Guide
Hanging Weight vs. Take-Home Weight: What You're Actually Paying
If you're shopping beef shares around Oklahoma City, you'll see prices quoted per pound of hanging weight. Here's what that means.
Two weights
Hanging weight is what the carcass weighs after slaughter, before it's cut up. That's the weight your share is priced on.
Take-home weight is the freezer beef you take home. This is the weight after much of the bone and excess fat is removed.
You take home about 60% of the hanging weight. The rest is bone, fat trim, and water weight lost while the carcass hangs. That's true of every beef animal.
Producers traditionally sell animals at livestock markets according to their live weights but we won't confuse things by getting in to that here.
The numbers
| Share | Hanging weight | Take-home (about 60%) |
|---|---|---|
| Eighth | — | ~45 lbs (our 45-lb box) |
| Quarter | ~180 lbs | ~108 lbs |
| Half | ~360 lbs | ~216 lbs |
| Whole | ~720 lbs | ~432 lbs |
So a quarter quoted at 180 lbs means about 108 lbs of freezer beef. Plan and budget on that number.
What it really costs per pound
Run the math on take-home pounds, not hanging. Example with round numbers:
A quarter at $5.75/lb hanging weight: 180 × $5.75 = $1035. Divide by 108 lbs take-home and you're at $9.58/lb — for ribeyes, roasts, and ground beef averaged together.
That's the number to compare against the grocery store.
Now you know.
Next: How Much Freezer Space Do You Need for a Quarter of Beef?