Buy Beef Direct: Half Beef
A half beef, often called a half cow or a half steer, is the most popular way families buy beef direct. You get half of every cut on the animal, cut the way you want it, from a producer you can name.
A half beef is one side of the carcass, split down the backbone. It carries half of everything the animal yields: one side's ribeyes, strips, tenderloin and sirloins, half the roasts, half the brisket and short ribs, and half the ground beef. Because a half is a true side, you still get your own cut sheet and your own choices on steak thickness, roast size and package weights.
A half cow usually hangs at around 300 to 425 pounds, depending on the animal, and comes home as roughly 180 to 280 pounds of packaged beef once it has been cut and trimmed. That fits in a standard chest freezer of around 8 cubic feet, which is one reason the half is the size most households choose.
Producers usually price a half beef by the pound of hanging weight, sometimes with processing included and sometimes paid separately to the processor. A half share is a real commitment of money and freezer space, but it is also the point where buying direct starts to deliver its value: premium cuts and everyday cuts at one rate, from beef raised by someone you can call.
Use your state page or the map to find producers close to you, and check the ranch's own site for half beef. Many sell out a season ahead, so ask early.
A deposit holds your half on a specific animal and harvest date. Ask whether the other half is already spoken for, and what happens if a date moves.
You fill in the cut sheet for your side. If you are unsure, ask the producer for their standard cut list; most have one that suits a first time buyer.
The balance is figured on your side's hanging weight once the carcass is weighed, plus processing where it is billed separately.
The beef comes back frozen and labeled by cut. Clear the freezer before pickup day; a half fills a chest freezer faster than most people expect.
A good producer is glad to answer every one of these. Ask before you put down a deposit, and compare producers on the same answers.
Each of these ranches says on its own site that it sells halves. Book with the ranch directly; American Beef Direct never takes the order or the deposit.
Eloy, Arizona
Mark and Annette Smith are fourth generation Eloy area farmers who went back to their ranching roots in 2021 to raise American Wagyu. The herd eats alfalfa, corn, barley, bermuda, triticale and oats grown on the family's own ground.
From the ranch's own listing: Quarter, half and whole beef
Hampton, Georgia
Wayne, Charmaine and Jekhi Swanson run a 32 acre farm south of Atlanta raising Georgia Pineywoods cattle, hair sheep and heritage hogs on pasture and in the woods, with no commercial feed, steroids or hormones.
From the ranch's own listing: Eighth, quarter and half beef shares
Meyersville, Texas
Tanner and Catherine left careers in oil and gas and pharmaceutical sales to restore a 1915 farmhouse on 57 acres and raise beef, chicken and heritage hogs on pasture. Beef is dry aged and cut by the farm's own butchers.
From the ranch's own listing: Half and whole animal reservations
Slaton, Texas
The ranch has been in the Forrest family for over 100 years and is raising its sixth generation. Amber and Casey Davis and their daughters run cattle on ranch pasture, finished on grass and grain, with no hormones or antibiotics.
From the ranch's own listing: Eighth, quarter, half and whole beef
Marble Falls, Texas
Beef from the original Samuel Ely Holland Ranch in Burnet County, established by the family's great great grandfather in 1848. Cattle are pasture raised and grass fed, and the beef is dry aged 14 to 18 days.
From the ranch's own listing: Whole, half, quarter and eighth beef
Wells, Nevada
A family ranch in Clover Valley, in the foothills of the East Humboldt range, started in 1947 and now in its fifth generation. Jordan and Kari Lyn Brough sell the ranch's Wagyu and Angus beef direct, from a single cut to a whole beef.
From the ranch's own listing: Custom quarter, half and full beef
Wheatland, Wyoming
The Goertz family has raised cattle and wheat on the same southeast Wyoming ground since 1910, and started selling beef direct in 2004. The cattle graze prairie grass and cover crops, finish on grain raised on the family's own farm, and are dry aged 21 days.
From the ranch's own listing: Whole, half, quarter and eighth beef
Yoder, Colorado
Freedom Acres Ranch is a Marine Corps veteran family's ranch in Yoder, Colorado, founded in 2020 to bring healthy, farm fresh food to families who lack it. The cattle are grass fed and free range, every product is Certified Homegrown by Heroes, and the beef ships to every state.
From the ranch's own listing: Whole, half and quarter beef for the freezer
These are the producers with full written profiles. Many more farms and ranches are on the registry with a listing, and every one of them is on its own state page.
Every state has its own page listing the farms and ranches on record there, the nearest producers in neighboring states, and the ranches that ship. These states have at least one member today.
American Beef Direct is a registry of American beef producers. We help you find a farm or ranch and learn how it raises its cattle, then send you to the producer's own website, phone or store. We never take the order, the deposit, the payment or a commission, and the producer is always the authority on price, availability and pickup or shipping.
Search the map or open your state to find farms and ranches selling beef close to home.