If I bought a cow to have processed for meat, what price should I pay and how much meat to expect?!

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Will you be raising this animal? Currently, where I live (Maryland), Steers, High Choice, weighing 1300-1600 lbs are going for $104-$108/cwt, or about $1540 (average). That's just for the animal that is already finished and ready for slaughter. You are going to have to transport it to the butcher...you can either buy a truck and a trailer ($40,000-$50,000) or you can pay someone to haul it for you (probably about $0.10-$1.00 per mile). Our local butcher charges $60.00 for the slaughter + $0.53/lb hanging weight (which will be about 870 lbs) for cutting and wrapping. So, total butcher cost is about $520. So far, you spend $2060 on the purchase and slaughter of the animal (does not include transportation). But, if you spread that over the amount of meat you get (870 lbs or so), that is roughly $2.37/lb of ready-to-eat meat. Quite a bargain compared to buying all of the cuts at the grocery store!

I doubt you could BUY..a single cow..unless it was very old and even maybe worhtless..
You would have better luck Buying a Side of Beef in NYC..
..the cost..might be less than COSTCO..so figure..4.99 per pound in the store..you might come away with 2.20 per pound(guessing)..plus alot of bone.

..just a guess.