Prices – Whole and Half Beef » Elm Fork Ranch

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Prices – Whole and Half Beef

Whole/Half Beef Cost Estimate – Fall 2025 Prices

Here’s a quick calculation using a whole beef purchase and a half beef purchase: If the beef being processed weighs 1,000 lbs live weight, it will yield approximately 600 lbs hanging weight* (60% of live weight). A 600-pound hanging carcass yields approximately 65% of its weight into packaged meat or 390 lbs for the freezer.

		Cost of Whole Beef	Cost of Half Beef
Paid to Elm Fork Ranch	600 x $4.25	$2,550.00	$1,275.00
Paid to Processor	600 x $1.25**	750.00	375.00
Paid to Processor – Processing fee	$100/beef	100.00	85.00
Total Cost to Customer		$3,400.00	$1,735.00
Price per lb. packaged meat	$3,400/ 390 (whole) $1,735/ 195 (half)	$8.72/lb	$8.90/lb

This figures out to be an average cost of $8.72/$8.90 per pound for tenderloin to lean ground beef.

* Elm Fork Ranch prefers to process calves when they are between 900 – 1100 lbs. 1,000 lbs is used in this example as an easy NRN (nice round number)

**Processing costs at Bluebonnet Meat are currently $1.25 lb based hanging weight. Incidental costs apply – see bluebonnetmeatcompany.com for detailed pricing.