In reply to:

So it that 1/8 of a cow, then?


Glad you could make it on short notice, FractionMan!

Actually, I said an 1/8 cow once and was corrected... I'm splitting a quarter with their son. Apparently you can't butcher an animal into "eighths"... front-left and front-right are the same cuts, rear-left and rear-right are the same cuts (but different than the fronts) and we trade off... no one here eats T-bones, so we trade those for their rounds, which we have made into jerky... I think last time we got:
-22 lbs of lean ground
-7 lbs stewing
-3 packages (about 7 large) Ribeyes
-Rump roast
-Sirloin tip roast
-2 packages (2 total?) sirloin steaks
and about a day's worth of jerky (2 or so lbs)

Dressed I think we pay about $2/lb across the board. Hell, I'd pay $5 just to get grain-fed, tender, no-chemicals prairie beef.

Does take a while to get used to the texture of the ground, it's not dyed and reground and encapsulated with fat, so it's got a different texture than the stuff off the shelf and actually tastes and smells like beef.

It's also a bit humourous when I make the mistake of asking which animal was sent to the abattoir...
"You got #37..."
'The Holstein that I nearly backed over with the trailer putting her in with the bull?'
*sickening look on everyone's face when they realize I've met our dinner*

Bren R.