I am interested in stockpiling meat. Does anyone buy 1/2 cow or a pig instead of buying meat at the store? Is it worth it? This also means I'd have to buy a freezer that can accommodate it, but I'd need that for stockpiling any meat, so that's a wash. Let me know your thoughts!

i think its a great idea; with all that meat, you won't have to worry about that expense for the rest of the year+

My parents always bought 1/2 a hog when i was growing up...i know we had pork for a little over a year

Lena, wife to Sam (SGT Hall), Momma to my fur baby, Rollie, & my 10 Angels

If I could afford the upfront costs of the freezer and the meat I would so do that. It's on my list!

I say, go for it. It will only be a matter of time before the prices go up in the store. I am already seeing a bit of an increase in meat. The only meat I purchase is chicken as we raise our cows and pigs. I take a half of each, although, my family is growing and getting older so we may up the pig to a full and stick with 1/2 the cow. I have 3 adults and 3 children in the house and this will more than likely feed us for a year with the occassional chicken or pizza for dinner. This is how I was raised and how I intend to raise my children.

The cost of feeding the animals has increased, due to the droughts this past year, but it is still better for us since we know what we put in our animals. Also, no fillers in my meat!

We buy it every year, and I love it! We just bought 1/2 a cow back in November 2012, overall price that I paid was about 3.50/lb got the all natural meat... I get about 50% of hamburger, 25% roasts and 25% in steak. I usually have enough meat to lat us a full year and I never have to worry about getting meat for any meals.

If you can afford it I would say do it! We try to buy a whole cow and pig every year.. It is a lot out of your pocket but you dont have to worry about any meats when grocery shopping. Only chicken but it seems to go on sell bunches through out the year..

How do you find a place to buy them?

I looked into it, but it just wasn't a good deal for us. We usually eat ground beef (not very many steaks and/or roasts), and I can usually find it on sale at a better price than I could get it in a 1/2 cow purchase.

As I researched it, here is something that I found out that may be helpful to you as you consider it: The price that you pay is based upon what is called "hang weight." This is not all usable - you can lose up to 1/3 of the hang weight in processing. I'm not sure what all they take off, but I know that some of it is excess fat (and I don't think that I want to know the rest ). So it's a better deal if you can get a lean animal.

So let's say you get a 1/2 cow that is 300 lbs. The farmer charges $2 per pound for the animal and the locker charges $.50 per pound to process the meat, both on hang weight. (That seemed to be the going price that I found around me.) So you will pay $750 for the entire 1/2 cow. If you lose 20% in processing then you are down to 240 lbs. of usable meat, which ends up costing $3.13 lb. Is that a good deal? Each person has to look at what they eat and what they normally pay for those cuts of meat to determine the answer. For us, I can usually find ground beef around $2.50 lb. on sale. So it didn't work for us, but it might work for you. HTH!

As I know it (and people with more knowledge please correct me) hang weight refers to the animal after skinning & draining but with bones and meat all together.

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We bought a 1/2 pig last year and were really pleased with the quality. I think we paid $1.89/lb. That included having some of the items smoked.

We bought a 1/4 cow one year for about $2.60/lb. This year we are splitting a 1/2 with my dad who plans on processing it himself. If that's the case, we'll pay $1/lb.

I think the beef was based on hang weight, but I think the pig was total weight of all the meat. I can't really remember though.

I totally think it's worth it to have a bunch of local meat in your stockpile. But it definitely depends on the prices in your area!