What is a side of beef? Price, weight and what you get

Why it is called a side

At the processor, a beef carcass is split lengthwise down the backbone into two matching halves. Each half is a side. So when somebody says they bought "a side of beef," they bought half the animal, front to back: one side of the ribs, one side of the loin, one brisket, and so on.

The names stack up from there, and every one of them is just a fraction of the same animal:

Weights are estimates — every animal is different. Per pound of packaged beef that is about $12.50 whether you buy a whole, a side or a quarter. Full pricing and what it includes.

What comes in a side of beef

A side is not a curated box. It is half of one real animal, turned into steaks, roasts, ribs, brisket, stew meat and ground beef according to a cut sheet you fill out with the butcher. Very roughly, on a typical cut sheet:

• Ground beef is the largest single category — often around a third to nearly half of your take-home pounds, depending on how many roasts you convert.
• Roasts — chuck, arm, rump and round — are the next biggest block.
• Steaks — ribeye, strip, T-bone, sirloin — are the smallest block, because an animal only has so much rib and loin. A side gets half of it.
• Plus brisket, short ribs, stew meat, and whatever bones, organs and suet you choose to take.

What every cut is and how to cook it · How to fill out the cut sheet

How much meat is in a side of beef?

The number to pay attention to is packaged weight — the boxes you actually carry to the freezer. Ours comes to about 225 lbs from an approximately 375 lb hanging weight. The difference is bone, trim and moisture lost while the carcass ages, and it is true of every side of beef sold anywhere.

How much meat you get from half a cow, worked through →

Is a side of beef right for you?

A side is roughly a year of beef for a household that eats it several times a week, and it needs about 6–8 cubic feet of empty freezer. If that sounds like too much, half a side — a quarter cow — fits in about 3–4 cubic feet. If it sounds like too little, two families can split a whole cow and each take a side.

Is it worth it? The honest math against grocery prices · Freezer space guide

Buying a side of beef from Lost Valley Beef

Our cattle are raised on our ground in Jack County, between Perrin and Jacksboro, grass-fed and grain-finished, and processed at American Butchery in Mineral Wells to your own cut sheet — vacuum-sealed, flash-frozen and labeled. Pick up at the ranch by appointment, or we deliver to Jacksboro, Perrin, Graham, Bridgeport, Decatur, Mineral Wells, Weatherford, Bowie, Azle, Springtown, Boyd, Chico and Fort Worth.