“Live” weight: What the animal weighed on the hoof, or when it was alive. Example: A steer's live weight 1200 pounds give or take.2)
“Hanging” weight: the weight after the animal has been taken back to the butcher shop to hang minus blood, head, hide, hooves, viscera, lungs and heart. About 40% of the live weight. So, a 1200 lb animal would have a hanging weight of 720 lbs (estimated). (A half share would then be 360 lbs, and a 1/4 would be 180 lbs).3)
“Final” or “Take-home” weight: the weight of the meat that the customer will take home. About 60-65% of the hanging weight. So for a 180 lb quarter share, the final weight would be about 108-117 lbs (estimated).The weight is lost in 2 ways. About 4% is water weight lost during the 10-14 day period that the carcass is hung (or “cured”). Then about another 30-35% is lost during the cutting process. This amount is variable based on 2 factors – one is the amount of fat in the meat, and the other is the cuts that a customer requests. Higher fat means more loss. (Grass-fed beef animals tend to be lower fat, so the loss tends to be closer to 35%.) Also , the more boneless cuts requested by the customer, the lower the final weight.
