. Another way to ask this, is "what would the characterization say if you purchased their beefiness from a grocery store."

What's a cut list? How should the beef be cut when buying a cow?

The answer to this question varies by farm and beef processor. On our subcontract, we offer a standard cutting list for sixteenth, quarter, and half orders, since it makes things sooooo much easier on our customers.

If you're working independently with a beef processor and butcher, in that location are a few things to keep in heed every bit y'all determine your cuts.

First, and most of import, you take to remember a cow'due south anatomy, and that at that place is limited beefiness on a cow.  Please stick with us through this section, because you need to know this to understand how your beef should be cutting.

Eight Cardinal Beef Cuts

The USDA divides a cow into 8 regions. These are known as the primal cuts, or the main cuts. Hither are the eight fundamental cuts:

• Chuck
• Rib
• Loin
• Round
• Flank
• Short Plate
• Brisket
• Shank

Numerous unlike cuts can come from each of these sections. But if you lot're ownership a quarter or one-half a cow, you're going to have to choose how that section is cutting.

For instance, at the grocery store you'll see "circular" sold as basis beef, circular steak, eye of round, tip steak, tip roast, height round and lesser round roasts. Just, all of these round cuts come up from numerous animals. When you're talking to the butcher, you'll need to choose a few ways to have the circular cut. You can't do all of them that you see at a grocery store since there is a limited amount of beef on each animal.

Here are the beefiness cuts nosotros recommend:

• Steaks: We like cutting steaks into 1-inch thickness.  If yous decide you lot want a thicker steak and your beef processor allows it, keep in heed you'll exist getting fewer steaks. For case, if y'all society a quarter beefiness, you would usually get approximately vi-vii sirloin steaks if they're i-inch thick. If you have them cut to one ½ -two inches thick, yous may only get 3-4 steaks. Information technology's the same weight of beef, only how you take it cut makes a large difference on the quantity of steaks.
• Roasts: Arm, Chuck, Round, Rump cut into three-4 pound roasts.
• Ground Beefiness: Packaged in one pound packages
• Curt Ribs: You could have this basis into hamburger, only we don't recommend it. Short ribs are awesome.
• Stew Meat and/or Kabob Meat: These cuts are typically the trimmings from the steaks.
• Brisket: You could accept this basis into basis beefiness, but please don't. Brisket is and so good and there are lots of means to melt brisket.
• Soup Bones: We love soup bones. They brand the best bone broth. We highly recommend them.
• Organ meat: This is up to you lot, only we recommend information technology, especially liver.

What almost T-Bone Steaks?

A comment we sometimes hear is that people desire more than unique cuts, like T-Bone, Porterhouse Steak, Delmonico Steak, Club Steak, etc.

The reason you don't see some of these cuts is two fold.

First, some cuts have different names based upon the region. For case a KC Strip and a NY Strip are essentially the same affair.

2nd, other cuts are a combination of cuts. For example, a T-os steak is a strip steak on one side and a tenderloin on the other. If you decide to cut the bone out, you would no longer take a T-bone. Instead, y'all would have two distinct cuts — a tenderloin (or filet) and a strip steak. And if it's an extremely large T-bone, it would be called a Porterhouse Steak, non a T-bone. According to the USDA, if the tenderloin section that is at least 1.25 inches across at the widest section, it's a porterhouse steak.

What's the difference between live weight, hanging weight and boxed weight?

At Clover Meadows Beef, our pricing is all-inclusive. We tell you what yous'll get for a specific price, and that's what we deliver. Nosotros avert terms like hanging weight considering we think it's extremely confusing to those that are familiar with cattle.

Still, if you're not in the St. Louis area and can't buy from our farm, you will probable exist told an amount based on the weight of the animal or from one of the processing stages. Here are the terms you lot need to know then that you lot tin can summate your actual cost:

• Live weight (or "on the hoof") is how much a moo-cow weighs when it's alive and walking around.
• Hanging weight (or "on the track") is after the animal is slaughtered and all the unusable parts are removed (like head, peel and hooves), Hanging weight includes bones and meat. Typically, the hanging weight is virtually sixty% of the live weight.
• Boxed weight (or packaged weight) is the weight of all the packages of individual cuts of meat that y'all will put in your freezer This is typically about lx percent of hanging weight.

An of import thing to proceed in mind if you're trying to figure out how much beef you lot'll actually get is that some of the weight is lost during each step of the process.

So, if you're trying to do math with a farmer that talks in hang weight – if they say information technology's $3.75 per pound hanging weight, then expect to pay $vi.25 per pound ($3.75 / 0.60)  PLUS the butchering fee, which is usually about $600.00 for the entire cow (you lot'll carve up this fee if you're sharing with another family unit).

If talking nigh hanging weight makes your head spin, social club from usa if you're in St. Louis or find some other farm that prices beefiness every bit all-inclusive. It's much easier for anybody and you volition know exactly what you're getting.

How should the beef exist packaged if I purchase a moo-cow?

Most farmers volition give yous an selection betwixt newspaper, shrink wrapped, or vacuum sealing packaging. We recommend vacuum sealing considering information technology will keep the beefiness fresh for longer.

Here's what a rib heart steak looks like from our subcontract.

How much freezer infinite is needed when buying a cow?

Yep, you will almost likely want a stand-alone freezer. The dominion of thumb is 1 cubic foot of freezer space for every 30-35 lbs of cut and wrapped meat.

To aid you visualize it, here's what our refrigerator looks like with a half a cow, near 220 pounds of beefiness.

If y'all don't take a stand-alone freezer all the same, yous tin usually become a good deal at a warehouse store similar Sam'southward or Costco. We take both chest and upright freezers at our firm and we like both of them.

Whatever you practise, make sure you become ane with a lock and key.  This is very important for kid safety reasons (children have climbed into freezers and suffocated) and considering a physical lock will make sure your freezer is deeply closed. Yous tin also purchase an aftermarket lock.

If I have to buy a freezer, will I actually salve money in the long run?

A new nine cubic human foot freezer has a one-fourth dimension toll of nigh $400-$450, and its yearly running cost volition be approximately $38. So, as long as you proceed to employ your freezer in the future, buying one is a proficient investment for your beef, besides as whatever else you go along in your freezer.

How long will the beefiness concluding?

Approximately 1-twelvemonth.

What questions should I ask a farmer when buying a cow?

We have a free tip-canvas to help you inquire the right questions. There are 9 must-inquire questions to make sure that you go the all-time bargain, every fourth dimension.

Ane more than thing!

So, do you feel more than prepared on ownership a cow. We hope so! If you lot're in the St. Louis surface area and you want to order, let us know. Were hither to help!

Do you desire to learn more most beef? Here are a few other beef posts and recipes you may like. Plus, we have an entire ebook about beef that goes through purchasing and preparing beef from a farmers perspective.

And here are a few other weblog posts you may like:

• What everybody ought to know most beef cuts
• Buying a Cow. How Much Beefiness Is Information technology?
• Is It Done Yet? The All-time Meat Thermometer
• How Nosotros Raise Our Grass Fed Beef

Pin it for later on!

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Source: https://www.clovermeadowsbeef.com/how-to-buy-a-cow-from-a-farmer/

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