Hi JHuff8181,
Here's a pretty good link that will give you an idea of what a carcass will yield.
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1323/ANR-1323_7.pdf
I would pose the question to you.... Are you desiring a grass fed, farm grown animal, or are you open to consuming meat that was raised commercially? If you are not against purchasing commercial beef, watch the local grocers meat sales. Meat is often used as a loss leader (sold at or below cost) in order to get people into the store. You could also look into the possibilities of buying wholesale.
Most wholesale grocers will sell cash and carry. If not, you might have to supply a tax number in order to set up an account with them. Warehouse stores will often sell primals by the piece. If you purchase primal cuts by the case you will in most instances be pleased with the difference in price as opposed to retail grocery store prices.
Primal info:
http://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/chef/cuts.php
The benefits to purchasing meat this way is that you can target the specific cuts that you eat most often and are familiar with preparing. You will also not have 300 or so pounds of meat in the freezer at once, (lots of hamburger and roasts) in less than ideal, long term storage packaging.
Should you decide to go this route, you might wish to co-op with a few neighbors with whom you could split a case. Most meat today is boneless, so all that you would need to cut it up would be a cutting board and a good sharp knife.
The Tillia home vacuum sealers leave something to be desired in my book. It's tough to get the bags to seal and not leak air, which defeats the purpose of vac sealing in the first place. Secondly the bags are prohibitively expensive. The cost of the bag alone can drive up the cost of the meat by as much as .50 per lb.... Not much of a savings there.
Hope this helps
