Here at Maine Organic Beef Co., we’ve decided to sell our halves and whole cows based on hanging weight. 

This is a pretty standard practice, but some farms sell by cut and wrapped weight. This means that the cut and wrapped meat is weighed, and then the customer pays the farmer based on that weight. 

For example, at some farms, you might order a half cow and know that you’ll receive an exact poundage of cut and wrapped meat and a specific number of cuts. 

So, why have we taken the hanging weight approach?

At Maine Organic Beef Co., our goal is to provide a customized experience. We don’t want to provide a “standard” half or whole cow. 

We want you to be able to choose the thickness of your steaks. We want you to be able to choose to have a certain cut sliced for jerky meat. We want you to be able to have some of your beef turned into sausage or hot dogs. We want you to consider trying new cuts. 

There are three things to understand when buying a half or whole cow from Maine Organic Beef Co. (or any animal for that matter; well maybe not a whole chicken:

• Live weight: How much the animal weighed prior to slaughter. This will vary between cows.
• Hanging weight: The weight of the animal after it has been dressed, but before it has been aged, cut, packaged, and frozen. This is roughly 60% of live weight.
• Cut and wrapped weight: The amount of beef that you take home for your freezer. This is roughly 60% of the hanging weight. 

Beeftastically yours,

Sonja and Steve