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Published on 15th June, 2026
Lets Do The Math
Buying a side of beef is a financial commitment, somewhere between $1500 and $2500 depending on your choice of farm and beef.
Different farms have different sizes of cow, and may also have different cut and pack options, all of which can contribute to the price.
So when choosing your farm and side, make sure you look at more than the total cost. There are a few key numbers you'll want to examine.
When choosing a side of beef, if you're shopping for price make sure you consider
Total price is quite obvious, it's what you're paying for your side of beef at checkout!
Price / kg is the total weight, divided by the total cost
.. and perhaps the most important element, whether your total weight is Boxed Weight or Dressed Weight.
Most sides of beef are sold on Dressed Weight because that's the weight of the side before the animal is cut up, boned out and packed into cuts you recognise.
In short, Boxed weight is what you get in "the box" when it rocks up at your door. Farms can't sell as "boxed weight" because your 'cut up' choices will change your yield, but they won't change how much the farmer gets in their pocket!
You're not paying "Extra" for bones and fat, they're part of your side of beef whether you're paying for dressed weight or boxed weight.
Every side of beef will have a slightly different yield, and your 'cut up' choices will impact what you end up with in your boxes.
One easy way to think about this is that every 'cut' in the cow can be left whole, 'boned out' or minced.
The more options you leave 'whole' the more steaks and roasts you'll recieve, and the less mince. Not every part of the cow is suitble for steaks or roasts, so no matter your choices you will end up with mince.
That's the million dollar question... what meat do I get from half a cow.. and is it worth it?
We recently had a customer do a full 'weigh" and breakdown of their order so lets go through it here!
On Farmer To Fridge, we've given the butchers a standardised cut sheet that gives you 18 different cuts. Depending on the farm and cut up choices, you'll get about 80kg of beef from a 'half a cow" or "side of beef" .
Below is the breakdown from a 70kg boxed weight beef.
Roasts and Slow Cook
Beef Ribs - 2.8kg
Brisket - 8kg
Gravy Beef - 1.6kg
Blade Roasts - 1.6kg
Osso Bucco - 2.2kg
Silverside Roast - 1.8kg
Steaks
BBQ Steaks - 2.6kg
Chuck Steak 2.9kg
Eye Fillet - 600g*
Minute Steak - 2.7kg
New York Steak (Porterhouse) - 1.6kg
Round Steak - 2.3kg
Rump Steak - 2.8kg
Scotch Fillet - 2kg
T-Bone Steak - 2.57kg
Mince and Sausages
Sasuages - 12kg
Lean Mince- 7kg
Burger Mince (fattier mince) - 12kg
Bones (generally NOT included in boxed weight)
Bones (dog and soup) 23kg
Another way of looking at things is by percentages. The following data was taken from an 80kg boxed weight side of beef, where we left everything as "whole" as possible.
Our breakdown involved using approximately 220kg dressed weight beef, resulting in an 80kg per side yield.
We have shown retail prices and amounts so you can get a sense of how much each cut would cost you to buy individually.
It is important to note that this is NOT a guarantee of what you will get in your side of beef, it is just a rough guide.
| Beef Cut | Amount (kg) | RRP/kg | Retail Price Total | Total % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roasts and Slow Cook approx 28kg | 43% | |||
| Gravy Beef | 1.7 | $30 | $51 | 2% |
| Silverside | 5.86 | $22.00 | $129 | 8% |
| Round | 2.56 | $30 | $77 | 3% |
| Osso Bucco | 3 | $22 | $66 | 4% |
| Bolar Roast | 3.2 | $27.99 | $90 | 4% |
| Chuck | 3.85 | $23.00 | $89 | 5% |
| Brisket | 5.4 | $19 | $103 | 7% |
| Topside | 6.6 | $35 | $231.00 | 9% |
| Beef Ribs | 2.2 | $24.00 | $53 | 3% |
| Steaks and Premium Cuts approx 21kg | 18% | |||
| Flank Steak | 0.654 | $47.83 | $31.28 | 1% |
| Fillet Steak | 1.1 | $75.00 | $82.50 | 1% |
| Rump | 3 | $35 | $105.00 | 4% |
| T-Bone | 5.2 | $40 | $208.00 | 7% |
| Porterhouse | 2.8 | $45 | $126.00 | 4% |
| Scotch Fillet | 1.5 | $60.00 | $90.00 | 2% |
| Minced Meats approx 31kg | 39% | |||
| Burger, Sausages and Meatballs | 13 | $16 | $208 | 16% |
| Premium Mince | 18 | $23 | $414 | 23% |
| Totals | 80kg Meat | RRP $2150 |
There are a few things that we can't tell you in this guide.
How good is your supermarket beef (probably not that good)
How much the farmer is getting paid (probably not that much)
How much water you're getting in your beef (probably a lot)
But, what we CAN tell you is that whether the customer is doing the math, or we're doing the math, you will save money with a side of beef.
In our example above, we would have paid about $1400 for our side of beef, that gave us 80kg of beef in our boxes, or $17.5 per kg overall. Where I shop, beef mince that's even just "OK" is $20/kg so it's a clear win from start to finish no matter what the cut.
With our customer's example They spent about $1350 (including shipping) and recieved about 70kg of beef, or $19.30/kg give or take.
Our retail cuts comparision chart, showed that for our 'cut and pack' to buy the same cuts from the supermarket would have been a massive $2150, compared to our $1400 - or a saving of over $700! ... this was with (trying) to pick similar 'quality' of meat from the supermarket, not the cheapest options.
So should the takeway be... save $700 when buying a side of beef?
I'll leave that up to you to decide!
Even with all this data, there are some things we just can't fully 'nut out' in our comparison.
Supermarket meat is not dry aged, which is a process by which your 'side' of beef is hung at the butchers for between 7 and 14 days depending on the farm.
The dry aging process removes moisture (weight) from the meat.. by as much as 10%, weight that you won't see in your boxes from Farmer To Fridge, but will see from the supermarket.
Another factor to consider is the overall quality and taste of the meat, if you're just looking at the price per kg, you're really not getting the full picture.
So I feel confident in saying that a side of beef from Farmer To Fridge is cheaper, better value, and higher quality.. but you'll have to decide if it's the right thing for you!
