Eating grocery store steaks or burger will be a dreaded thought from here on out! The price of beef has definitely increased since I first wrote this post. This is due to moisture loss during the 3 weeks of dry aging, the cutting process and the removal of bones. But hey, if you download the KCL app, you’ll be the first to know about any meat deals our teams see! So, when purchasing meat, all these costs need to be taken into account. Local certified processor. Our hanging weight was 211 lbs and we ended up with 150.5 lbs of meat. … Feel free to text me with any questions. i did miss a few things like short ribs from the rib section . They are extremely good for you. You may have gotten less pounds, but you got less yucky stuff like dyes to make your meat look fresh shelf life deterioration and bacteria. With grass fed you will probably have to add a little oil to the pan as it will not produce much if any fat for cooking…. Where our cost differences come in the play is the price of beef at the time of purchase. I’m paying for it to be cryovacced which will add $0.18 per lb. Cut weight will always be less than the hanging weight because that weight includes excess fat and bones that will be removed. $4.95 sounds like a lot per hanging weight pound when only a year ago you paid $2 per pound. The next weight is “hanging” weight. Producers selling freezer beef need to remember to charge above current sale barn prices to cover marketing efforts such as phone calls, money collection, etc. pkgs) 127. or blade stks an mock tender stks an chuck eye stks if you break the chuck down but a lot of cutters are eather lazy or dont know how to do that im thinking dont know how. another year $3.10/lb. Honestly, I can’t complain though. Before that all we ate was hamburger because that was all I could afford at $6 per pound for grass fed beef. This determines your new cost per pound at "carcass weight.") The actual meat you will receive is typically 60% +/- of the hanging weight.). NY (we have the beef cut different so no T-bones and more NY’s) 27 Stew (1 lb. i have dressed off many organic beef an i can say its got tons of marble an i,m suprised on the fat an suet.that guy paying $4.95 lb bud they seen you coming . As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Our total cost is about $550. We live in Northern Michigan. They are labelled as “dog bones” on our invoice, but I use them to keep us supplied with beef stock all year long. So you get your ground beef price on your steaks etc.plus you know what your eating. HANGING WEIGHT: 750 pounds a. hanging weight = live weight X 60%. we are beef farmers here. Our butcher cutting and wrapping fees have been consistant for the past three years at .72 lb. Which makes for a really great deal. Beef prices do fluctuate depending on where you live, but it’s no doubt beef has gotten more expensive, along with almost everything else! We charge $4.99 per pound of hanging weight. (You can split it with friends or family to share the expense.) I was told the total hanging weight is 450 lbs, so it’s on the smaller side. Your beef can either be delivered to a central point( please see delivery page … Buying from the farmer is a good deal because even when you average it out you pay a flat rate for those expensive cuts of steaks and roasts etc. Chuck 15 So we usually never order less than a half beef. I bet the price will be much higher in another six months. hehehe i said spare ribs in the rant i just had in the outher post oh well sorry . I just bought a nice 1,000 pound Hereford. I’ve found grass-fed beef for about $8.95/quarter hanging weight. In the rural areas where there are more butchers and farmers, the processing fee averages between $0.46-$0.65 per hanging pound weight. It’s soooo good! These majestic animals are pasture raised and finished. Hanging weight (also known as “on the rail”) refers to the weight of the beef as it hangs in the butcher’s cooler once the head, hide, feet, organs and blood are removed.If you think of any movie with a butcher shop scene and there are sides of beef hanging from hooks on the ceiling, that is what “on the rail” means. They get their beef and find they ended up with 55% of the hanging weight. It’s the weight of the carcass after the hide, head and some organs have been removed. 🙂 Hope that lieel baby boy (and everyone else) is doing well. 330 lbs hanging weight … Hanging carcass weight – The processor will provide a weight for you. So the overall cut weight of your beef will be around 60-65% of the hanging hot dressed weight. X 60%=750lbs. Cut weight. Just a note as to how valuable the bones and fat are: I ordered once from an online company that charged $99 for a 5 gallong bucket of grass fed tallow, and $6-7 per pound for grass fed bones! I appreciate you laying all the facts out there about things like this and the raising goats and the real cost of things. But the weight of meat you receive will also vary depending on your cuts…do you order lots of ground beef or do you order more bone-in steaks or roasts? We only give these treats about once per week since I read it’s not good to give liver daily to dogs. A few years ago, we stopped selling our Sides and Quarter Shares (freezer beef) by hanging weight. Divide this amount by 58% to get your "hanging cost." ?? To pull all of this together, a calf raised to weaning will cost $156-$557 and will weigh an average of 350 pounds at four … But, it’s really, really nice to know all of this,of which I wasn’t aware of any of it. Highest price I know of is an Organic Grassfed operation that sells beef 1/4s to restaurants 3.99 lb hanging weight plus processing. I would have to agree with you though, in the end the price that you paid isn’t all that bad because of what you are getting. Very impressive Dan you defiantly know the meat and how to butcher without any waste Thank You Sir From Modesto Ca.. © 2021 New Life On A Homestead | Homesteading Blog. (See how we do it here.). We go in with a bunch of friends on a few whole cows, and I think last year ended up paying $3.50/60 per pound of meat that we received (but i have also paid about $4 per lb before too). Some sides of beef are fatter than other sides of beef. Which we didn’t really understand before we made our purchase, and so we ended up paying more than we’d expected per pound. When it comes to beef price per pound, expect to pay $4.45-$6 per pound (hanging weight). One of our cows last year was just 600lbs, though that was the smallest. Our cost was $370, plus .40 lb for processing and wrapping, which averages $3.06 lb- still cheaper than the grocery store. Not all butchers charge a … I got tired of explaining the complicated formula to my prospective customers. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Dan! But knowing how to make a decent beef stock or any other ‘by product” is valuable knowledge. (Can you imagine someone who is new to buying a Side of beef and what they must be thinking hearing this. hanging weight @ $1.85/lb + processing charges of $200 (slaughter, cutting/wrapping). Instead our farm now sells our beef by the actual weight of the meat you receive. associated with selling an animal direct the … Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I was wonderng if anyone knows of a good grass-fed and finisher in the Loveland CO area? A hanging weight of $2.42 per pound compares to $1.52 per pound live weight for a beef type steer. Hope I got a decent deal. This is the weight that the butcher gives us after the … After it has cured for a couple of weeks, the butcher will trim the meat of fat and bones and stuff, and package it up for you. Prices are definitely higher. Butcher Costs: You will also be responsible for paying the butcher costs at $.80 per hanging pound for butcher fees, but may vary. The last weight is the “final” or “take-home” weight. If we farmers want to sell directly to consumers, we need to also become marketers. I quickly asked my dh about the % difference between live weight and hang weight which he stated is about 30%. 2. This spring was about $1.86 a pound plus the .40 a pound for the processing. After their frozen, their placed in a small ziplock bag. Hanging weight can vary from 400 – 800 lbs. We raise our own steers and I have no idea what we end up paying per pound.I know we get a good deal though.Most of the meats we would never get to enjoy if it were not coming from our own steers as we could NEVER afford to eat the best steaks etc.they are soooo good.This year we canned about 60 quarts of the lower quality cuts and they are so good.Perfect when I want some “fast food”! For our cattle, hanging weight averages 800 pounds but varies by individual cow. Each year have one FULL beef in the freezer and every other year we raise hogs and do the same. I’m getting back 640-650 pounds! We’ve always been told to expect to lose 30-40% of the weight…which is a helpful fact to know when trying to figure out your actual cost up front. I don’t remember what we paid for beef when we bought it this year, but it seems like it was $2 more per pound than we’re used to paying. The farmer might give you an estimate - and it'll probably be pretty close. We live on an acre too and while we do raise a very large vegetable garden along with some fruit trees. The end result is “cut meat”, which due to the trimming, is a much smaller piece of meat than you started with. Flank 2 Implication for Carcass Weight At which shrunk weight does the carcass weight discount take effect? When I include the haul fee, kill and processing fee, hang weight comes to $1.75 a pound. I know it looks like a lot, but grocery stores in our area are charging close to $3.00 a pound for what I call “junk meat.” I figure it’s worth it to pay a little more for meat that I know was grass fed–like you said. Many consumers have never bought beef this way. I’m a farmer who raises and sells beef directly to consumers. I wish I could do this but we have no freezer room and are not able to have a separate freezer due to electrical issues. I just had a young 2 year old bull butchered! So, back to the question: How much is a cow and is the side of beef you’ll get worth the price? But because they have such s high quality, there is always at least a 6 month wait list. DOG TREATS: Asking for extra bones for your dogs are great. One of our homeschool families just offered 1/8th of grass fed cows for $300 per unit of mixed type meats. I didn’t know to ask for all the bones, but next time I will. Possibly depending on your location it might vary some but that is a lot. a. This weight is usually about 60-65% of the hanging weight. He said he knows grain-fed local growers who end up around $650-$700 per quarter finished. Our meat is processed at a USDA Federal inspected slaughterhouse in Carthage, … It sounds like you lost on the higher end of things for whatever reason…I believe how long it is aged can affect that too. The difference between grass fed and grain fed any animal – the grass fed ones will put on fats rich in Omega 3, while the grain fed ones rapidly (even if they are only on a grain diet for a few weeks) have Omega 6 in their fat stores. 🙂 Thanks for all the info, it is good to know (beforehand) what I will be getting in the end. PACKAGED OR DRESSED WEIGHT… For comparison’s sake, I’m in the Northwest Ohio / Toledo / Detroit area. pkgs) 19 The most straightforward way to sell beef is through shares of the slaughtered animal. to 1,550 lbs., and using the 62% average HCW/Live Weight ratio, this results in HCWs of around 800 lbs. Divide the total by 65% to get your "cut-out" cost (breaking the carcass down … I had a few pot roast recipes that called for chicken stock- which at the time I thought was little weird. We bought a quarter of a cow today from the farmer up the road. In other parts of the countries nearer to cities, the cost of processing can be as high as $1.00 per pound of hanging weight. 🙂. We’ve never raised any animals. A cow weighs like 800 lbs or something, how could a quarter of it only be 97 lbs? I hope you guys enjoy your meat! i was looking at robins post an i,m thinking she got shorted on options she could of had if any one needs help on the cuts or getting more options please email me at [email protected]. How much on average does a half beef animal cost? It worked out to over $6.00 per pound in my freezer. (Quick definition: hanging weight is the weight of the cow carcass after initial slaughter and processing. Interested in purchasing a half or whole Wagyu carcass? Keep in mind that some of the “hanging weight” will wind up in the garbage, such as bones, unless you ask for them, so not every pound of hanging weight is edible. Someday I will have a small chest freezer and would love to do this. But a guess is still a guess. For example, my mom and SIL don’t take the stew meat (which is scrap meat) but I love having it for stir fries, straganoffs, and soups and stews. We are a family of three (adults). 🙂. You could also use it to make homemade soap. (See how we do it. Tri-tip 2, ROASTS And we'll tell you upfront what cuts you'll get and how much they'll weigh. You don’t pay for 15 eggs but only receive 12. Your total cost, assuming a $5.50 price per pound of hanging weight would be $1,650, (300 lbs x $5.50). Great advice. For most fed cattle, the HCW will be approximately 60 to 64 percent of live animal harvest weight. then you got the rib section for prime rib roast an the outher end for hotel end roast center for rib steaks or a roast an rest steaks then if you bone the rib section out you get delmonicos.then you have the loin you get sirloin porter house t bone an if you want befor he cuts it you can have the tender loin pulled an then the loin is a new york strip after you pull the tender loin then dont for get the tail steaks . I haven’t been given the total cost yet, but I’ll be picking it up in the next 2 weeks. I ask for all the bones- even if they are just for the dog! I’ve done better like 64% on other beef that I’ve put in the freezer! Last year I ordered about one third ground beef, the rest roasts and steaks. I really really hope to get a dairy cow and a beef steer one day to raise! Top round 17 Kandice From Colorado. We are looking forward to it. I live in my and spoke with a farmer about a whole cow last night, after his price, plis the butcher’s price, the total for 550-600 processed beef was going to be 3,400. Offer a whole, half or split half (quarter) to your customer at a set price per pound of its hanging weight. If you’re like us, that just doesn’t sound right does it? The hanging weight price for a quarter is $4.60 per pound, or a total cost of between $552.00 and $828.00. Not to mention tons of ground beef, and some soup bones. Rib steaks 16 The yield after butchering the side is usually around 60-70% of the hanging weight, depending on the cuts you select. Well Sonabutch, never sold one that weighed 1335, most I weighed one was 1125, but yes, I sell every one I can produce privately. In our case, the farmer charged us $2/lb hanging weight, which ended up totaling $382 (thank goodness for a tax refund!). My husbands sister bought, I think a 1/4 of a cow for us this year, though I’m not sure how much she paid. That is insanely high. Or how much beef is in your freezer - in pounds! Video explaining selling 1/4, 1/2, and wholes(hanging weight). In the interior of AK we paid $3.80ish per pound hgwt. All prices are based on hanging weight. Packaged weight is about 55-65% of hanging weight. I’ve lost closer to 30% before and I’ve lost around 40% too. We are hoping we can at least eat this, as the meat we have been buying at the grocery store is 80-90% inedible. $1,396.50 /192.50 lbs = $7.25 per lb packed weight … So if my steers weight when I take it to the processor is 950 pounds I would get $1330.00. Ground Beef (1 lb. But when we calculated how many pounds of meat we actually brought home it ended up being about $3.90/lb. The locker operator purchased the side from a meat packer on a hanging weight basis and also sells it to the consumer that way. My husband and I just did this, as a matter of fact, we picked it up this morning. Remember too that you’ve got bones for making stock, which will save you the money you would have spent on stock. As you know, the cows (and therefore their meat) are naturally leaner because of the cow’s diet. Beef by the Side "Hanging weight" is the weight of a side of beef as it hangs on the rail in a meat cooler. On average there would be around 396 lbs of packaged meat on a whole beef animal that has a hanging weight of 660 lbs. I’d be interested in knowing what you pay per pound hanging weight! Yes, we order a quarter each year too…have been doing so for several years now. Enjoying life, and everything that has to do with self sufficient living. We enjoy t-bones, porterhouse steaks, roasts, in addition to lots of hamburger for less per pound than we were buying hamburger. This sound insanely high. Cost per pound is $6.50 and is determined by hanging weight. They also charge less for paper wrapped beef–rather than vacuum packed. Frame scoring is simply a way of categorizing beef cattle from smallest to largest based on their size (hip height).Frame scores are assigned on a scale from 1 to 9, with 1 being the smallest and 9 being the largest-framed cattle. Our costs break down to about $3.25/lb. For example, a 1400-pound animal with a hot carcass weight of 880 pounds has a dressing percentage of approximately 63%, which is calculated as follows: (880 hot carcass weight ÷ 1400-pound live weight) x 100 = … You shouldn't buy beef by hanging weight. It looks great! When you’re dealing with hogs, you’ll have an additional fee for smoking. After butchering the hanging weight will be reduced by 25-30%. A while back I went into one of those fancy dog stores and came across a cute little bag of dog treast. In addition, we no longer grain our beef. hamburger, 2 pot roasts, 4 lb. And we'll tell you upfront what cuts you'll get and how much they'll weigh. a. hanging weight is the weight of the carcass after the internal organs, hide, head and feet have been removed. It probably sounds like gibberish!). That was before I had a local source for grass fed beef, but I knew how nourishing these “by-products” really are. We raise a bunch on our road of country neighbors and have found no difference between grass or grain feed beef with regards to flavor or cooking. We sell a side of beef for $5.50 per pound (a quarter of beef is $6.00), a side of our grass fed beef weighs approximately 200 – 300lbs. so flaky….. All your steaks should taste delicious regardless of cut. Grass fed beef and pasture raised pork. STEAKS When selling animals by live weight, you must use a certified scale to determine the weight of the animal. A Deposit is placed at the time of your order and the remaining amount is due in the fall after the beef hanging weight has been received from the processor. an the flank its tough but if you can cook you;ll figger it out. BUT, I also take the livers when the ranch kill guy comes out. Or how much milk is in the jug. Assuming a yield of 60% the actual weight of the beef you would receive would be 180 lbs (300 x.60). If we’re splitting one with family, we also ask them to get everything. This is the estimation of the final finished weight on our beef. They require a 1/4 minimum. Hanging weight is the weight of the cow as it hangs in the butcher's cooler once the head, hide, feet, organs and blood are removed. o you should get on the fore quarter is shank for soup or hb. Then we can trade back and forth. Fillet Mignon 22 It ended up being a lot less meat than we’d expected though; about 97 lbs. This will give you more options when choosing your cuts. I’ve found grass-fed beef for about $8.95/quarter hanging weight. Because I ask for all the bones and trimmed fat to use for our family, I’m actually getting most of the hanging weight. The customer receives an equal portion of all the cuts in a side, not just … Some are really really huge though! my grand dad owned a slaughter house had 7 boys no girls hell had to do some thing with them so he gave them guns an knives to play with . Jersey steers are usually less, as are heifers. Dressing Percentage 59% 60% 61% Carcass wt, lb 1000 1000 1000 Shrunk live wt, lb 1695 1667 1639 Full live wt, lb 1758 1728 1700 Shrunk weight was calculated as 96.3% of full weight. I ask for any organs too, but since the cow is split 4 ways, they divide the organs 4 ways. But scraping off the fat and using it for pie crusts is awesome. You then would pay the processor his processing fee. On average, each of our sides weighs around 340lbs of beef, and half-sides about 170lbs, hanging dressed weight. Generally you can expect 60% of the total weight in meat. And I’m about to tell you something that might make other beef farmers mad at me. I can’t quite remember, and looking it up, now it’s $4.30 hgwt for a hind quarter, 3.50 for a front quarter. But what we have isn’t enough to share. If you buy a beef share by hanging weight and you want to know how many Ribeye steaks you'll be getting...well, good luck. then chuck for chuck steaks or roast the first 5 stks for steaks the rest for roasts or burger. The ground beef usually isn’t a cost savings but you make up the difference in the roasts and steaks. Currently taking orders for June 2021 cow share deliveries to PDX. So, we are still pleased with our investment. Then bake them in the over thereafter. A quick search yielded about a dozen different farms selling finished beef by hanging weight with a range of $2.90 to $4.25. The weight is lost in 2 ways. This works out to around $850-$900 for a quarter out the door. We think we did well. Thanks for sharing Dan so what do you feel is a fair price for hanging weight. In this case about 570 pounds. Skinning and gutting: $40-60 total. I don’t care much for beef stock. when we sell a steer to someone we charge them the current market rate per pound. The actual meat you will receive is typically 60% +/- of the hanging weight.) This is the weight of the meat that is processed and given to the buyer. The price of our Wagyu whole and half carcasses includes transportation of the steer from our ranch to the USDA-inspected processing … The live weight for our Premium summer Angus steers usually averages around 1200 lbs. with the short ribs from the inside for hb or ribs. This is what the animal weighed on the hoof, or when it was alive. Rump 4 Also called "on the hoof". *Free Shipping on orders over $99 - excluding Beef Shares, What is hanging weight? And hopefully this lesson has been helpful to some of you as well. I live in southern Wisconsin and we pay $3.75/pound hanging weight for grass fed/ organic/ antibiotic free beef. To help make your order simple, get to know the beef chart and see the cuts included in our “Standard Cut”. I just purchased 1/2 a cow 349 lbs of different cuts and mostly ground beef for $550…..after seeing all your posts I realized I got a great deal on the meat I live in central California where the cows roam free our neighbor here gave us a great deal very happy with our purchase and we will have meat for over a year. Some of the reviews on this site may be compensated by the companies whose products were reviewed. He said he knows grain-fed local growers who end up around $650-$700 per quarter finished. (That animal is now a "carcass" after it is slaughtered. Buying beef this way is a convenient method if you have freezer space and like different cuts of beef. Do you buy beef by the quarter or half a cow? For example, lamb chops can sell for $15 to $20 per pound, whereas a whole lamb sells for $6 to $10 per pound hanging weight. Not some odd anachronistic formula that has to do with carcass and slaughter etc. We get filet mignon and delmonicos, brisket and roasts…and it is quality, fresh, good-for-you meat…not to mention you’re supporting a local farmer in the process. Bottom round 18 We just bought a quarter/”split side” from a NE cattle rancher–210 lbs. Just a data point. 3. Therefore, 3.7% … Frankly, I use chicken stock for everything. And like you said, it’s still a great deal bc of the type of meat and all the cuts you get. And they will charge you per pound of “hanging weight”. stew meat, 8 chuck roasts, 2 tip roasts, 2 bags of soup bones, 3 bags of liver, 5 sirloin steaks, 8 round steaks, 2 large packages of short ribs, 4 T-bones, 2 porterhouse, and 4 rib steaks. Enjoy! Be glad you bought as much as you did. He weighed 1160 on the hoof (live) I’ll pay $75,00 to kill and .80 cents a pound I’m guessing hanging weight to process! Frame scoring. then you have the bottom round for rump steaks then the center for steaks or roast then the flat cut for roast or if the cutter knows how to make london briol steaks you can have them. We order 1/4 grass fed beef every fall, and pay about $3 hanging weight, so you got a GREAT deal! I am also in California. I always ask for ALL the bones, not just the soup bones they usually give you. We have some friends that run a shop thats about 20 miles out in the country and they charge less for their services. We ended up with 125# of meat, and love, love, love it.