Hello again. Glad to read that you are not "starry eyed" over getting something that you think is one thing and is another.
The bones are those along the spinal column. This federal law has been in effect for quite a few years... if this farmer is not aware of it, he must not sell much beef. It is in effect even for beef slaughtered on farm for personal consumption.. Since BSE was first found in cattle in 2003 or 2004, the law was enacted not long after that... so it has been in effect for over 10-20 years... things like leg bones and such are still allowed to go home to the farm...
I see no reason to not get all the filet mignons, which is a part of what would otherwise be the T-bone... and the NY strip is the "other side " of the T-bone. Sirloin steaks are often pretty tender too... there are all sorts of different cuts that could be quite tender.... Look up a chart on beef cuts/ showing the whole animal and where the different cuts of meat come from. There is usually a reference to which are more tender, and which are more suited to different kinds of cooking... ie...grilled, roasted, moist cooking... It will give you an idea.
Do not get too hung up on the "organic" part of it. Locally raised animals are going to be a better deal and healthier than not knowing where your beef comes from. We follow basic organic principles... BUT... if an animal gets sick, we will treat it with whatever we need to, in order to prevent it from getting real sick, or be in pain or whatever. 99% of the farmers do not routinely give antibiotics to animals... it is not cost effective. We try to keep our animals healthy... they get supplemental mineral and salt... we sometimes use a feed through IGR which helps to stop the horrible fly populations... which cause pinkeye and are painful and very traumatic to cattle... we also try to breed from animals that seem to be resistant to flys and things like pinkeye. But if they get it, we treat immediately to help them to have fewer side effects and to get back to feeling better asap.
Organic farmers are usually very dilligent and try to take as good a care of their animals just like any conventional farmer. BUT, they are very limited to what they can use to treat an animal for sickness... and if they do treat them with some sort of antibiotic or "unapproved" for organics substance , then the animal has to be sold and cannot be used in their program... most get sold off the farm.
If your kids got sick and you had to use an antibiotic, would they then be "tainted" for life in your eyes?
We do not use alot of drugs, and we do not use them indiscriminately. Many of the animals that we have, have never seen a drug of any kind their entire life. We do vaccinate for certain things... it helps to build the cow's immune system so her colostrum is as strong as possible with the immunities that they pass on to their calves. But those immunities are not life long, and there are things that the calves need to get boosters for. As an animal ages, they tend to build immunities and therefore do not need constant boosters themselves. I also believe that the modern day people "health care system" goes way over board in the use of all these "vaccines" on little babies ... way too many, TOO SOON, and in too great a number at one time... but I am not against vaccines overall...
I eat 99% grass fed beef from my own animals... Mostly all jerseys or jersey crosses. I do use some grain as a "treat" to cattle... to call them into the catch pens and get them used to being worked around without panicking everytime they are around people... There are cattle that have a higher "flight response" and they do not make good beef... they are good for ground beef but not for things like steaks. Mine are not finished on a grain ration... just that they get a little so that every time I go up to the pens, they get rewarded for coming in when I call. We have had cattle get out, recently, a group of mostly all 2 day just weaned from their mommas, and moved to the barn lots, ... so not very happy with us... but had 2 "babysitter cows" in with them... and when they went down the road a 1/2 mile and were all over... calling them and getting the cows to come for a bucket... got the calves to all follow too... they all came back down the road, down the long drive and into the lot that we had them in to be weaned... So bucket training is very helpful... You do not have to feed a ton of feed to an animal to finish it but it helps for them to know what it is and to like a taste of it.
Something like good alfalfa hay also will work as a treat, so not just grain, but it does not rattle in the bucket to tempt them like a little grain.
This is NOT a lecture on organic vs conventional... just wanted you to understand that locally sourced meat is still usually much better and you get to know the farmer and what their practices are day to day. There are farmers I would not eat their meat, or drink milk from their cows... so it pays to know who and what about the places you source your food. And there were a few here, local to me, that espoused the "organic" card that I would not touch their animals... good husbandry practices and care are more important than the label.
Since the rest of this farmers' animals are bred or have a calf, maybe this cow did not breed back so that is why he is selling her... lots of reasons to cull out animals.
Grassfed and/or finished will give a stronger flavor to the meat. I prefer it... some people do not like it. There is usually a higher level of CLA's that occur in grassfed beef..... the fat will be more "yellow" and that is objectional to some people but then again... it is a sign of a different feed input. Guernsey's were known for their "golden guernsey milk" due to the higher beta-carotene in the milk which is in part, derived from grazing... among other benefits... they have a very yellow fat ... A grazing animal will marble slower than a straight grain fed animal... and different breeds marble more than others.
I think if you are wanting a good quality ground beef, with other cuts , that this cow should be good for that... Make sure that they do not make this "hamburger"... this is to be ground beef from ONLY your animal... hamburger by definition is allowed to have added fat mixed in to get it to the 70/30 or 80/20 defined levels.. MOST butchers do not add fat to a private animal... but just make sure.
If you eat stew, this animal would also make some good cuts of stew meat... and you can do things like shiskebabs with good stew meat too...
$6.00/lb is a fair and decent price for ground beef.
I am assuming that you are paying for the butchering... and you said you are going to be helping do the packaging... If the butcher were to do it all it would cost you in the neighborhood of $500 for what we call cut/wrap/ package costs... It runs around .75-1.00 /lb of hanging weight to be fully processed. So you would have about $3.00-5.00/ lb in the animal in the cost of meat you bring home. So yes, less than to just buy meat outright.
Tell us how it goes, always like to get feedback from people that do things like this... to know what you like/don't like... what was less than expected and what you were pleasantly surprised with.
