What Usually Included in a Half Side of Beef

Ordering a side of beef is a convenient way to fill your freezer with loftier-quality local beef without breaking the bank.

I beloved the peace of mind that a couple hundred pounds of meat in the freezer provides.  Most years we raise all our own meat, and every fall we will our freezers to near bursting.  Later that, nosotros salt cure or tin anything that won't fit.

This twelvemonth, the but thing we're raising is two preschoolers and an old toothless cat, and that's all we can handle for sanity's sake.  Still, having humanely raised local meat in the freezer is incredibly important to us, so we spent the summertime tracking down the tastiest meat in the expanse, sampling as much every bit possible.

The season of meat can vary significantly based on the breed of creature, information technology'south feed and how it's raised.  It's important to sample before committing to a bulk purchase, and we tried meat from a number of farms that merely wasn't to our taste.

One time you lot settle on a farm and develop a human relationship with the farmer, at that place's no more economic way to make full the freezer than a bulk purchase.

In the past, we've raised all our own meat, including pork, chevon (caprine animal), and all fashion of poultry.  We'd process and preserve everything on the homestead, then I'm no stranger to cutting up a side of meat.

Still, ordering a side of beefiness is pretty complicated.  I looked at that cutting canvass and scratched my head, before settling in to do a scrap of research.

How Many Pounds of Beef is in a Side?

Generally, beef is ordered as a quarter, half or whole animal.  The total size of the animal varies based on breed, historic period, and how it was raised.

On average, a whole animal weighs effectually one,000 pounds at slaughter.  Roughly 40% of the full weight is inedible portions, including the intestines, hide, etc.  That means an average cow has a "hanging weight" of 600 lbs.

Generally, meat is sold past "hanging weight," only that'south earlier any trimming that happens at the butcher store.  The butcher will trim out sinew, tendons, and other parts, removing about 25% of the hanging weight (or another 150lbs).

What's left is about 450 lbs of meat in a whole cow (or 225 lbs per side).

Cut choices will vary obviously simply as a rough rule of pollex, the hanging weight volition translate into 25% waste, 25% hamburger, 25% steaks, and 25% roasts.

That means a side of beef volition include (approximately):

• 75 lbs hamburger
• 75 lbs steak
• 75 lbs roasts

Our family tends to eat roasts more steak, so we're requesting that about of the lower quality (less tender) cuts be left every bit roasts, rather than cut into individual steaks.  Y'all tin can also request more of the meat as hamburger, which would affect the ratios besides.

How Much Does a Side of Beef Cost?

The cost of a side of beef varies widely depending on where you alive and how the animals are raised.  Generally, organic grass-fed beefiness will cost more than, as volition beefiness on the eastward coast where costs are higher than the cattle rich western plains.

Buying a side of beef is normally done by hanging weight, which means the animal is slaughtered and cleaned, but even so contains not-meat portions like tendon and os (around 25%).

The grass-fed beefiness farm nosotros selected charges $five.25 per pound hanging weight.  If the whole creature has a hanging weight of 600 lbs, a side and then has a hanging weight of 300lbs and would toll $1575.

Every bit mentioned in a higher place, the bodily cut weight will exist roughly 225, so we're effectively paying $seven per pound for every beef cutting.  That's an exceptionally good bargain given that ground beef currently sells for $8 to $nine a pound locally (fifty-fifty for conventional factory-farmed beef), and steaks $fifteen to $25 per pound.

(The toll per pound will probable be much lower in the residuum of the country, we just live in an area with higher nutrient costs in general.  Please check with your local farmer for the verbal price per pound numbers.  Regardless, it's going to be much less than ownership beef by the individual cutting.)

How Much Freezer Space is Needed for a Side of Beef?

A well-packed freezer can normally hold 35 to twoscore pounds of meat in a cubic foot of space.  Strange shapes formed past a lot of bone in cuts (ie. Continuing Rib Roasts, etc) will mean you demand more than freezer space.

A side of beef should require roughly v to seven cubic anxiety of freezer infinite.  Some farms suggest that you lot have at least eight cubic feet of freezer space bachelor for a side of beef.

That said, if most of the bones are removed and it'south packed efficiently, it tin fit in much less infinite.  We're ordering from Templeton Farm hither in Central Vermont, and they have very specific space estimates for their sides of beefiness:

"Customers who purchase a "half" will receive 3 boxes of meat, two of the boxes will measure xviii″ long by 12″ wide past ix″ alpine, which equates to i.13 cubic feet each of storage infinite required or a total of two.six cubic feet, each of these boxes will weight well-nigh 90 pounds, the third box measures xviii″ long by 12.5″ wide by 6.5″ alpine which equates to .85 cubic anxiety and weighs about 45 pounds. For the 3 boxes, our customers will receive approximately 200 pounds of meat requiring 3.5 cubic feet of freezer space."

In our case, nosotros're requesting all the bones, suet, and organ meat as well, which means nosotros'll need a skillful bit of extra infinite until all that tin can be processed into canned soup stock, lather, candles, and such.

Our off-grid setup has two DC freezers that run off our batteries, with and they're 8.5 cubic feet each.  We besides have a big 14.5 cubic foot freezer from when nosotros were processing pigs at home.  Plenty of freezer space for a side of beef, still leaving space for the whole grunter, lambs, 12 ducks and 10 chickens still to be added before the winter.  (Can you tell nosotros like meat?)

Talk to your farmer and get a specific space approximate before ordering a side of beefiness.

Cut Sail for a Side of Beef

Filling out a cutting sheet for a side of beef can be incredibly intimidating, and honestly, might be enough to plough you away from the whole projection.  Talk to your farmer, and see if they'll talk yous through information technology.  With a bit of guidance, information technology shouldn't take more than a few minutes to fill up out.

Cut sheets will be different for every farm, and believe it or not, meat is actually butchered in different ways in unlike parts of the land.  For instance, a cutting called "Flap Steak" is common here in New England, just elsewhere in the state, information technology's just tossed in with the hamburger.  Out west, Tri-Tip is popular, only it can be hard to find in the Due east.

Hither is my cut sheet for a family of 4.  I'll walk you through each section shortly:

Steak Thickness, Roast Size, and Packet Size

The beginning section is simple and just asks for a preference for steak thickness, roast size, and parcel size.

As a default, steaks are cutting ane" thick, but you can request thinner (iii/4") or thicker (i 1/4").

Package size depends on how you'll use it, and we chose ane pound packs of hamburger, stew meat, and kabob meat.  Pack sizes are oftentimes available as one 1/ii or two for families, and yous tin can usually request bulk packs of three, v, or x pounds if needed.

Roasts tin can be cutting smaller, simply they're generally cut as iii-4 pounds each.

Front Quarter Beef Cuts

Our cut canvas has three sections on the front quarter: Chuck, Rib, and Shoulder.  This part of the cow as well includes the brisket or breast of the animal.

All are heavily used muscles and tend to be the "depression and slow" cuts.  Most people cut this section in roasts, stew beef, or hamburger, but it besides makes traditionally inexpensive steak cuts.  There are, all the same, some really overnice steak cuts in the rib department.

Beef Chuck ~ Made up of the neck, shoulder blade, and upper arm.  These are mostly tough, but intensely flavorful cuts of meat.  It's most often left as roasts because it has a lot of connective tissue and benefits from a long, slow cook.  I've selected roasts here, just information technology too makes fine hamburger or stew beefiness if you'd like fewer roasts.  If you select steaks, this is made into inexpensive steaks generally sold under the names apartment iron steak and Denver steak.

Rib ~ Every bit you might imagine, this includes the meat on and around the ribs.  At that place's actually a good bit of meat along the spine to a higher place the ribs, which is most of the bulk of this cut.  A prime rib roast or continuing rib roast is a big cut that includes several pounds of meat to a higher place the ribs, along with the ribs attached.  Information technology makes a great special occasion dinner and feeds a oversupply.  Skipping that cut ways y'all'll take more individual steaks, as either rib steaks (with bone attached) or Delmonico Steaks (same cut but no os).

We skipped the prime rib since nosotros rarely have dinner company, and went with Delmonico steaks which have the bone removed.  It takes up less freezer space, and we'll put the basic to soup stock anyway.

Curt ribs or whole sides of beefiness ribs are likewise in this office of the animal, and these days many people skip them and add the meat to hamburger.  They're pretty fatty, and if you add them, your hamburger mix will be less lean.  We love ribs, and I've selected brusque ribs.

Shoulder ~ Generally cutting into roasts for irksome cooking, but information technology tin also exist cut into braising steaks for slow cooking.

Brisket ~ Often left as ane big roast, the brisket tin be intensely flavorful if cooked properly (sometimes for 12+ hours).  I'll always pick brisket, merely I love to melt.  If y'all're more into quick weeknight meals, have this cutting ground into hamburger instead.

Rear Quarter Beef Cuts

The rear quarter has quite a few choices and is traditionally made into both roasts and steaks.  Our cut canvass included sections for loin, tenderloin, sirloin, sirloin tip, top round, lesser round and heart of round.

Loin ~ Some of the best quality steaks come from the beef loin.  T-Bone and porterhouse steaks are nearly the same, containing 2 dissimilar muscles and a T-shaped bone.  There are several in bated, and the T-bones are cut from the front with less loin muscle and porterhouse nigh the rear with a larger loin muscle.

A single side of beefiness has both T-os and Porterhouse cuts of varying sizes.  If the bone is removed, you get a strip steak.  Really the choice here is between os-in or bone out, and the size of the steaks.

Tenderloin ~ Arguably the all-time cut of beef, and a single side of beef only has a few pounds of tenderloin.  This can be left whole as a roast, or cut into tenderloin steaks.

Sirloin ~ This department of the cow tin can go either style, every bit flavorful roasts or mid-course steaks.  There are no fancy expensive cuts of meat in the sirloin, and the choice here is actually whether you'd similar more roasts or steaks in your side of beef.  I'd rather accept more roasts, and skip mid-course steak cuts.

In that location are besides a few lesser-known cuts in this section, one chosen flap steak or butt flap steak (nifty name, I know) and another called tri-tip.

The flap steak is a New England affair, and it's just ground into hamburger in the residue of the country.  It's a low-quality cut, but some people have an attachment to information technology (and then request it specifically if that's your thing).

Tri-tip is difficult to find in New England, but information technology's a prized cut out west as a fancy grilling cut.  Information technology can be catchy if you lot don't know how to cook it, then request it if you know what you're doing (and skip it otherwise).

Sirloin Tip ~ Though it has "sirloin" in the name, the sirloin tip is a much tougher cut of meat.  It tin can exist cutting into steaks simply is most ofttimes left as a roast for slow cooking or ground into hamburger.

Top Round ~ A tough cut of meat that is usually left equally a roast.  If you select steaks here, look to demand to pound the meat to tenderize information technology.

Bottom Round ~ Even tougher than the top round, this is a wearisome cooking cut.  My cut sheet didn't fifty-fifty give the option to cutting this into steaks, information technology'southward only listed as a selection because you tin can elect to have information technology left as a roast or ground into hamburger.

Eye of Round ~ Some other tedious cooking cut of meat, it's oftentimes left as roasts or cut into stew beef.  Information technology's also made into the more economical steaks, and hamburgers.

In this section, nosotros chose to porterhouse and t-bone steaks for commemoration dinners.  We left the tenderloin as a loin roast (rather than cutting it into steaks) for our holiday meal and chose roasts for all the tougher slow cooking cuts for winter pot roasts.

Specialty Cuts and Oddments

The correct side of our cut canvass has yes/no checkboxes for bones, organ meats, and specialty steaks.

If y'all select "no," the butcher or farmer will just keep the soup bones/organs/suet/etc.  Notation that y'all've paid for information technology in the hanging weight either way, only if y'all can't use them there's no need to bring them home.

For the specialty cuts, the canvass is asking if you'd like them included or ground into hamburger.  This is all a thing of personal preference, and I chose to proceed them because I've never tried about of them.  We have a large meat grinder at home that we use to brand homemade sausage anyway, then hamburger is e'er an option later on.

All of these are tougher cuts and "economy" steaks, including flank steak, skirt steak, flat iron steak, brisket, and brusque ribs.

Deposit & Pickup

Since y'all're in essence special ordering a side of beef cut to your personal specifications, information technology'south only reasonable that the farmer is going to crave a eolith.  That may not be the way most of their customers prefer their beef, and if y'all back out they may be in a demark.

Our farmer requested a $350 deposit to take the order, with the balance due at pickup.

Understand that this is not a quick process, and once the beef is slaughtered, it will take to hang for several weeks in a meat locker before it is butchered into cuts.  Even if yous're ordering in the fall nigh slaughter time, don't wait commitment for a month or more.

It's mid-August now, and we'll take delivery of our side of beef in early on October.

Be sure to check back for tutorials on cooking through a side of beef this winter!

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Source: https://practicalselfreliance.com/side-of-beef/

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