It's super cost-effective and the meat is usually so much better. Vacuum sealing products are pretty handy for protecting the meat from freezer burn. The butcher paper is supposed to prevent that, but the truth is that moisture can still get inside and wreak havoc if you're opening and closing the freezer too often. Then it's just a waste of money.

I've never tried that myself, but my groomer who lives in the rural area does. She has a small farm and breeds her own livestock i.e. goats and cows, she'll bring it to the butcher to have the messy work done, when the animal is mature enough.

I definitely recommend it if you can find cows at a reasonable price, and have a chest freezer. I simply can't justify spending the money that most stores ask for meat these days! Plus, I have bison and goat farms in my are as well, both of which are ridiculously expensive if even available at the mainstream grocers.

I also agree with Stormy - vacuum sealers are fairly inexpensive and well worth the money if you're getting a whole side of beef.

I've done it before with a pig, not a cow. They had a butcher to properly butcher it, and if you have a deep freezer you can keep it for a little while. It is true, you must package it properly for it to store well, but that was some of the best meat I've ever had! Fresh and soooo good! And it is cost effective, as long as you package it well for freezing so it doesn't go bad.

My dad took one of his pigs to the butcher and had them kill, clean, and slice it up for us. It lasted a really long time and since there was so much meat that came back we had to give some away. It saved a ton of money too because we're some meat eatting jokers in this family, lol.

I agree w/eveyone else. We did that one year and the meat was great and lasted a good while. You can ask for specific cuts which i really liked. I totally recommend it!

I don't eat me, so I haven't. But it does seem like a cost-effective & environmently friendly way to buy & eat meat.

We buy like this, although not from a farmer. It's a great way to save money, the beef is good, and you get a lot of meat - make sure you've got a big freezer.

If it's a grass-fed animal, definitely worth it. If it's a grain-fed animal I wouldn't bother.

My uncle is a farmer and this is usually how I get my beef. He is able to cut it in ways that I like (so ground vs chuck or steak, etc). It's really simple. In addition to that I CANNOT explain how much money I save by doing it. Yes, it does take up a lot of space in the freezer for that long a time, but it still tastes the same. Just don't keep it for too excessive a time, even then food gets bad no matter what. I would suggest starting with 1/2 a cow at first until you know what you are going to do with it. After that you can increase. A full cow is A LOT of meat.

Another thing I love about getting meat from a farmer is that you are supporting her/him in his industry. That's really important for both your state's economy and for his family. Farmers are abused. Especially with the frozen section in the freezer section of the grocery store. I know people hate hearing about farm animal abuse and how some farms keep their animals, but its more common that it is not. It's due to supply and demand; efficiency is gains more money than morals.

By getting meat through a farmer you're more guaranteed better food for your body and better community support. Definitely go for it!! (Last comment: you probably could get beef and pork from your local farmer too. I also am lucky enough to get bison/buffalo (which is SUPER healthy.)

I live in the country and was raised on a farm.. I have to say that pure beef tastes SOOOO much better than store bought.. and you can honestly taste a huge difference in food that is fresh and food from a store.. Chicken eggs, veges, beef, chicken, pork, turkey.. It all has so much more flavor when its "fresh off the farm". Plus Its quite a bit cheaper to buy a whole or a side of beef from a farm than to buy it from a store.. Therefore, I say its a GREAT investment.

we bought half a hog once, it lasted forever and a day.
seriously! we had to give some away when we got sick of it.

Twice a year we get a 1/4 cow from one of our farmer friends. It varies every time on the number of pounds we get and how lean/fatty the cow is. I can't recommend it enough! The meat is SO much different tasting than the junk in the grocery store and you can have it butchered to your liking. We always have tons of meat around home, everything from ribeyes to roasts to ground meat. It's amazing how much different it tastes.

We stick with 1/4 cow because it takes up almost our whole deep freezer. It's A LOT of meat and if we ever lost power for an extended period of time, that would suck. Our freezer did die once and we didn't notice it for a couple days. Luckily, it was right when our 1/4 was almost gone so not too much damage. But still. I'd recommend starting with 1/4 or 1/2 cow before diving into a whole one. A whole cow is a TON of meat.

We don't vacuum seal our meats. They're freezer wrapped really well and we eat it fast enough that it's not necessary.

No, but if I did want to do that I'd pick one in the backyard. I live on a cattle farm.