Getting A Cow

I would definitely ask for the bones.  I'd just ask for everything, & sift through it to see what you can actually use.  I'd also ask for the tail, brain, & trachea, along with anything else that might be thrown away.

Shanks (ask for cross cut), rib leftovers, tongue, kidney, pancreas, heart, lung, liver, "Soup bones" no more than six inches or two pounds each cut, tail of course, and be sure to bargain for a share of the ground. One eighth should be yours, but if they balk, believe me, a tenth will provide plenty of ground for your family (or dogs if that's your intention). If the other sharers aren't getting any ground, then ask for tip, flank, round, and chuck ground. These are all the fattier less desireable parts (but correct fat to meat proportion for dogs - I make up for this for family meals by cutting in lean turkey). Have fun!

 Ohhh!  I'm so excited!  I'm splitting a side of beef with a friend of mine sometime in the new year.  So this is a great thread!

I have to get a new freezer though, before that.  Mine is old and too small I think.  How big of a freezer do you need for half a side of beef?  I'm getting all the extra parts, cause my friend doesn't want more than a soup bone or two...for actual soup...

By side do you mean literally just the flank, loin, rib, plate - or half the carcass? Half a beef will fill the bed of a small pickup, especially if you request all the bones. If you look at your whole leg - a steer SHANK bone is that big, without the meat. The meat is usually packed in vaccum bags or paper, while the bones come in larger plastic bags, from 2.5 to 5 kg (beef might be bigger, that's what I get with a big sheep). You may get boxes or you may have to pay for them - ask ahead of time. 20 kg of meat fits in a box about the size of a medium cooler. A small beef of 550 kg will yield about 300 kg of usable meat and rec bones. So you need thirty cooler sized boxes if you are getting literally half a beef. My BIL once did that and he's single with no pets. He ate off it almost exclusively for two years! Have them crosscut all but a few of the large bones - I've found the dogs can actually eat them safely that way.

 From what I hear, its vacuum packed.  My friend and I are splitting a side of beef...that said, the also list a half side of beef, front or back quarter.  They said I can have all the bones they normally would just throw away, if I want them for my dogs.  If I'm not mistaken, and I totally could be, but I think they said, the average is about 350 lbs, which means I'd get about 175 lbs of meat + extra bones.  Would that fit in a large upright freezer?  Or a large upright freezer and a smallish chest freezer?  I am sooooo clueless in converting that to area. 

40 pounds usually fits in an area the size of a medium cooler like you'd take on a family day trip somewhere. So between four and five times that size. I could fit that in my commercial upright freezer with some overflow into my two fridges (LOL, yeah). Bones take a lot of space so figure at least 2/3 again for the bones. Probably you'll want a medium chest freezer if you want somewhere to store other food for a while (hee!).

 Ooooohhh!  I'm giddy!

 You won't be able to get the tripe, as there are a lot of regulations regarding it. Beef hearts have always popular here and they are usually pretty good sized - several dogs can share one. They make good treats too, if you boil them, cut them up and cook them in the oven. You could possibley get the head and/or brain if you wanted. Or the meat from the head, which is usually not used.