It helps to ask lots of questions. Think about how you would like animals raised, any foods or medications you would not want them to have, and ask about those things. Some farms will be open to you inspecting the farm and might have regular farm open days, or farm pickup. Good things to see are portable electric fencing, weeds, cows looking healthy and happily grazing.
Abattoirs can sometimes be dodgy and and can misplace one farm’s meat and replace it with someone else’s, and other stuff that we don’t want, so the combination of a good farm with a good abattoir (preferably on-farm slaughter) can be important.
An important thing to consider is whether you are getting the front 1/4, the back 1/4, or a split half. Personally, I like a split half, because you get a bit of every cut.
Have a think about what kinds of cuts of beef you like to eat, or what you would eat if price was no issue. We eat a lot of ground beef, and just the usual offcut ground beef alone isn’t enough, so I usually will get the chuck as ground beef too and that is enough.
There's diagrams around online about the different parts of beef, and which cuts are an option for each part, so it's good to be familiar with this, as well as being familiar with your cooking habits.
If you want bones for broth, fat for rendering, and offal, make sure to request those before slaughter as they are sometimes thrown away as "waste" if people don't ask for them specifically.
