Hanging Weight And Take Home Weight

Hanging weight (carcass weight) is the weight of the animal after the initial slaughtering and processing. This weight is used to determine the price of a quarter, side and whole .

You will have about 65% of the hanging weight as actual cuts to take home.

What Happens To The Other Third Of The Hanging Weight?

All good quality beef, whether grain or grass fed, is dry aged. This enhances flavor and tenderizes the meat. Kezialain beef is dry aged 10 to 15 days. As moisture evaporates, the weight of the meat decreases significantly. Supermarket meat is almost always wet aged: the quality of the meat suffers, but they have more pounds of meat to sell.

The rest of the weight difference between hanging and take home weight is the bone and fat that are removed when the meat is cut. The actual amount depends on many factors. The amount of cuts with bones in them make a big difference.

cuts in Wholes, Sides, Quarters

If you buy a whole or a half, you can have it cut to order - decide which cuts you want, size of roasts, thickness of steaks, how lean the ground beef and many other specifics. When you order quarters or eighths, you will get a variety of cuts - we just divide a half into two/four equal parts.

Cost is based on the hanging weight, before the meat is processed. The meat cuts you get average 65% of the hanging weight. (See explanation of hanging weight.) The hanging weight of a whole cow is usually between 575 and 650 pounds.

FREEZER SPACE

If the hanging weight of a whole cow was 600 pounds, you would get about 390 pounds of meat - plus whatever bones and organ meats you want. For this much meat, it would be good to have 14 to 16 square feet of freezer space for storage. You could fit it in less, but it would make it hard to find specific cuts.

Halves, quarters and eighths take up a little more than dividing above freezer space, since they need a little more room to spread out. Also allow extra for any organ meat and bones that you want.