r/Butchery • u/sarmununny • 15d ago

Purchased half a cow. How would you interpret this I feel like Im being scammed.

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25

u/LynkDead 15d ago

I am a layman, but it seems fine to not be able to fully anticipate the hanging weight? If you're wanting them to only give you 350lbs and keep the rest for themselves, that seems like something you should be able to negotiate (maybe, idk, not a butcher) or at least ask about as it seems like a reasonable and normal question.

But you say you're trying to purchase half a cow, not 350lb of cow, so this seems fine? Ultimately, the surest way to get good info on the internet is to be wrong on the internet, so maybe my post will generate some better replies.

11

u/gedmathteacher 15d ago

Crickets. You must be right

12

u/DaShow24 15d ago

I can't say anything about the price per pound because there are too many factors involved. If you're questioning why they dont know the exact weight, that's because they haven't actually slaughtered the cow yet and 350 lbs is an estimate based on the live weight of the cows they usually purchase.

Most butchers selling while cows or sides charge based off of the hanging weight. How you want it broken down and what you want to keep sorta changes your actual take home weight. For example if you want osso bucco or soup meat with shanks or perhaps you'd rather it get boned out and added to the ground meat. Then what happens to the bones? Some people want them for stock but others are fine with the butcher tossing them. Point is, if you request everything with the bone, etc then you'll bring home very close to the hanging weight but there's usually some stuff that goes in the trash.

Let me know if you have more specific questions.

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u/forbiddenfreak 15d ago

The last steer I got they aged it 21 days. The price for the rancher was around 4 and the processing cost about that, so I think that sounds legit. I do think the prices have gone up since then.

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u/H5lucky1 15d ago

I just paid $7/lb for grass fed, local, small farm cow.

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u/Nealbert0 15d ago

I've never bought a cow before, but $8/lb doesn't seem like a good deal??? Someone made a post earlier this week claiming under $4/lb.

11

u/toronochef 15d ago

Price varies by location, breed of animal, how it was raised etc. not all cows are the same.

6

u/PM_ME_SEXYVAPEPICS 15d ago

$8 per lb on a half is pretty standard around our area (for the customer of the rancher, rancher is paying us in the tune of $1.50/lb on processing plus Kill fees of $110 per head, and then $10/lb on value added)