Mudgee Meat vs Our Cow vs ButcherCrowd: A Real Price Comparison
Ask The Farmers — straight answers from Michael & Carolyn Emeny, 4th-generation Mudgee farmers and owner/operators of Mudgee Meat
Prices checked as at 6 October 2026.
We're Michael and Carolyn Emeny — 4th-generation farmers from Mudgee in the NSW Central Tablelands, and the founders of Mudgee Meat. We get asked how we stack up against Our Cow and ButcherCrowd. It comes up often enough that we decided to stop guessing and do the maths properly.
We took four cuts almost every household buys: beef mince, scotch fillet, lamb loin chops and chicken breast. We priced 1kg of each straight off all three websites on the same day, 6 October 2026. Here's what the same basket cost:
- $139.80 at Mudgee Meat
- $186.81 at Our Cow
- $187.11 at ButcherCrowd
That's the exact same shopping list costing about a third more at either of the other two. Here's the full breakdown, cut by cut, answered the way we'd tell a mate over the farm gate.
The same basket, three totals
We didn't cherry-pick a cut we knew we'd win on. We picked four ordinary cuts, the kind that show up in almost every meal plan. Then we priced exactly 1kg of each, direct from each retailer's own product pages.
| Cut (per kg) | Mudgee Meat | Our Cow | ButcherCrowd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef mince | $24.95 | $33.98 | $25.98 |
| Scotch fillet | $55.95 | $77.98 | $73.30 |
| Lamb loin chops | $34.95 | $47.87 | $53.30 |
| Chicken breast | $23.95 | $26.98 | $34.53 |
Prices as at 6 October 2026. Where a retailer sells by the pack, we've converted the pack price to a per-kg price using their stated pack weight.
Add all four together:
| Retailer | Basket total | Difference vs Mudgee Meat |
|---|---|---|
| Mudgee Meat | $139.80 | — |
| Our Cow | $186.81 | +$47.01 (+34%) |
| ButcherCrowd | $187.11 | +$47.31 (+34%) |
We came in cheapest on all four cuts. Interestingly, Our Cow and ButcherCrowd landed within 30 cents of each other on the total basket.
Where the gap is widest, and where it isn't
To be fair about it, the gap isn't the same everywhere.
Mince is close with ButcherCrowd. We're $1.03/kg cheaper on beef mince, about 4%. Against Our Cow, the mince gap is $9.03/kg.
Scotch fillet is the biggest dollar gap. Ours is $22.03/kg less than Our Cow and $17.35/kg less than ButcherCrowd. If your household loves a steak night, that adds up fast.
Lamb loin chops and chicken breast are where ButcherCrowd's pricing pulls furthest away. Our loin chops are $18.35/kg cheaper and our chicken breast $10.58/kg cheaper.
Part of that comes down to how we're set up. We run our own in-house processing here in Mudgee and work directly with a trusted network of local farmers. That takes out layers of margin. These are our ordinary everyday prices, not a special or a one-off. If you want to see that journey step by step, we've written it up in Paddock to Plate: What It Actually Means on Our Farms.
It's not just about the dollar figure
Price is the easiest thing to check, so it's the easiest place to start. But there's more separating us than the basket total.
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Fresh and chilled, never frozen. Every order that leaves our facility in Mudgee goes out fresh and chilled, never frozen, every single time. The only exception is our Paws n' Claws pet food, which is flash frozen when it's packed.
- Our Cow's own delivery page says "All Our Cow products are dispatched frozen."
- ButcherCrowd's own product pages say their meat is "vacuum sealed and rapidly frozen".
- RSPCA Approved chicken breast. That's an independently audited certification, not a label we've chosen to use ourselves.
- We deliver to 95% of the Australian population, everywhere except the NT. That's a specific, checkable number, not just "most of Australia". Here's how our delivery works.
- The lowest spend for free delivery on a box you build yourself. On Meat on Repeat, every order ships free and the minimum box is $160. ButcherCrowd's smallest box is $169, and Our Cow's free delivery on a build-your-own box starts at $199.
Bulk packs and variety packs: where we're genuinely different
This is the part of the comparison people tend to miss. We checked all three sites on 6 October 2026:
- Our Cow offers 5 curated boxes, from $136.99 to $267.99 (roughly 3.4kg to 6.9kg).
- ButcherCrowd offers 2 box sizes, Small ($169, up to 6kg) and Large ($279, up to 11kg). You fill them yourself from their list of cuts.
- Neither offers a whole, half or quarter animal pack.
Here's what we offer.
Bulk packs: buy by the animal. Eight packs, each from a single animal, butchered in-house and delivered fresh and chilled:
| Bulk pack | Price |
|---|---|
| Grass Fed Half Lamb | $249 |
| Grass-Fed Full Lamb | $469 |
| Grass-Fed Full Hogget | $479 |
| Paddock Raised Pork – Quarter Pack | $229 |
| Paddock Raised Pork Side | $429 |
| Paddock Raised Pork – Full Pork Pack | $829 |
| Yearling Beef – Quarter Side | $479 |
| Yearling Beef – Half Side PLUS Whole Eye Fillet | $895 |
Buying by the animal is the old-fashioned way to fill a freezer, and it's usually the best value per kilo. You get every cut, the prime steaks and the slow-cook cuts, at one price. We've broken down exactly what's in a beef side in Beef Cuts Explained, and what's in a lamb in Lamb Cuts Explained.
Variety packs: something for every household. Fourteen variety packs as at 6 October 2026, from $139 to $1,399. They range from easy weeknight and BBQ packs, through Carnivore packs and The Two Pack for couples, up to Family FOUR, Family FIVE and the Freezer Filler. The Freezer Filler alone brings together a full lamb, a full pork side, a beef quarter side and a chicken pack. For the per-kilo maths on every pack, see Do Bulk Meat Packs Actually Save Money?
| Variety pack | Price |
|---|---|
| Basic BBQ Variety Pack | $139 |
| Weeknight Wonder | $139 |
| Party Platter | $139 |
| Premium BBQ Variety Pack | $159 |
| Bass Strait Beef Premium Pack | $179 |
| Carnivore-ONE | $259 |
| Spring Sizzler BBQ Pack (seasonal) | $269 |
| Essentials Value Pack | $274 |
| Carnivore-TWO | $304 |
| The Two Pack | from $324 |
| The Muster | $334 |
| Family FOUR Variety Pack | $459 |
| Family FIVE Variety Pack | $569 |
| Freezer Filler | $1,399 |
And at Christmas: we run a dedicated Christmas range, with four Christmas packs, each paired with a ham:
Alongside them there are Christmas hams on their own, plus local Christmas pudding and brandy custard from the Pudding Lady.
That's the real difference. A curated box is a great way to try something. A bulk pack or variety pack is how you stop thinking about meat for the next month. And if you're wondering where a bulk order goes once it arrives, here's how long it keeps in the freezer.
We respect our competitors. The supermarkets are a different story.
Here's something we want to be clear on. We have a lot of respect for Our Cow and ButcherCrowd. They're good businesses run by people who care about where meat comes from. Every one of us is helping more Australians discover that you can buy quality meat online, straight from the source. Online butchery is a space we're all growing together, and that's good for farmers and good for families. We'd rather see the whole category win than knock anyone down.
The real comparison for most households isn't us versus another online butcher. It's us versus the supermarket. That's where we think shoppers are getting the rawest deal:
- You often don't know where it came from. A supermarket tray rarely tells you which farm, which region or even which state your meat was raised in. With us, you know who you're buying from, because it's us.
- It may well have been frozen somewhere along the way. Meat can be frozen, thawed and re-packed on its journey through big supply chains. The label on the shelf won't always tell you. Every order from us is fresh and chilled, never frozen (pet food aside). It's butchered in Mudgee and goes to your door fresh and chilled.
- There are a lot of hands between the farm and the shelf. Saleyards, processors, wholesalers, distribution centres, then the store. Every one of them takes a margin, and every step adds time. Ours goes from local farms, to our own butchery in Mudgee, to your door.
- Bulk packs delivered home are the better value and the easier option. One order of a bulk pack stocks your fridge and freezer for weeks. No trolley, no queue, no midweek dash because you've run out of mince. You're paying farm-direct prices for meat that's been handled far less.
So by all means compare us with Our Cow and ButcherCrowd — we've just done it ourselves. But if you're still buying your meat from the supermarket, that's the comparison worth making first.
What this comparison is, and isn't
This is a like-for-like comparison of published prices on four specific cuts, checked on the same day: 6 October 2026. It isn't a claim that every item across every range is cheaper everywhere. Prices move, ours and theirs. Treat this as a current snapshot rather than a permanent scoreboard. We'll keep checking it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this actually a fair comparison? Yes. We used the same weight (1kg) of the same cut, priced directly from each business's own website on the same day. Where a retailer sells in smaller packs, we converted their pack price to a per-kg price using their own stated pack weight.
When were these prices checked? 6 October 2026. Prices change, so the live prices on each retailer's own site are always the source of truth.
Is Mudgee Meat cheaper than ButcherCrowd on mince? Yes, but only just: $24.95/kg versus $25.98/kg on the day we checked. The bigger gaps are on scotch fillet, lamb loin chops and chicken breast.
Do Our Cow or ButcherCrowd sell half or quarter sides? Not as at 6 October 2026. Neither site lists whole, half or quarter animal packs. We offer eight, across lamb, hogget, pork and beef.
Who has the lowest spend for free delivery on a box you build yourself? Meat on Repeat, our subscription. Every order ships free from a $160 minimum box. ButcherCrowd's smallest box is $169, and Our Cow's free delivery on a build-your-own box starts at $199.
Does this include specials or sale prices? No. This reflects standard everyday pricing on all three sites, not a limited-time discount from any of us.
Is online meat delivery better than the supermarket? For most families, we think so. You know where your meat comes from. It passes through far fewer hands. And with us, every order arrives fresh and chilled, never frozen, with the one exception of our pet food. Buying in bulk packs also brings the price per kilo down and saves you the weekly supermarket run.
Michael & Carolyn Emeny are 4th-generation farmers from Mudgee, NSW, and the founders of Mudgee Meat. Their family has farmed the Central Tablelands for over a century. Since 2012 they've delivered grass-fed beef and lamb, paddock-raised pork and bulk packs — butchered in-house and sourced direct from trusted Australian farmers — to families across Australia. Got a question for the farm gate? Ask the Farmers.