Concern on 1/4 beef pack list

[Sberry86]

Hey all,

Hope I put this thread in a reasonable place as im new and there were a lot of options.

I have a question or rather concern related to buying a 1/4 cow and am hoping to get some feedback from others who are more experienced.

Back story I have now purchased a 1/4 grassfed beef for the second time. Both times were the same farmer but the butcher changed and im wondering if this is where the problem is or if my expectations are off.

I admittedly didnt overly educate myself on the butchering process and what to expect as far as cuts. The first time around it just seemed like a reasonable variety of cuts etc. and I just saw no reason to question.

Fast forward this time around they used a different butcher, similar sized cow,I didnt keep up with my packing sheet from the first time and im going to reach out to that butcher and see if they keep history to try and get a copy.

This time around the cuts and portions were totally different, and while I wouldnt go so far as to say they actually skimmed anything I feel like the hang to processed weight ratio is low, the percent of mine that was ground was super high compared to what ive seen online and what I received seems like a poor mix (no ribeye at all for instance) I would really appreciate it if those of you with more experience in buying bulk beef could take a look and see if im off on this and maybe I really lucked out last time or if there is something to my concerns?

Much appreciated in advance everyone!

 

[SmokyMose]

I've never bought like that but I've known some who split a cow between them.
What are they calling a 1/4?
Looks like someone else is getting the 1/4 with brisket and ribs and you're getting mostly ground beef....

 

[SmokinEdge]

You better have a visit with the butcher. There has to be a second cut sheet.
Original rail on this quarter is 163#
the weight listed on all cuts is roughly 88# you need to find the rest of your meat.

 

[Sberry86]

You better have a visit with the butcher. There has to be a second cut sheet.
Original rail on this quarter is 163#
the weight listed on all cuts is roughly 88# you need to find the rest of your meat.

Thanks for responding on this. To be fair and clarify 163 was hanging weight not processed final weight, (was a small steer) so in other words it was around 53% final product which is at the low end from what ive read, but not literally missing half of the meat :)

Im mainly concerned with the mix I received though I am a bit suspicious on being at the low end on the final product weight too...

 

[Sberry86]

I've never bought like that but I've known some who split a cow between them.
What are they calling a 1/4?
Looks like someone else is getting the 1/4 with brisket and ribs and you're getting mostly ground beef....

Yes I think at the location that was used the first time they made effort to split evenly and it does almost seem like at this location they give you literally what was in a certain section which im not happy about and do blame the farmer on a bit for not vetting when they swapped...

 

[Chasdev]

I'm not an expert or a butcher but where are all the t-bones?
I know porterhouse is the "good" end of the t-bone area but if there are only two porterhouse there should be 6/8/10 t-bones, no?
Looks like he turned a lot of it into burger meat....

 

[SmokyMose]

You better have a visit with the butcher. There has to be a second cut sheet.
Original rail on this quarter is 163#
the weight listed on all cuts is roughly 88# you need to find the rest of your meat.

Good catch. I didn't even pick up on that. Duh.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I'm not an expert or a butcher but where are all the t-bones?
I know porterhouse is the "good" end of the t-bone area but if there are only two porterhouse there should be 6/8/10 t-bones, no?
Looks like he turned a lot of it into burger meat....

This is 1/4 (one quarter) of a beef.

 

[Sberry86]

I'm not an expert or a butcher but where are all the t-bones?
I know porterhouse is the "good" end of the t-bone area but if there are only two porterhouse there should be 6/8/10 t-bones, no?
Looks like he turned a lot of it into burger meat....

There were 4 t bones and 4 porterhouses (2 packs of each and each had 2 in tbem), that actually seemed good when its only a 1/4 but my biggest concern was very little sirloin compared to my last 1/4 and NO ribeye at all which happens to be my favorite cut :( also last time I had more of a variety of roast and odd type cuts like flanks and such. I also had way more sizzlers last time as well. Yea this was definitely way higher ratio of ground this time...

 

[SmokinEdge]

Rib steak, short ribs, round steak, stew meat should all be on that list. They gave you .62 of a pound of tender loin. 0.62x4= 2.48 pounds tenderloin on a whole beef??? Not a chance.

You should yield about 65% of the rail weight. 163x0.65= about 106# meat. You got 88#.
Maybe this was a dairy cow? They yield lower.

The Delmonico steak is the rib steak.
and they do list round steak. They didn’t rob you blind, but you are off 10 + pounds of meat at least. I’d have them blow some smoke up your skirt at least. (Explanation)

 

[Sberry86]

Rib steak, short ribs, round steak, stew meat should all be on that list. They gave you .62 of a pound of tender loin. 0.62x4= 2.48 pounds tenderloin on a whole beef??? Not a chance.

You should yield about 65% of the rail weight. 163x0.65= about 106# meat. You got 88#.
Maybe this was a dairy cow? They yield lower.

The Delmonico steak is the rib steak.
and they do list round steak. They didn’t rob you blind, but you are off 10 + pounds of meat at least. I’d have them blow some smoke up your skirt at least. (Explanation)

You are spot on about these being dairy cows, this is our farmer we get milk from.

I agree, I dont think im exactly getting robbed but I think they didnt make much effort to distribute evenly and yea it seems maybe 10 pounds short. Ill know more if the other butcher keeps record and I can get a copy of last years since its a cow from the same farm they should be pretty similar

Thanks for weighing in on this, was pretty frustrated. After I gather all the info I can im definitely gonna call it out at least.

 

[olaf]

I had the same thing happen 178 lbs yielded 93 with lots of bone. When you order a 1/4 the entire cow would be split rather than getting a front or hind 1/4, someone is probably thrilled with what they got.

 

[Fueling Around]

The cut sheet appears to be the list my parents requested when they got 1/4 and 1/2 beef back in 60's.
You need to tell the butcher" that cuts they may consider trim (brisket, navel, skirt, flank , tri-tip, short rib, etc.) are to be set aside.
Negotiate with the person getting the other quarter out of the hanging half to see which cuts they want versus your wants.
Sirloin tip (sizzler steak) to me is one of the worst cuts of meat to consider as a "steak". It is actually a rump (not sirloin) cut.
Personally, I prefer bone in rib eye steaks.
Quality depends on the dairy breed and as you said this was a steer not a heifer. If they feed the steers well, they will fatten a bit (not as good a Hereford or Angus).
I just saw grass fed in the OP.
Dairy cattle are not solely grass fed. If they are turned to summer pasture, supplemental feed is often provided to keep up their health.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I wouldn’t even be here today if it wasn’t for the Holstein breed. They were cheap calves and we raised and ate a pile of them. Tasty, but very boney. Great flavor. We butchered a Jersey steer once when I was a little guy. Dad skinned and roasted the head in the oven. My mothers reaction is for another story, priceless. Just salt and pepper. Man that was delicious in a fresh tortilla.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

A small whole ribeye should yield at least 12 3/4" thick steaks, maybe more. That's 24 or so total for the cow that probably weigh around 8oz.-10oz. each. Like SmokinEdge said, Delmonicos are the same thing as ribeyes, but I would have expected more than 3.

Edit to ask, did you get 3 Delmonicos or 3 packs with 2 in each pack? 6 total would be about right for a small 1/4 cow.

 

[schlotz]

For the future, I would first want to discuss with the butcher what their standard cut sheet is for 1/2 cow. That should provide the detail regarding how they process. Then there is the discussion of how that gets translated into their 1/4 cow sheet offering.

 

[edmonds]

A problem with splitting a cow is that there are a lot of 2-of cuts: brisket, tri tip, flank, etc. A butcher told to quarter a cow, unless instructed otherwise, will automatically take all those 2-of cuts and grind into burger.

 

[Sberry86]

The cut sheet appears to be the list my parents requested when they got 1/4 and 1/2 beef back in 60's.
You need to tell the butcher" that cuts they may consider trim (brisket, navel, skirt, flank , tri-tip, short rib, etc.) are to be set aside.
Negotiate with the person getting the other quarter out of the hanging half to see which cuts they want versus your wants.
Sirloin tip (sizzler steak) to me is one of the worst cuts of meat to consider as a "steak". It is actually a rump (not sirloin) cut.
Personally, I prefer bone in rib eye steaks.
Quality depends on the dairy breed and as you said this was a steer not a heifer. If they feed the steers well, they will fatten a bit (not as good a Hereford or Angus).
I just saw grass fed in the OP.
Dairy cattle are not solely grass fed. If they are turned to summer pasture, supplemental feed is often provided to keep up their health.

Okay good information, thanks!

I am realizing it is on me a bit, the first time around I had an actual chat with the butcher, this time I trusted an online order form they had emailed...

Yes bone in ribeye is my fav and what I was bummed about the most.

 

[Sberry86]

A small whole ribeye should yield at least 12 3/4" thick steaks, maybe more. That's 24 or so total for the cow that probably weigh around 8oz.-10oz. each. Like SmokinEdge said, Delmonicos are the same thing as ribeyes, but I would have expected more than 3.

Edit to ask, did you get 3 Delmonicos or 3 packs with 2 in each pack? 6 total would be about right for a small 1/4 cow.

Yes there actually are 2 per pack, they are very small but it is 6 at least, I had heard of delmonico but didnt realize until this that it occupied the same space as ribeye.

Thanks!

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Yes there actually are 2 per pack, they are very small but it is 6 at least, I had heard of delmonico but didnt realize until this that it occupied the same space as ribeye.

Thanks!

Delmonico is/was a very famous restaurant in Lower Manhattan, New York city. Their namesake steak is the Delmonico, or ribeye - same thing, that they made popular during the early 1900's. When I cut meat for Winn Dixie back in the day, we left the tail on a ribeye and called it a Delmonico. If we trimmed it to about 1/2" long, we called it a ribeye. But at the end of the day, they're both the exact same piece of meat, just a different name...