How to Price Beef by Hanging Weight: Quarters and Halves

Beef sold by the quarter, half or whole is commonly priced by hanging weight, the weight of the carcass after slaughter, because that's the weight the butcher weighs and charges on. The customer pays the farmer a price a pound of hanging weight, and pays the butcher separately for the kill fee and the cutting and wrapping. What the customer takes home is less than the hanging weight, after bone, fat and trim, so the real cost a pound of meat in the freezer is higher than either number. In the example below, a 1,200-pound steer hangs at 720 pounds; a half sells for $4.25 a pound of hanging weight, $1,530 to the rancher, plus $446 to the butcher, so the customer pays $1,976 for about 223 pounds of beef, $8.85 a pound. Below is the weights, the prices for a quarter, half and whole, what's left for the rancher, the custom-exempt rules, and a free calculator.

The short version

• Live weight → hanging weight, about 60% → take-home meat, about 62% of hanging weight.
• Price a pound of hanging weight to the farmer; the butcher bills the kill fee and cut and wrap.
• Customer's cost a take-home pound = (farmer's price + butcher's bill) ÷ take-home pounds.
• Charge a little more a pound for quarters: more customers, more work, the same animal.
• Cost what it takes to raise the animal, and check what each share leaves.
• Sold as live-animal shares for the buyers' households, custom-exempt; sold as cuts, inspected.
• TaroStack keeps each animal as a lot and every share on an order. More below.

The weights

Bighorn Basin Beef, a made-up cattle ranch near Worland, Wyoming, I use in these examples, sells grass-finished steers by the share:

Hanging weight is on the butcher's sheet for every animal. Take-home weight moves with the animal, how lean it is, how long it hangs to dry age, and the cuts the customer chooses: bone-in steaks weigh more than boneless, and more ground beef means less trim. Tell customers both numbers up front, so a half "at 360 pounds" doesn't disappoint at 223.

Quarters, halves and wholes

The butcher's bill is a $100 kill fee for the animal, split by share, plus $1.10 a pound of hanging weight to cut, wrap and freeze. A quarter costs more a pound because four customers mean four cut sheets, four pickups and more messages for one animal. For the customer, a half at $8.85 a pound of mixed cuts, steaks and roasts and ground beef together, is the price to compare with buying the same cuts one at a time.

What's left for the rancher

The cost to raise is the calf or a share of the cow's year, $1,200, hay and pasture to finish, $900, minerals and the vet, $120, trucking to the processor, $80, and a share of death loss and insurance, $60. The rancher's own hours aren't in it. Selling quarters leaves the most an animal, but takes the most selling. The ranch takes a deposit, $200 a half, to hold a spot on the processor's calendar, which may be booked months ahead. How to cost a farm product with every input in it is in cost plus pricing example, and other ways a farm adds value to what it grows in value added products for farms.

The custom-exempt rules

Federal law exempts from inspection the custom slaughter of an owner's cattle, and the preparation of the meat, for use in the owner's household, by the owner, the household, nonpaying guests and employees (21 U.S.C. 623). The custom operator keeps that meat apart from anything for sale, and it's plainly marked "Not for Sale" (9 CFR 303.1). That's why shares are sold as part of the live animal, before slaughter: the customer owns a quarter or half of the steer, and the custom butcher processes it for the customer's household. Beef sold as individual cuts, by the pound at a market or to a restaurant, has to come from an animal slaughtered and processed under USDA or state inspection. States add their own rules for share sales, so check yours before taking deposits. This is general information, not legal advice.

Get the calculator

Download the beef share pricing calculator. Type the live weight, the hanging and take-home shares, the share being sold, your price a pound of hanging weight, the butcher's kill fee and cut and wrap, and your cost to raise the animal. It works out the share's hanging weight, what you're paid, the butcher's bill, the customer's total and cost a take-home pound, and what's left for you. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Twenty steers a year, each with its own hanging weight and butcher date, sixty customers holding deposits for halves and quarters, cut sheets to collect, and a freezer of inspected retail cuts for the farmers market on the side. A notebook can't say which customers are on which animal, who still owes a balance, or which freezer packages came from which animal; a farm inventory template is the place to start.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps each animal as a lot and every share on an order.

Animals as lots. Each animal's processed beef goes in as a lot with its processing date and weights, so the freezer packages from it carry its code, and one report walks a lot to every customer who got beef from it.

Shares as orders. Each share is a sales order with its animal, pickup date and balance, and units convert: priced by the pound of hanging weight, packed by the package. The ranch, the processor and the market stall are sites, with transfers for what moves between them.

And what each animal earns. Margins are reported by product and by customer, so shares and retail cuts can be compared.

Lots, sales orders, counting and margins by product and customer are on every plan, from $49 a month; up to three sites are on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much should I charge for half a cow?

Cost what it takes to raise the animal, then set a price a pound of hanging weight. In the example, a half at 360 pounds hanging and $4.25 a pound is $1,530 to the rancher, plus $446 to the butcher.

How much does half a cow cost processed?

In the example, $1,976 in all for a half: $1,530 to the rancher and $446 for the kill fee share and cut and wrap, for about 223 pounds of beef, $8.85 a pound.

What is a good price for beef by hanging weight?

One that covers your cost to raise and leaves something for your time. In the example, $4.00 a pound for a whole, $4.25 for a half and $4.50 for a quarter leave $520 to $880 an animal.

How much meat do you get from a half a cow?

In the example, about 223 pounds from a half with 360 pounds of hanging weight, 62%. Bone-in cuts, how lean the animal is and how long it hangs all move the number.