Never bought beef this way? Here is how it works.

You are buying a share of one steer, processed, wrapped, and frozen. It is how farm families have stocked a freezer for a long time.

A quarter is roughly 90 to 120 pounds of packaged beef: steaks, roasts, and a good amount of ground beef. A half is roughly 180 to 240 pounds. A whole is roughly 360 to 480 pounds.

Everything comes frozen and labeled. You do not need to know any butcher terms. Cut preferences get handled closer to processing, and I will walk you through it then.

Hanging weight is the weight of the carcass after slaughter but before it is cut and packaged. It is the standard way bulk farm beef is priced.

Your price is $9 per pound of hanging weight. That number is not known until processing, so you reserve now with a deposit and pay the exact remaining balance once the weight comes back.

What ends up in your freezer weighs less than the hanging weight. Bone and trim come off during cutting, and how much varies with the cuts you choose. The packaged-weight ranges on this site already account for that.

A quarter usually lands around $1,500 to $1,700 total. A half around $3,100 to $3,400. A whole around $6,100 to $6,700. Those are estimates based on typical hanging weights at $9 per pound.

The deposit ($200, $400, or $800 depending on the share) comes off that total. So the remaining balance after processing is roughly $1,300 to $1,500 for a quarter, $2,700 to $3,000 for a half, and $5,300 to $5,900 for a whole.

Per pound of beef in your freezer that works out to somewhere in the mid teens, and it is the same price whether the package is ground beef or a ribeye.

A quarter will not fit in the freezer above your fridge. That one catches people off guard, so it is worth saying early.

A quarter needs roughly 5 cubic feet. A half needs roughly 8, and a dedicated freezer is strongly recommended. A whole needs roughly 16, and a dedicated freezer is a given.

A new 5 cubic foot chest freezer runs around $150 to $200. Vacuum-sealed beef held at zero degrees keeps well for a year or more.

You can browse and purchase a good freezer here.

Almost all cattle eat grass for most of their lives. The difference between farms is the last stretch before processing, called finishing.

Grain-finished means the animal gets grain added to its diet for the last couple of months. That builds marbling, the fine flecks of fat inside the meat that make a steak tender and juicy. Grass-finished means grass only, start to finish. Leaner, earthier, and a fine choice if that is your preference.

Mine are on pasture and get grain at the finish. I do that for flavor. You can decide whether that is what you want.

Phrases like pasture-raised and grass-fed are not tightly regulated on beef at the store, so they can cover a lot of different situations.

Buying from a farm you can drive to works differently. You can ask me what the cattle eat and where they live, and I will give you a straight answer.

The beef is expected to be ready in February 2027. After processing, the exact remaining balance gets posted to your order page and you pay it by card.

Pickup or delivery details get worked out closer to processing, directly with you. I am not going to promise a mechanism on a website that I have not nailed down yet.