Selling a quarter of beef: deposit, cutting sheet and the final bill
A quarter of beef works when three things are clear from the start: the deposit, the cutting sheet and how the bill is worked out. Here is the whole process.
Selling beef by the quarter fills a freezer for your customer and sells a whole animal for you. It works when three things are clear from the start: the deposit, the cutting sheet and how you work out the final bill.
Price per kilo of hanging weight
Quarters are usually priced per kilo of hanging weight, the weight of the carcass after slaughter, before cutting. Nobody knows the exact weight until it is weighed at the abattoir, so you agree the price per kilo, not the total.
Example: £7.50 a kilo, and a quarter expected at around 80 kg. Estimate: 80 × £7.50 = £600, plus £60 for cutting and vacuum packing, £660 in all.
The deposit
Take a deposit when the customer reserves, for example £150. It holds their share and protects you if someone backs out after slaughter. Our guide deposit or the full amount gives a simple rule.
The cutting sheet
Before slaughter, each customer answers a few questions: steaks thick or thin, roasting joints or mince, bones for stock, how many per pack. A short sheet with clear choices. A customer who answers late holds up the butcher.
The final bill
The carcass comes back and this quarter weighs 76.5 kg. Meat: 76.5 × £7.50 = £573.75. With the £60 fee: £633.75. Minus the £150 deposit: £483.75 still to pay.
Tell customers what ends up in the freezer
Bone, fat and trim come off during cutting, so the customer often takes home around two thirds of the hanging weight. Here that is about 49.7 kg, which works out at £12.75 a kilo in the freezer. Say it up front and you avoid the most common complaint.
How Lagom does it
In Lagom you add the animal, how many parts it is sold in, the price per kilo of hanging weight, the deposit and fee per part, and the cutting sheet questions. Customers reserve a share, the deposit goes on their order, and once the carcass weights are in, Lagom works out each bill with the deposit taken off.
More for farmers and butchers: Lagom for meat producers.