It depends entirely on where you live. In rural Ohio, my parents have been buying farm raised cattle from family friends and having it processed locally for something like 4 decades. It's mundane, commonplace. But, where your absolutely correct, is that it's also _significantly_ cheaper than what I pay for it in California. The worst of it is that I have to source from north of the bay area and I live in Orange county. The farm I do business with (I did visit them once, many years ago when I first came to CA) has a processor on site and handles delivery, but my last order for a quarter came out to something like $9.80/lb. My parents are still paying under $3/lb. back home. I'd love to order a half but I can't afford it and so my wife and I just don't eat a lot of beef as a result.