Buying 1/2 beef

Any suggestions for buying beef in bulk in IL, Southern WI or northern IN. Grain fed or grass fed are both fine.

THANKS

Try Arnold's Farm. I've ordered meat from him plenty of times and have always been happy with it.

http://www.arnoldsfarm.com/

First of all, have you bought a side of beef before? It's a lot of beef and an especially lot of ground beef. When I did it, it nearly filled up a whole freezer.

Second, I've been meaning to put together a listing on thelocalbeet.com of area farms selling whole and partial animals for ages. Maybe this will help motivate me.

We do have our CSA listing that includes several meat CSA's. That's at least a place to start. Just put "meat" into the search box for best results. Most of the meat CSA farms will also sell sides. It's still the 2014 list, 2015 will be up soon, but most of those vendors are still around.

LaPryor beef is amazing. Slagel not so bad either!

I vaguely recall posting this answer to a similar question some years ago. You can buy a side of beef from the Meat Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois. http://meatandeggsales.illinois.edu. I expect it would be advisable to call ahead to arrange pickup of an entire side of beef. You can also buy ground beef, other cuts of beef, lamb, pork, eggs, etc. in bulk (see price list on the website).

I've had good experiences working with Fehr Farms.

http://fehrfarms.com/

Katie wrote:I vaguely recall posting this answer to a similar question some years ago. You can buy a side of beef from the Meat Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois. http://meatandeggsales.illinois.edu. I expect it would be advisable to call ahead to arrange pickup of an entire side of beef. You can also buy ground beef, other cuts of beef, lamb, pork, eggs, etc. in bulk (see price list on the website).

katie - or anyone else - have you ever gotten meat or eggs from them?

ive had my eye on this shop at the U of I for a while - their weekday only hours have made it a no-go so far - same goes for -

Buckys Butchery - the Univ. of Wisconsin version:

http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/uw%20meat%20lab/index.html

Try Sorg farm in Darien Wisc.they supply most of the restaurants in the Geneva lakes area. They also have a retail counter.

Try the Q7 Ranch in Marengo.

We purchase whole animals from a local farmer who raises Angus in Kenosha County located on
Highway A just west of the Interstate. You can sometimes view the animals from the road in one of the pastures.
They are then processed at Hansens' in Racine county.
http://www.harryhansenmeatservice.com
Size is 1200 to 1400#'s and price is market.
Processing costs are your additional expense. Hansen's will process however you want but don't expect grocery style packaging, it's all in labeled butcher paper.
A 17 FT3 freezer will handle a whole animal.
The farmer does sell halves.
If you are serious, PM me your number, time to call and I will call you with contact information.-Dick

I have taken a different approach over the years. One of my past employers had 50+ employees with children in 4H and therefore, spent $$$ buying various animals at the local county fair in NE Ohio.

We would attend the local county fair and talk among the students who raised the prize steers. We would approach them about raising a steer to our specifications (i.e., grain fed, breed, etc.). If they agreed to do it, we would negotiate a price. The students did a pretty good job and had the steer delivered to the processor we specified.

Hi,

My niece lives in New York City. She along with a number of other people has each purchased a $100 share in steer, which will yield her ten pounds of beef. She thought it was a deal. I am waiting for the report of what is received for her $100.

Regards,

Just yesterday, I updated the 2015 Local Beet CSA list to include two more meat options, one called Farmer Nick, the other Riemer Family Farm. I cannot speak to their quality, but they're worth checking. As I mentioned upthread, the Beet CSA guide is definately a place to look for meat buying options.

CSA List

reviving this to see if there's any new recs - seen some online stuff from crowdcow and wondering if any more local options exist.

dudefella wrote:reviving this to see if there's any new recs - seen some online stuff from crowdcow and wondering if any more local options exist.

Make sure that you understand what you are getting when you buy half a steer. You are going to get a lot of bone and a good deal of what would be referred to as "less tender cuts." Our grandmothers knew what to do with that but most modern consumers really do not (unless they live on a farm).

Back around 2009-2010, my wife's co-workers all got together and bought a steer. Over the next year, we received packages upon packages of bones and shanks from people who did not know what to do with them. We had some GREAT meals and soups. However, I always wondered if the people really saved any money in the long run.

Personally, if I were so inclined, I think that I would rather go down to a place like Restaurant Depot and buy the primal cuts and cut them the way that I want to have them cut. There are so many YouTube videos on how to cut carcass beef and primals.