What is Hanging Weight?

We base our per pound price for pork on the animals hanging weight. The hanging weight is the weight of the animal carcass as it hangs on the rail with all usable parts intact.

When we in the spring estimate the hanging weights of the animals, that's exactly what it is, an estimate. There are so many variables at play with grass fed animals, we do not produce cookie cutter meat.

Then from the hanging carcass your cuts (chops, steaks, roasts, sausage, ect.)are made. During this process some bone and fat are trimmed and discarded which means that the take home weight of your meat is less than the hanging weight.

Depending on how you have your meat cut the percentage of pounds lost will vary. For example, the more ground meat you request, the more fat and bone are discarded, so your take home weight will be less than if you requested all roasts, steaks, ribs, hocks, ect.

To help you get a rough idea what the difference in hanging weight to take home weight might be we've included the information below.

Please remember that these, like everything else are estimates, not exact measurements and the percentages will vary slightly animal to animal, farm to farm and the hanging weights in the examples are not necessarily what we expect our hanging weights to be they are for demonstration purposes only.

Beef

Live animal weight - 1000 lbs

Live weight to take home weight - 40%

1000 lbs live weight - 400 lbs take home weight.

Live weight to hanging weight 58%

1000 lbs live weight - 580 lbs hanging weight

Hanging weight to take home weight 70%

580 lbs hanging weight - 400 lbs take home weight

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