1/4 Cow
6/18/09
In June, 2009, my husband and I purchased a quarter of a cow from Bald Hill Farm in Corvallis. We didn’t ask for any special cuts, we simply took what they offered. It’s an experiment… can two people (who like to entertain) go through 177.5 lbs of frozen beef in a reasonable amount of time? Will the cost savings really be a savings in the end? Can we use the cuts we received in a way that we enjoy? There are some cuts with which we have no experience, and there’s a lot of ground beef, which is something we rarely buy. How inventive can we be? This page will tell the tale!
Initial thoughts:
- There’s a lot of ground beef here. A LOT of ground beef. I’m a little nervous.
- Are we going to be able to go through all this before it gets yucky-freezer tasting?
- There’s also a lot of cube steak here… what do you do with cube steak? I better start looking for recipes…
6/19/09
The beef we purchased was raised on pasture. In addition to the benefits for the animals during their lifetimes, I’m interested in the nutritional differences of grass-fed vs. grain-fed beef. Here are two links from the Eat Wild website:
Additionally, we know that the animals at Bald Hill are never given hormones or antibiotics and are never fed any animal by-products… a huge plus with all the concerns over food-borne illness.
10/11/09
You may have seen the recent article in the NY Times about the flaws in the beef inspection process in the U.S.
…confidential grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the hamburgers were made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.
I thought of my freezer full of meat from a single grass-fed cow and felt appreciative once more that we had the opportunity to purchase beef from a local farm. Want to check into it for yourself? If you’re in the Willamette Valley area, check out my resources page. If you’re reading this from anywhere else, try the Eat Wild website.
My family of 4 are on our 3 year of buying 1/2 cow annually. We get through it, but barely.
The health benefit I like the most is with the ground beef. Ground beef from a store may combine meat from dozens of cows. This increases the risk of that ground beef being a “problem”. I like worrying about just one cow and one beef source.
A tip: Ask for thicker steak cuts. This will get you through your meet faster.
I wish our butcher would cut my short-ribs cross-cut for Korean style kalbi.
Thanks, Loyan. I feel exactly the same way about having the ground beef from just ONE cow in the freezer!
Some places won’t let you ask for specific cuts if you get less than 1/2, but Bald Hill did say to ask them next time. We’re very happy with the Bald Hill beef, but are trying to decide if we will try out another farm this year. Where do you get yours?