Duane, I didn't read all the responses, but the bottom line is to ask some people how they liked the meat. Try the meat from the farm you picked a number of times, across all of their butchering times. Taste is going to vary across seasons, especially if they're hamburgering old milk stock.
If you find you really enjoy it, then go ahead and buy bulk.
By no means just go and buy a quarter or a half without doing your due diligence or you can very easily find that you just plain don't like the flavor of the meat. Meat from one farm can taste totally different from the farm next door.
Then once you find a farm you like, make sure that the same guy is caring for the beef. If hands change, the beef will change. It's very important to keep track of who is doing what.
That may sound like a pain, but honestly it's all the fun. Make good friends with the family, treat them well, and they'll learn what you like and make sure you get what you like.
If you don't have time to dig in and learn and make friends with the farm, it generally pans out to be a lousy experience sooner or later.
If you aren't real sensitive about the flavor and you like lots of seasoning on your beef, you don't need to sweat it so much.
Just remember that the good guys get the best stuff. Don't be afraid to take a pie or cookies or something every time you go to buy. That stuff goes a long, long way. Remember that this ain't walmart. This is the farmer's life's work. It's his art and his love. If you come from that angle with that kind of respect, you can't lose.
