4 Steps to Quality Beef and Pork

Hanging weight is the weight of an animal's carcass after slaughter, once the blood, head, hide, hooves and internal organs have been removed, but before it is cut and packaged. 

Average hanging weight for our 1/2 beef is 325-375 pounds.

Average hanging weight for our 1/2 pork is 95-125 pounds

After processing and cutting, your packaged take-home meat will be about 60-65% of the hanging weight. 

1/4 Beef: 97-115lbs.

1/2 Beef: 195-225lbs.

1/2 Pork: 57-75lbs.

whole Pork: 114-150lbs.

Our butcher has a standard cutting list for beef and pork but it is completely customizable. If you know you don't want a certain cut of meat you can have it ground up and added to the ground beef or pork. They also have some add-ons you may want to do such as hamburger patties, jerky, brats and breakfast sausage links. 

For a 1/4 beef you will need 4-5 cubic feet of freezer space. This is the average size of the  freezer in the typical kitchen refrigerator. You will likely need an extra freezer if you are getting a 1/4 beef or larger if you want room for anything else in your freezer. 

For a 1/2 pork you will need 3-4 cubic feet of freezer space. This will probably fit in your kitchen freezer but you won't have room for anything else. 

The butcher we use is Milaca Meats in Milaca Minnesota. The processing fees are $1.29 per pound hanging weight for both beef and pork, plus any add-ons you might do. Cutting, grinding, wrapping and boxing are included in the price.