Mooooo

[Cumberland]

We are splitting a quarter of a cow with two other families here. Delivery is tomorrow -our share is 70lbs. I have no idea how much freezer space that takes up, but I am going to empty out the spare one. Fortunately this delivery is taking place before the Cosco stockup. I wonder how long it will take to use that much? We are in line for a pig in a few months.....

Cool! Jenn did this a while back, I think with a cow and a pig?

I did the exact same as you're doing Sue Anne. 1/3rd of a cow, and then 1/2 a pig. The 1/3 of a cow filled our entire chest freezer (not the tiny version).

I wouldn't do it again. Too many cuts I just don't know what to do with. And ... I discovered that I just don't like roast. Not really a great thing to figure out when you've got 1/3rd of a cow in your freezer. I did like the never-ending ground beef, though.

[Phoebe]

I've heard the same thing from others that have done the cow. You can't pick what cuts of meat you get. They didn't prefer the roasts.

[Momo]

Get a meat grinder! We often grind up the cuts of lamb we don't normally utilize!

[McPants]

Heh, where I come from, people used to do this with moose every autumn after the hunt'n season.

[Cumberland]

We arent particularly big beef eaters in the first place so I am wondering what to do with all of it. We had a 40 lbs or so of vension a year or two ago, and we ate every last bit of it. I think though I would be more partial to a pig or lamb. But I will let you know 70lbs from now. I think the meat grinder is a great idea, are they expensive?

[poky]

The metal hand-cranked ones are $20-$40, and that's about what I'm seeing for the kitchen-aid food grinder attachment, too (if you already have a kitchen-aid, I'd probably start with this). The separate ones with motors seem to be about double that, and on up.

[oceanchild]

Definitely keep us posted about how this goes. It's something I'd like to try if we ever have a garage where we can fit a chest freezer. My husband loves roasts, so that probably wouldn't be a problem.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

We got a quarter cow (it came without bones for the most part which is what takes up space). The meat is delicious. We're tearing through the ground beef and steaks. I don't love the roasts but if I have to get the roasts to get the ground beef and steaks, it might be worth it.

It only took up half the chest freezer though so it wasn't that bad.

[Momo]

Here's the one we have, actually ours is the generation before this one. It looks like they improved the buttons on this version. It works great and has been used a lot! It is loud, but it is so worth it! This model has a decent rating and it's been reviewed a ton!

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...70_36989_36989

[Michele]

I have the KitchenAid attachment and it works great on chicken.

I have the KitchenAid attachment and it works great on chicken.

I have this attachment and I grind roasts in it to make hamburger. Works great.

[MrsC]

My parents used to do this with lamb once a year (coincidentally a few weeks after two of our spring lambs were carried off by my Dad in a trailer ). It used to last us at least six months, a family of six.

The result - I can't stand the smell of lamb now, never mind the taste.

Then again, lamb is a strong tasting meat. I don't think beef or pig would have the same effect.

Having those two lambs slaughtered every year was very difficult for my parents, because they were our own. They used to make us stay upstairs when they filled the freezer. It saved them so much money they had to do it. I guess this has a lot to do with why I can't eat it