Ask for the butcher's "cut sheet" - they'll list options. Some butchers cut differently than others, but most will adapt.

I've gotten half a pig and half a lamb from farmers, and was allowed to choose my cuts. (I had no choice with the quarter of a cow I once got, but had I gotten half of one - for which there would have been no freezer space - I would have had choices.)

A lot depends on how you like to eat beef, and how you like to vary up what you get.

My personal choices for beef would be:

Ribeye

Brisket - your source for corned beef, or as I do, a great option for crock potting all day long when workdays over extend.

Hangar steak. OH definitely get this one!

Flank steak

Flat Iron steak

Skirt steak - of which there are two types depending on inner or outer, I'd want both. Awesome for fajitas or quick stir fry dinners.

There are the round roasts: eye, top and bottom - these tend to be tougher, Eye is often the deli slices of roast beef (once you cook it). Low and slow for all three. Even the crock pot can be your friend should you choose not to have medium rare results.

Tenderloin / filet mignon - very tender, very pricy - but frankly not as flavorful as some of the other cuts.

Porterhouse is cut so that the tenderloin is on one side of the bone, and strip steak on the other. Gives the diner a large piece of steak with textures/flavors from a couple different styles of beef.

Other options are strip steak, chuck, sirloin (I LUV sirloin). Go for thick cuts! The chuck is a bit less tender than the other two, but still can make a good steak.

I also got what the butcher called kebab pieces - tender pieces that aren't part of a larger piece, probably bits left over from chopping the meat up. I loved those. Also stewing beef, which are pieces cut up in a similar way, that I found you really DO Have to stew, because otherwise they're tough and dry. ( found those best if I stewed them with lamb stewing meat...)

Don't skip the ribs!!! And also, if you have the chance to take any large bones, they're both great for bone broth, and (if he'll chop them in half) as bone marrow.

Anything you don't want, take as ground burger. Or if you wish, make your own grind mixtures - there's an attachment for grinding for your Kitchen Aid if you have one.

Wow, that's a lot of meat. I bought one hindquarter and the rib section once and it was a lot. I also stood by while they butchered it and had to tell them at several steps how thick, which steaks did I prefer, would I prefer roasts over steaks in an area and if steaks, which kind? It depends on your preferences as to how they carve each section up. Some cuts I didn't have a clue, such as skirt steak (this was way before the fajita craze). So you need to figure out what kinds of cuts you normally eat. Do you prefer roasts over steaks? Do you eat a lot of ground meat? That matters. Since you are getting the whole half a steer, there's the front sections, brisket, shoulder, chuck, etc. to think about. Do you normally eat a lot of that? If in doubt I say tell them what you really like normally and the rest grind it into hamburger. And yes, an expert like Annie probably has even better advice. So after the meat comes, when's the BBQ???

PS. London broil isn't a specific cut. Just FYI.

I believe Annie's town is called White Cloud. I hope she isn't getting flooded since the dam burst!

Annie is just inland from Lake Michigan north of Grand Rapids, so far from the flooding further east. She should have all of the answers and advice.

We just got 2.5 whole beef back from the Amish butchers. One was a huge old cow so we had everything except the brisket, Rib Roasts, and soup bones made into burger. The young steer we had cut up pretty standard...strips, ribeye, fillet mignon (tenderloin), brisket, sirloin, round steak, soup bones, burger, and a few roasts.

We split the old cow between 4 families and the steer and a half between 3 families.

You can also keep the unusual cuts like oxtail, tongue, neck bones, liver if you choose. You should also be able to tell them what sized packages you want for the steaks (1,2,3 per package), and how much burger per package (1, 1.5, 2 lb. per package).

Even the Amish butcher has a nice website that lists your butchering options. If you know where the steer is being taken for processing perhaps they have a website that you can check out now and then take your time deciding.

Thank you. I did get their list from them just a minute ago. Asking to avoid newbie mistakes mostly.

be sure to get plenty of ground beef, but make sure you have good steaks and roasts/ribs and loin. You should pay the same per pound price [on top of the cow purchase price] for all cuts of meat, which makes those expensive cuts incredibly cheap. take advantage of it. If your locker wants to charge a different price per cut, find another locker. That is not the way it works ... The price here is at about $1.19 per pound.

As Jack says, I'm far from the flooding, that's across the state in Midland, although we've had some minor river bank overflows because we got 3 inches of rain in about 12 hours. So, I'm safe, and thanks for thinking about me. You know I'd be moving cows and horses, chickens and dogs and cats, even if I had to take the paddle boat and float them out, LOL.

Half a beef? Hurray, support your local farmer! A lot of the local farmers still have plenty of meat, getting it processed is the real issue because all the little guys got bought out by the big companies and now four of them control 85% of America's beef. Suddenly the little guy, who used to plug along processing deer and as many local animals as they could handle in the small facilities are swamped with calls and requests to get animals processed. And, of course, you can't just hire the neighbor to cut up a beef, they have to know how. Our local processors are booked out until the end of the year, although mine will make room for my beef in the fall, he and his father and uncle before him have processed meat for four generations of my family now and they made sure to tell me that I don't have to worry about a "place" in line.

Your processor will have an order sheet and what you get depends on what you like. I usually get Porterhouse because everyone likes those on the grill. If you do get Porterhouse you won't be able to get tenderloin, that's the tender inner "eye" of the Porterhouse. And, actually, sirloin is my favorite steak. It's not as tender as some others but it's more flavorful and I still have teeth. And those sirloin tip roasts also make awesome sandwiches when roasted and sliced thinly.

I never get the neck roasts because I'm not a big fan of pot roast or long cooked beef, and that's the only way to make that neck piece tender enough to eat. It can be stew meat or ground beef, which ever you prefer.

I always get the brisket, because I make corned beef (which is super easy and expensive in the stores), and if you do any smoking or grilling that's a nice piece to have on hand for that too. I like my steaks about an inch thick, but I like my meat really rare, so a quick sear on each side and I'm good to go. You can get any thickness you like.

I also get boneless "eye of round" roasts because I'm not really excited about round steak and the roasts can be done quickly on high heat and then sliced paper thin on the slicer for sandwiches. The rest of the round becomes "stew meat", good for kebobs as well as stew.

I like to get some cuts that most people don't get. For instance, you can get the liver and the tongue, as Jack says, but most people don't want it. I always get it because I use it for dog treats, plus an occasional liver and onions dinner. I also ask for the oxtail because it makes awesome stock, although I dislike the gelatinous texture when just eating it. And, I find that I'm using different cuts and recipes than I did even 10 years ago, so how I have the beef cut has evolved as my cooking changed from cooking for a family to cooking for myself, to cooking for two.

You have until September, so you have time to decide and then can ask the processor to cut whatever you like best or want to try. A ribeye steak can be with or without the bones, but I have the bone left in because I think it adds flavor plus I can use the bones for stock after the steak is eaten.

You can check a chart, like this one: https://daglobalchow.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/beef-cuts-chart_11.jpg That will show you which cuts come from which parts of the cow, and then you can choose which ones you want. Again, your processor will be happy to walk you through any questions you might have.

One of the decisions you will have to make is how many of those soup bones you want. Half a cow has a LOT of bones. I get the big leg bones for the dogs and have the shanks cut for soup. Neither Elery nor I care for shortribs, so we get those cut specifically to make stock. I get about 50 pounds of soup bones and then make stock in my big 18 quart Nesco roaster and can it. One roaster with about 5 pounds of bones, some onion/celery/carrot and about 24 hours of simmering makes 5 quarts of the best beef stock you'll ever have. You can add what you like of course, I use bay leaf and garlic, some people use red wine or a "glug" of vinegar. You have to pay the packaging on them, of course, but it's worth it to me.

And remember, if you get a cut that you don't really use or isn't exactly what you thought, toss it in the grinder or food processor and make chopped/ground beef, it's all good. We're running low on ground beef but have a stack of chuck and a few round. If we run out of ground beef, I just grind something up. Actually, I've been mixing beef and venison, 50/50, and with seasoning no one has even noticed, LOL, and it stretches the beef.

Congratulations, now is the time to try that "tri tip" that you never see in the store, or get those 2 inch ribeyes for the grill or the tenderloin or a standing rib roast for Christmas. Whatever you and your family likes and you will use the most of, that's what you should get.

Your processor will probably also offer things like beef bacon or jerky, maybe sausage. Those are more costly because of the time and extra ingredients, so they will be an additional charge if you get them. I don't get them because I like to try making my own, but if that's something you like I'm pretty sure it will be available too. Other than that, as Bragu says, there should be a single price for packaging, stew meat should cost the same to package as tenderloin. His is pretty pricey compared to mine. here the cost is about 55 cents per pound which includes the cutting and a vacuum packed shrink wrap. That is paid on hanging weight, not finished weight. Here there's an extra 10 cents a pound if you want the whole piece ground to burger because that's a lot more work. There's a slaughter fee, depending on who you buy the beef from. Sometimes the buyer pays it along with their packaging fees and sometimes the farmer pays it and it's part of his price.

Good luck, and enjoy your local beef! Wow, that was a long post, I hope it helps. If you have any specific questions, just ask, I'll help if I can but you already have some good advice here.

Annie

Following, because DBIL and I have been talking about splitting a cow or a half a cow and I’ve been wanting Annie’s take on it. Thanks for posting the question, cookebook!

Annie - as always you are very helpful and thorough. Your butcher charges the exact same price per pound hanging weight as the Amish butcher we took ours to. It sounds like yours packages the meat the same way too. No freezer paper at all. There is also a $40 slaughter fee and a small disposal fee. They sell the odd parts that most people don't want to keep from their store. Plenty of oxtail and tongue at 6 or 7 bucks a pound.

I can just picture you and your animals floating around in a row boat trying to find dry ground. Noah's got nothing on you! lol

Years ago we got 1/2 a beef and went to the butcher to discuss cuts and he handed me a chart like the one Annie linked. So I looked at it and told him I wanted this this and that from one of the sections and he said I had to pick one or the other because they both came from the same little hunk. Sigh. So why can't they make a chart that tells you that in order to get one thing you have to give up something else?! But still it was the BEST beef I'd ever had (Texas Longhorn) and I wish I could do it again. So Cookebook, congratulations and I know you will enjoy good eating to come!

One of my trustees raises cattle so we get our beef from him because he uses the best butcher around. We had a half of a young steer coming this fall and I just messaged him and said I'd take a whole. Partially because it's only going to get more expensive and mostly because we're spoiled and I don't think I could go back to storebought.

I call them after they butcher and they run down a pretty basic list and give me choices..."round steak, cube steak, or some of both?". We get an assortment of steaks (butcher says 1-1/4" is perfect), roasts, short ribs, prime rib, burger. Whatever oxtail and soup bones I can get them to throw in (they give me a couple of packages and they won't let me dig through the barrels of scraps and bones). I have them grind the stew meat into burger because I can always hack up a chuck roast or use pot roast dinner leftovers. I have to ask them for brisket and they act all surprised. They butcher our pork too, and it's the same reaction when I tell them I want the bellies..."No, not bacon, just the belly. Yes, really. Don't smoke it, I make my own. Yes, really." lol.

yeah i know, groan, just thought I’d share the annoying pun that’s been clouding my brain for a day now.

lol :-) Well you have way better prices than we do in Texas. Ours is $3.50 to $3.45 per pound hanging weight but that's still better than the grocery store.

Cookebook - I'd guess that price is the cost for the beef and the processing fee combined? We sold 1 and a half of the 4 head that we took to the butcher for $2.70/lb. hanging weight and the people that bought it had to pay the processing cost to the butcher themselves. Add in the $0.55 per pound processing charge, and the slaughter and disposal fees and it would be pretty close to your cost.

Yes sir I believe so. Was told there would not be any other charges.

Thanks Aziline! that is so helpful for a novice like me! I appreciate it.

You are most welcome! It can be a bit confusing. Some subprimals and cuts have multiple names.

Annie gave you great advice. I'd only add to stop and think about what your family enjoys and you will serve. There's no point in having cuts of beef you're not likely to cook. And most of us will use hamburger that is always the alternative. I liked to have some cube steaks, and the butcher we used disliked prepping those - would always grumble. I knew that because I wrapped my own as he cut. It didn't particularly save a lot of money, but I knew exactly what was going into each package that way. And I could insist on a few small packages of things for my mother - even though 1/2 pound packages ground beef look a little silly.

(I don't know that I'd get cubed steaks now. While we enjoy occasional pork cubed steaks, I don't pan fry a lot of beef these days)

Locally, it became hard to find a butcher who was skilled and reliable. And impossible to find one who would let you come and wrap on processing day.

Bit of an OT - while not a big city girl, certainly not a country raised girl. My mother didn't really even like to cook. Immediately after marrying, my new MIL called saying she was giving us half a beef. Never mind that we were in a tiny apartment and didn't have a freezer - had to buy one ;0) At the end of her call, she added, now you just phone the butcher on this date and set a time for you to wrap. I was expected to wrap a cow when I'd never bought more than a couple of packages meat at one time at the grocery store!

Terrified, I called a friend to go with me, help and teach me. I became rather good at it. Skilled enough I was called on to wrap for other family members who were busy with small children or working.

LOL, morz, we used to wrap our own pork in that white freezer paper too, we always slaughtered and packaged our own, but a 300 pound hog is a lot more doable than a 1,000+ cow. (grin)

cookebook, as Jack says, there is a charge for the beef and a charge for the packaging, a separate charge for the slaughter. If your price includes it all, it would be approximately the same as it is here.

Average price for beef here is $2.80 a pound, plus 55 cents a pound packaging, that's $3.35 a pound. There's normally a $40 slaughter fee, which you would pay half of since you're buying a half, so that's $20.00. So, if you don't want anything extra, like jerky, the final price would be $3.35 a pound hanging weight. The hanging weight is about 75% of your finished weight, depending on how much of the liver/oxtail/soup bones/etc you get. So, if your half is 500 pounds, your finished product would be about 375 pounds, the rest is bone/gristle/waste. If you take a bunch of bones, your finished product will be higher. And here, soup bones at the store, which are absolutely picked clean, are $4.99 a pound, which I think is just nuts.

KatieC, I'm surprised about the soup bones. Here the whole carcass is yours. If you want every single bone in the animal you can have it, but you have to pay the extra 55 cents a pound of bones to have it packaged. I also get all the suet, if I want. I usually don't want it because I just don't have freezer room for it.

I never even thought about cubed steak, we never use that so I had forgotten. My processor also hates it, they have to run each individual steak through that machine and I suppose it would be tedious and time consuming.

Annie