[Alexdur85]

My boyfriend wants to buy a cow..ok he wants to buy 3 cows (one for us, one to sell and another one for I have no idea why he wants another one). We have a couple of friends who rent a house with a few acres and the landlord said we're more than welcome to have our cows there as long as we obviously feed them and take care of them.

How much work goes into taking care of a cow? My boyfriend works 4 days a week already (10 hour days) and we have the girls. He said he'd need to feed them twice a day but I'm assuming there has to be more than that.

I told him I just want to go in on buying a cow instead. My boyfriend said we'd say way more money raising them ourselves. I don't know if I could do it. I know I'd end up naming them and once you name them I can't eat them! Is there really that much of a difference in raising one ourselves or buying one price wise?

[superman9379]

We have bought a half a cow for the past couple of years (before I couponed). I have come to the conclusion that unless you really want steak, it is actually cheaper to coupon and only stock up during the ground beef sales. Now that I coupon, I am not sure that we will purchase a portion of a cow next year. If you really enjoy steak, buy a cow or raising one may make sense. Hope that helps.

[Alexdur85]

Originally Posted by superman9379

We have bought a half a cow for the past couple of years (before I couponed). I have come to the conclusion that unless you really want steak, it is actually cheaper to coupon and only stock up during the ground beef sales. Now that I coupon, I am not sure that we will purchase a portion of a cow next year. If you really enjoy steak, buy a cow or raising one may make sense. Hope that helps.

We like steak, and burgers and ground beef for spaghetti. Mostly I'm concened because we're trying to go organic and eat either organic beef or grass fed cows. It's $4.99lb for grassfed so we thought maybe buying our own would be cheaper. From what I hear you can have the butcher cut it up anyway you want it. I don't see many sales on grassfed beef.

[flyingv]

We have lots of cows in fact 1500 on our ranch. I think it is cheaper to raise your own, and the meat taste so much better. There is really not whole lot of care involved with cattle, especially if they are out on grass. And you you can specify to the butcher just exactly what you want.

[rounduptime]

Not much to it other than feeding and watering them..I would advise though to make sure they are up-to-date on any vaccinations..as you wouldn't want to eat diseased meat :p And it should definately save you money..think of it as buying your food in bulk..it ALWAYS saves you money to buy in bulk

[Alexdur85]

How much difference is it really between raising them ourselves and just buying a cow that someone else raised and butchering that?

[rounduptime]

*found this in a blog*...THIS isnt my personal experience..

"This year, our cow was slaughtered on October 18th. It hung for two weeks, and then was cut and wrapped. The cow dressed out at 560 pounds, or 140 pounds per couple. The meat cost $1.65/lb. The cut and wrap charge was $0.40/lb, and there was a $40 kill fee. (All costs apply to hanging weight, which is different than the actual weight of the meat you take home.) Basically, we paid $300 for our share of the meat, which amounted to roughly 83 pounds divided as follows:
21 packages of ground beef totaling 47 pounds, 14.3 ounces of meat
5 roasts totaling 12 pounds, 4.1 ounces of meat
15 packages of steak totaling 18 pounds, 14.8 ounces of meat
2 miscellaneous cuts totaling 3 pounds, 15.3 ounces of meat

Our net cost was $3.61 per pound. Compare that to the prices listed in this week’s circulars:

Safeway
London Broil $2.49/lb (regularly $4.59/lb)
Sirloin Steak $4.49/lb
Chuck Cross Rib Roast $3.99/lb
Tri-Tip Roast $5.99/lb
Extra Lean (7% fat) Ground Beef $3.49/lb (regularly $3.99/lb)
Boneless Rib Roast $8.99/lb (regularly $9.99/lb)

Albertson’s
Sirloin Steak $2.99/lb (or $4.99/lb for the high-quality stuff)
Bone-In Rib Roast $5.99/lb (or $7.99/lb for the high-quality stuff)

In this case, shopping at the supermarket would be more expensive, but not by much. If you watch for sales, supermarket beef will cost even less. Buying in bulk gives you better quality meat, though. It also comforts me to believe that the beef I eat is not mass-produced feedlot stuff.

[Alexdur85]

I will have to show that to Juan. I wish I knew if they raised it or not. Honestly I don't know if $1 difference per lb (since ours would be grassfed) is worth it to actually raise it ourselves. I don't know if I would go through the hassle.

[joshmamabear]

my SIL lives in the stix with a lot of land. she has chickens, hogs and some cows raised for food. she said cost of grains to feed them not counting all the hard work involved makes her want to quit since there's very little if any savings. she does it only to have something to do

that is not also counting the fact that sometimes the cows get sick and die so that is sure loss. with 2 girls and a DH to take care of plus you have a job, think 100 times before you embark on this project.

your other option is to buy half a cow if there are county fairs in your area. we've done it before and had our half cut and cleaned by a local abbatoir ready for freezing/cooking. check out for county fairs in your area and most often, the sellers of these raise the cows themselves and the quality and tenderness of the meat is truly worth the price with less hassles.

[deelightfull]

I've seen that blog that round up time quoted--they didn't raise it, they just bought it and paid a butcher to slaughter it.

[poshpoodle]

We had one butchered last year- it was black angus. I do nto remember the cost but I will say in my opinion the meat was not nearly as good as the super market's. Maybe it was how they ground the beef- that was the only part I thought was disgusting- it seemed to have grissle in it. I heard it was because it was probably not ground as fine- I think it was cheaper but honestly can not remember- it made me never want to buy a cow slaughtered again. IMHO we wasted money because I would not eat the ground beef- it was just gross.

[Alexdur85]

Originally Posted by joshmamabear

my SIL lives in the stix with a lot of land. she has chickens, hogs and some cows raised for food. she said cost of grains to feed them not counting all the hard work involved makes her want to quit since there's very little if any savings. she does it only to have something to do

that is not also counting the fact that sometimes the cows get sick and die so that is sure loss. with 2 girls and a DH to take care of plus you have a job, think 100 times before you embark on this project.

your other option is to buy half a cow if there are county fairs in your area. we've done it before and had our half cut and cleaned by a local abbatoir ready for freezing/cooking. check out for county fairs in your area and most often, the sellers of these raise the cows themselves and the quality and tenderness of the meat is truly worth the price with less hassles.

Thanks. If we are going to try anything out I prefer to just buy a cow and split it between some friends instead. My boyfriend also was looking at land in our area to buy so we can raise them. I don't know why he does these things. I swear I spend most of my time talking him out of these things. I mean, you can't even build on it and we're not farmers.. My dream is not to live on a farm and raise cattle.. but Juan will be Juan I guess.

Originally Posted by deelightfull

I've seen that blog that round up time quoted--they didn't raise it, they just bought it and paid a butcher to slaughter it.

Great Thank you. I would love to save the $1 a lb if I could just buy it and get it slaughtered.

Originally Posted by poshpoodle

We had one butchered last year- it was black angus. I do nto remember the cost but I will say in my opinion the meat was not nearly as good as the super market's. Maybe it was how they ground the beef- that was the only part I thought was disgusting- it seemed to have grissle in it. I heard it was because it was probably not ground as fine- I think it was cheaper but honestly can not remember- it made me never want to buy a cow slaughtered again. IMHO we wasted money because I would not eat the ground beef- it was just gross.

I'll have to ask about that. I wouldn't even know where to get it butchered. I don't think there is a single butcher shop around here.

[Weatie]

Originally Posted by Alexdur85

My boyfriend wants to buy a cow..ok he wants to buy 3 cows (one for us, one to sell and another one for I have no idea why he wants another one). We have a couple of friends who rent a house with a few acres and the landlord said we're more than welcome to have our cows there as long as we obviously feed them and take care of them.

How much work goes into taking care of a cow? My boyfriend works 4 days a week already (10 hour days) and we have the girls. He said he'd need to feed them twice a day but I'm assuming there has to be more than that.

I told him I just want to go in on buying a cow instead. My boyfriend said we'd say way more money raising them ourselves. I don't know if I could do it. I know I'd end up naming them and once you name them I can't eat them! Is there really that much of a difference in raising one ourselves or buying one price wise?

A single cow cant live alone. Perhaps thats why the 3rd one. You wont save any money on buying a dairy cow or a beef one. By time you set up for milking if it's dairy. Seed and maintain the field. The cost to slaughter will be higher than what you pay at the supermarket or butcher. To feed each one will cost you about $200 a month. (thats what it is around here anyway.)

[Gloriaob]

My steer this year dressed out at 507 lbs hanging weight of which I got half for 507.00 which included the processing fee of 35 cents per lb.
I would rather buy a steer someone else has raised and corn fed. I saw one in the paper for 1.60 lb last week. Only question I ask is what breed of steer and how long do they corn feed them.
Delicious meat, you will never want to buy in the supermarket again after eating that.

[SLance68]

As a kid my Dad and Godfather had a cattle ranch. Needless to say I prefer store bought. I also prefer grain fed to grass fed by a million miles. We had black Angus before they were the chic type of meat along with Santa Gertrudis and one Jersey cow (she was a pet). We usually would butcher one or 2 a year that were split between families. It is NOT a fun job if you have to skin & clean it as they did that themselves and hung it for 6 weeks to age then took it to a butcher to cut up. It is a lot more work than Juan thinks and if they get sick - vets are not cheap especially when they have to come to your property. I would stick with the convenience of store bought especially since you didn't have to raise it and kill it later.

[Tara]

Does your friend's land already have a barn and fenced in? If you have to do either of those - that can get expensive.

My neighbors got part of a cow from a local shop last year. And it was some of the best meat I've ever had.

[rounduptime]

2nd the barn..you do need some sort of shelter for it..even if it's just a lean-to.
You also should know what to look for when buying a cow for meat..you can't just buy any random cow and expect it to be better quality than the store. You need to get a decent cow..otherwise it will possibly end up being alot of fatty meat..which in that case you might as well buy store meat..for the most part store meat is from poor quality cows=more fat and more grease when your cooking it. I grew up on our family butchering it's own meat..had a herd of cows and we'd pick 2-3 a year to butcher. So I find most store meat to be fatty and disgusting. I can definately tell the quality between store bought and our butchered meat when cooking it..I end up with half the grease/fat as store bought..And consider this..If most store bought meat is fatter/greasier then you are also paying for the fat/grease as they sell by pound!

[Alexdur85]

Thanks everyone for your input.. I am going to try and talk Juan out of this whole mess. From what's explained seems like more work than it's worth. I prefer grassfed over corn fed (I think the meat tastes better and I'm trying to say no to corn in my own diet).

[Weatie]

reading this thread about how fatty and grizzly meats can be sure makes glad to be a non-meat eater.

[poshpoodle]

I have to eat meat- I absolutely love meat

[jcgirl]

Don't forget your time is worth something and how much gas will be spent driving out to care for them twice a day? I'm not sure it's worth it. And I would guess that you'll pay more to buy a calf that came from a grass fed organic standard farm. Remember if it was given to the mother then the calf was exposed so not just any cow will do. Plus processing fees.

My folks bought a cow every year at FFA auction. It was a big savings with 5 kids to feed back then. Cows would be cheaper too but not be the grass fed, antibiotic free kind you're wanting. You definitely need to way all the costs before jumping in.

[Alexdur85]

Originally Posted by louiseherbert

reading this thread about how fatty and grizzly meats can be sure makes glad to be a non-meat eater.

I used to be a vegitarian and it was great. I felt really good and clean.

Originally Posted by poshpoodle

I have to eat meat- I absolutely love meat

but then I got pregnant and now I can't go back to not eating meat. My baby just wanted a big 'ol meatball!

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I will just bite the bullet and buy it at 4.99 a lb at Whole foods. I've looked around at other places and that's the price it seems to be everwhere for grassfed. Oh well.. going organic is damn expensive.. I don't think I've used a coupon yet

[SLance68]

Check with some local slaughter houses I bet they would know who has organic beef that would sell you half or a whole cow (cut up not live) and you might be able to save some money on beef that way.

[nattsgirl]

I agree how convient it will be (if you planned to milk them before and such).. but its so much work... In order to keep them in shape and the meat good, you have to walk them daily, which requires a lot of patients and work because you have to work with them to walk instead of just go off where they want.

Then adding in the daily feeding and cleaning.... It's just a lot of work, I know because I've had cows in shows for 4-h when I was in HS...

Hope this helps!

[Maggiew]

This is such a cool thread! It was really interesting to read.

My first thought was, wow-how neat to raise cows.

But it sure does sound like a TON of hard work.