All things considered, if you pay full retail for all of these things, you will still come out a little ahead of what you would pay for grocery store beef. If you want to save money, there are ways to do it. First off, if you have a dairy cow already, then you won t need to buy a calf every year. You will also have milk to feed it. Since you most likely will have extra milk, then you can feed the calf heavily and promote even faster growth.
Fast growth means tenderness and good flavor in the beef.
Buy your hay at the height of haying season in your area. This usually goes from early summer through early fall. Store a years supply at the summer s low prices. You can cut your hay bill in half by doing this. Sometimes you can do even better.