A properly finished 1,200 lb steer is about 430 pounds of packaged beef. A half is about 215. A quarter, two households sharing one half, is about 108. A whole on one cut sheet is $850. Two halves with separate cut sheets are $900 ($450 each). A quarter is two households sharing one half and one sheet. Once you understand that, every question about splitting a beef answers itself.
Why we cut by the half
A side of beef comes apart into a fixed set of primals, and each primal can only be cut one way. The rib becomes ribeye steaks or a rib roast. The short loin becomes T-bones or strips and filets. There is one rib and one short loin per side. So a side can satisfy one set of decisions, which is why the sheet says one sheet per half and why we bill by the half. The trade-offs are all in how to fill out a beef cut sheet.
The three shares
| Share | Boxed beef, about | Cut sheets | Price here | Freezer space |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole | About 430 lb | One, for the whole animal | $850 | About 16 to 20 cu ft |
| Half | About 215 lb | One | $450 | About 8 to 10 cu ft |
| Quarter | About 108 lb | Shared with the other quarter of that half | $450 per half, split between the two households | About 4 to 5 cu ft |
Splitting a whole between two families
This is the easy case. Each family fills out its own cut sheet and pays $450, so the animal is $900 instead of $850 on one shared sheet. Family A can take ribeyes and family B can take a rib roast. Each half is cut, packaged, boxed, and weighed separately, and each family gets its own weight report. Nobody has to divide anything in a driveway. One person can haul the animal in and one person can pick up both halves, as long as we have both sheets and both phone numbers at drop-off.
Splitting a half between two families: the quarter
Here the two households share one sheet, so they have to agree. The practical approach is to divide the boxes evenly across every category rather than by primal: half the steaks, half the roasts, half the ground beef to each. That is what a “mixed quarter” means. Splitting front quarter versus hind quarter instead gives one family the chuck, brisket, and ribeyes and the other the loin, sirloin, and round, which almost always leaves someone unhappy.
How the boxes divide
A half comes back as vacuum-sealed packages sorted by cut: steaks two or more to a pack, roasts individually, ground beef in one-pound packages, patties in one-pound packs of three, stew and cutlets in one-pound packs. Dividing a half into quarters is a matter of counting packages by category and splitting each pile. The itemized weight report lists every package, which makes the count easy and the arithmetic honest. Reading your weight report walks through it.
Odd packages, one brisket, one tongue, one bag of soup bones, get traded rather than cut. Decide who takes the brisket before pickup, not in the parking lot.
Freezer space
Vacuum-packed beef stores at roughly 25 to 28 pounds per cubic foot when it is packed tight. A half needs about 8 to 10 cubic feet, which makes a 7 cubic foot chest freezer tight and a 10 to 15 cubic foot freezer comfortable with room for anything else. A quarter fits in 4 to 5 cubic feet and will go in the freezer compartment of a large household refrigerator only if that freezer is nearly empty. Buy the freezer before pickup day, not after.
Selling a share instead of sharing it
If you raise more beef than your family and one other can eat, the other half or quarter can be sold. Because we process under USDA inspection, that is legal: sell the beef itself, boxed and labeled, after harvest. A custom-exempt plant would require selling a share of the live animal before harvest and listing the buyer as an owner. The path is in how to sell your own beef in Texas.
Booking a shared animal
When you call, tell us how many households are involved so we know how many cut sheets and weight reports to plan for, and give us a phone number for each half. Download the cut sheet once per half. The fee is $450 per half, $850 for the animal, and it does not change with the number of families splitting it. Call (817) 404-7405.
Read more on USDA beef processing in Texas, see flat beef processing prices, and beef processing near Weatherford.