Not for those who don't like to think about eating animals

[Weka]

I've got half a cow on order. Not sure if its the right or the left half, or if its Mocha or Chino we will be eating.... My friends have been raising 2 cows for meat and D Day is rapidly approaching...

My problem now, is how should I get it butchered? Into what cuts?

[debih]

Yum yum. We are thinking of having half a cow later in the year.

You need to think about what sort of things you cook the most. I know for us, I would need to have lots of mince or diced as I rarely buy beef in any other form.

We have another lamb coming soon - possibly a hogget this time.

And Bob the boar arrived with the two sows yesterday so hopefully in another few months there will be some new weaners for fattening up. We are getting seriously short on pork in the freezer now.

I rarely buy meat any other way than in bulk now - apart from chicken!

[Weka]

I've got a mincer on my ancient kenwood chef, but it would be nice to have some pre minced.

I'm wondering about some snitchel, I never buy it from the supermarket as its usually so dry, but think a proper butchered one might be better, (or so I've heard).

Still trying to work out how much freezer space I need.


How big is your freezer deb?

[saundra]

i expect it will tast lovely weka better than supermarket meat
would imagine you would need a lot of freezer space

[debih]

How big is your freezer deb?

We have three.

I have one in the kitchen - a side by side American style fridge freezer. I tend to keep things like frozen peas, chips, ice cream, fish, etc in that one. Then I have a smaller, under counter one in the pantry and I tend to keep vegetables from the allotment and ready meals that I batch cook (so things like ragu, chicken pie mix, etc). Then we have a larger chest freezer in the shed. It isn't massive but big enough to keep four butchered pigs, two butchered lambs and a little extra space in it.

I would imagine that half a cow will need quite a bit of space Weka.

[Diflower]

There's always someone who's asked before
I just googled 'how much freezer space for half a cow' and this is just one:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/co ... 62514.html

But I liked the answer about the husband

[Weka]

Yikes, a 622l freezer. Mines only 150l. But mine is a little upright freezer, and I was already anticipating having to buy a chest freezer.

[meriad]

No idea about the freezer space but yum is all I'll say...

Debih, was your home reared pork as good as you expected or better?

[debih]

Debih, was your home reared pork as good as you expected or better?

It has been amazing.

We have now tried 4 different breeds. And the best of all of them was a mongrel pig!!! It had a mix of all sorts of things in it. We just bought some cheap weaners to bring on over winter one year. They were nasty, vicious things but tasted wonderful!

I'm not sure what type the latest lot are and if the boar is the same breed as the sows. I have kept out of it all.