How are you supposed to know how much meat is in a whole or half cow?
How much meat is in a half cow? How many steak cuts should you expect? Are you going to be drowning in ground beef? While farmers have target weights, cattle are not perfect clones of each other. The amount of meat you will receive in a half cow (or whole cow) depends on what that specific animal yields. Additionally, when buying a whole or half cow, each section is custom cut by the customer’s specifications. All examples provided here are just that, examples of what past customers have chosen. Your cut list will not be the same, but will be similar. It all depends on your requests at the time of processing.
Hanging Weight
At Ohio Valley Beef, our pricing for half/whole beef is based on the hanging weight. Hanging weight is the weight of the cow after the head, hooves, and organs are removed.
Total Pounds of Meat to Expect
Our whole beef hang at approximately 800-1,000 pounds and our half beef hang at approximately 375-500 pounds. You can expect approximately 600-850 pounds of meat from a whole cow and 250-400 pounds of meat from a half cow, depending on your cut sheet selections.
Sample Inventory Sheets
Below are a few inventory sheets from previous whole and half beef orders. These examples will give you an idea for how much meat you can expect from a half cow or whole cow. Since customers get to choose their own cuts, you’ll see some variances.
Whole Beef
13 packs of stew meat
2 packs of marrow bones
129 pounds of ground beef, 1lb packs
4 half untrimmed briskets
8 packs of korean style ribs
3 packs of 2″ short ribs
11 packs of osso bucco
31 bone-in ribeye, 1″
51 pounds of ground chuck, 1lb packs
5 boneless chuck roast, 3-4lbs
12 flat irons
10 chuck eye
2 whole flanks
7 porterhouses, 1″
7 T-bones, 1″
22 boneless filet, 1″
14 NY strip, 1″
32 boneless petite sirloin strips, 1″
4 half eye round roasts
4 top round roasts, 3-4lbs
8 london broil
3 bottom round roasts, 3-4lbs
8 packs of cube steaks
7 sirloin tip roasts, 3-4lbs
2 whole tri tip
1 tongue
2 skirt steaks
3 packs of ox tail
1 hanging tender
14 packs of liver
4 packs of heart
2 packs of kidney
Half Beef
10 packs of stew meat
3 packs of marrow bones
8 packs of beef fat
32 pounds of ground beef, 1lb packs
2 untrimmed half briskets
6 packs of soup bones
12 bone-in ribeye, 1″
44 pounds of ground chuck, 1lb packs
6 flat irons
4 chuck eye steaks
1 whole flank
12 boneless filet, 1″
9 NY strip, 1″
12 boneless petite sirloin strips, 1″
2 half eye round roasts
3 top round roasts, 3-4lbs
2 bottom round roasts, 3-4lbs
3 sirloin tip roasts, 3-4lbs
1 whole tri tip