How much meat do you get from a lamb?

About a third of its live weight. A 120 lb lamb dressing 50% hangs at 60 lb, and at 75% cutting yield that is about 45 lb in the freezer, bone-in.

What is hanging weight?

The carcass weight after slaughter, with the head, hide, feet and insides gone. Processors usually charge cut and wrap on it, and freezer animals are often priced on it.

What dressing percent should I use for goats?

Goats are leaner and usually dress lower than lambs; 48% is a middle figure. Well-fed meat-type kids can do better, thin or dairy-type goats worse. Your processor's sheet from the last one is the best number.

Freezer lamb and goat

From live weight to hanging weight to the meat that actually comes home, and what every pound of it cost once the animal and the processor are both counted.

Works for sheep & goats. Free, no account, and nothing you type leaves your phone.

Live weight

lb

Worth live

$/cwt

What you paid, or what it would bring at the sale barn.

Dressing

% of live

Hanging weight as a share of live weight.

Cutting yield

% of hanging

Lower if you want it boneless.

The processor

Kill fee

$ a head

Cut and wrap

$/lb hanging

Anything else

$

Hauling, sausage, smoking.

Cost per pound in the freezer

$9.11

on about 45 lb of meat from a lamb weighing 120 lb live

Hanging weight: 60.0 lb
Take-home meat: 45.0 lb
The lamb: $300.00
Processing: $110.00
All in: $410.00
Per lb hanging: $6.83

Your numbers, step by step

120 lb live × 50% = 60.0 lb hanging.
60.0 lb × 75% = 45.0 lb of meat to take home; the rest is bone, fat and trim.
The lamb: 120 lb × $250.00 ÷ 100 = $300.00.
Processing: $50.00 + 60.0 lb × $1.00 = $110.00.
$410.00 ÷ 45.0 lb = $9.11 a pound in the freezer, or $6.83 a pound hanging.

See a mistake, or a number that doesn't look right?

How this is calculated

The formulas

Hanging weight: live weight × dressing %
Take-home meat: hanging weight × cutting yield %
The animal: live weight × $/cwt ÷ 100
Processing: kill fee + hanging weight × cut and wrap $/lb + anything else
Cost per pound: (animal + processing) ÷ take-home meat
Or ÷ hanging weight, for the figure freezer buyers usually quote.

Where the defaults come from, and the limits

Dressing. 50% for lambs and 48% for goats are middle figures. Fat, muscle, fill and how long they were off feed all move it several points.
Cutting yield. 75% is bone-in. Boneless cuts and heavy trimming bring it down.
Prices and fees. The opening $250 and $300/cwt, the $50 kill fee and $1.00/lb cut and wrap are round placeholders, not market averages: we don't carry lamb and goat prices yet, and processors vary a lot. Put in your own.

Questions people ask

How much meat do you get from a lamb?: About a third of its live weight. A 120 lb lamb dressing 50% hangs at 60 lb, and at 75% cutting yield that is about 45 lb in the freezer, bone-in.
What is hanging weight?: The carcass weight after slaughter, with the head, hide, feet and insides gone. Processors usually charge cut and wrap on it, and freezer animals are often priced on it.
What dressing percent should I use for goats?: Goats are leaner and usually dress lower than lambs; 48% is a middle figure. Well-fed meat-type kids can do better, thin or dairy-type goats worse. Your processor's sheet from the last one is the best number.

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