How Much Meat Do You Get From Half a Cow?

If you regularly stock your freezer with beef, you might be wondering if it’s worth it to purchase a half cow. 

So exactly how much meat is half a cow? Half of a 1,200-lb steer hangs at about 375 lbs and comes home as roughly 245 lbs of packaged beef. And while you might picture a freezer full of steaks, a good portion of that will include ground beef, too. 

Before you fill your freezer, let’s get into what you need to know about purchasing a half cow. Here's where that extra weight goes, the cut list pound by pound, how many steaks it works out to, and when our ⅛ Beef Box might suit your family better. 

How Much Meat Do You Actually Get From Half a Cow?

Take-home weight is what lands in your freezer: about 245 lbs of boneless, trimmed beef from a typical grain-finished steer. Note that we’re using a grain-finished example from university yield research here; Seven Sons’ beef is exclusively grass-fed and grass-finished.

The number makes more sense once you know the two weights that come before it.

Think of it in three steps:

1. Live weight is the animal standing in the pasture.
2. Hanging weight is the cow after harvest, before the butcher picks up a knife.
3. Take-home weight is what you stack in your freezer.

Before you agree to a price, ask which of those three weights the per-pound price is based on. The answer changes what you're paying for every pound you bring home.

With those percentages, you can run the numbers on your own animal. Multiply live weight by the dressing percentage to get hanging weight, then multiply that by 65% for a rough take-home figure. 

So where does the other 60% go? On the whole steer, 450 lbs come off at harvest, and cutting removes another 150 lbs of fat and 110 lbs of bone. On your half, that's roughly 75 lbs of fat and 55 lbs of bone.

Your processor may let you keep both, you can always ask. Soup bones make a rich broth, and the fat renders down into tallow for cooking.

When you work out the freezer space for needed bulk beef, plan around the take-home weight, since that's what you'll be storing.

What Cuts Do You Get, and How Many Pounds of Each?

Most of what you take home from half a cow is ground beef.

The table below shows one example of how a half cow breaks down, pound by pound. Cuts and proportions can vary by region, processor, and how you ask for your beef to be cut, so use it as a guide rather than an exact list of what you’ll receive. 

It surprises most folks to learn that half a cow is that much burger. After that, most of your beef comes from the chuck and the round, the shoulder and hind leg, which give you pot roasts and everyday steaks. We love a chuck roast cooked low and slow on a cold day. The ribeyes and strips everybody pictures are a smaller share than either one, so treat them like the special-occasion cuts they are.

In our experience, no two animals cut out exactly the same, and your choices on the cut sheet matter just as much.

How Many Steaks Are in Half a Cow?

In this example, half a cow gives you about 14 New York strip steaks and 12 filets.

A whole carcass yields just two tri-tip roasts of about a pound and a half each, so half a beef gets you one. That's one good dinner. Every single steak type from the rib and loin comes in under 3% of carcass weight, with tenderloin at 1.5% or less.

Thickness is an important choice you'll make on the cut sheet. Ask for 1¼-inch strips instead of 1-inch, and those same 9 lbs give you fewer steaks. We like our strips thick for the grill, but that's your call.

What Is a Beef Cut Sheet, and How Do You Fill One Out?

A beef cut sheet is the form your processor hands you to say how you want your half cut, wrapped, and packaged. Forms can vary from one processor to the next, so yours may word things a little differently.

Most of the sheet is personal preference, but these three change what you end up with:

• Grind ratio. It decides how much of your trim becomes ground beef and how much becomes fat.
• Bone-in or boneless. The same meat takes up more freezer space with the bone left in.
• Organs, bones, and fat. These are the easiest things to lose, because you'll usually need to ask for them by name.

What's in Our 1/8 Beef Box Instead?

Our 1/8 Beef Box holds 32.25 lbs of beef, mostly ground beef plus a few steaks and roasts. It's made for families who want good beef that’s grass-fed and grass-finished, without a chest freezer or a processing appointment. Here's every item in it so you know exactly what's coming. If one box won't cover your household, a beef bundle is the simplest way to stock up.

We put this box together as a curated bundle of the everyday cuts our own families reach for most.

If you want the true cut distribution of a side of beef, which is half a cow, buy a side. If you'd rather skip the cut sheet and have your beef shipped frozen anywhere in the continental US, this box may be a better fit. 

Where Do These Numbers Come From?

We'd rather show our work. The yield figures on this page come from research, not from our own cattle. The grain-finished figures are from South Dakota State University Extension's article "How Much Meat Can You Expect from a Fed Steer?," updated July 13, 2022. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

How much meat do you get from half a cow?

Plan on about 245 lbs of packaged beef from half of a 1,200-lb steer. 

How much meat will I get from a 1,200-lb cow?

A 1,200-lb steer yields roughly 490 lbs of boneless, trimmed beef, about 40% of its live weight. 

What is hanging weight?

Hanging weight is what the carcass weighs after harvest and before it's cut. It always runs well above what ends up in your freezer, since the fat and bone still have to come off.

How much of half a cow is ground beef?

Expect a little more than a third of your half to come home as ground beef, more than any other type of cut. Asking for stew meat or a leaner grind will change that amount. 

How many steaks are in half a cow?

Count on about 14 New York strips at 10 oz and about 12 filets at 6 oz. Ribeye and sirloin counts depend on how thick you cut them.

What size freezer do I need for half a cow?

Size your freezer to the take-home weight, about 245 lbs on a grain-finished half, not the 375-lb hanging weight. Bone-in cuts and 2-lb packages take up more room than boneless cuts in flat packs.

Is buying half a cow worth it?

Half a cow makes sense if you have the freezer space, the cooking habits, and the patience for it. You'll need a dedicated freezer with room for a couple hundred pounds of beef, a household that goes through plenty of ground beef, and time to fill out a cut sheet and wait on the processor. If those line up, what a half cow costs is worth running the numbers on. If they don't, a smaller box of the cuts you'll use could be a better fit for your family. 

What do I need to tell the butcher?

Tell the butcher your steak thickness, steaks per package, roast size, ground beef ratio and package size, and whether you want bone-in cuts. Then say whether you want the organs, bones, and fat, and don't be shy about asking what a choice changes before you check the box.

Do you get the organs and bones with a bulk order?

In most cases, you get the organs and bones only if you mark them on the cut sheet. The same goes for the fat if you plan to render your own tallow.

Does Seven Sons sell half a cow?

No, we don't sell half a cow. We sell curated beef boxes and individual grass-fed beef cuts, shipped frozen to your door.