Live → Hanging Weight

When a farmer quotes a price for “a whole beef” or “half a hog,” the weight they usually mean is hanging weight(also called dressed weight or carcass weight) — not the live weight of the animal, and not the take-home weight of the packaged meat you’ll eventually put in your freezer.

Live weight is what the animal weighs walking to the processor. After slaughter, the hide, head, hooves, viscera, and blood are removed. What hangs in the cooler is the hanging weight — roughly 60–64% of live for beef, 72–76% for pork, 48–52% for lamb.

This is the number farmers quote because it’s what a USDA or custom-exempt processor actually weighs on the kill floor. It’s also where most buyer confusion starts: a 1,200 lb steer is not 1,200 lb of beef. It’s roughly 744 lb of hanging weight, and after bone-in cut-and-wrap it’s typically around 500 lb of take-home meat.

Pair this with the Take-Home Weight calculator to see the final packaged pounds, and the Whole Animal True Cost calculator to see the real $/lb.

hanging_weight = live_weight × (dressing_percentage ÷ 100)
yield varies by species: beef 60–64%, pork 72–76%, lamb 48–52%, goat 45–50%, bison 56–60%.