A side of beef is half an animal, butchered and packed for the freezer. In Aotearoa, it usually weighs somewhere between 130 and 180 kilograms hanging weight, which becomes 90 to 130 kilograms of packaged meat once the bones, trim, and ageing-loss are accounted for. That’s roughly a year’s worth of beef for a family of four, or six months for a household that eats it most nights.
If you’ve never bought meat this way before, the numbers can sound abstract. This guide is what we wish someone had handed us when we first started talking to people about ordering a side: what it costs, what you’ll actually get, what you need to think about before you commit, and what separates a good farm from a mediocre one.
What “side of beef” actually means
In NZ butchery language, you’ll hear three terms.
A whole beast is the entire animal, dressed and butchered. Hanging weight runs 260 to 360 kg depending on the breed and finish.
A side is half — split lengthways down the spine. Hanging weight 130 to 180 kg. This is the most common bulk option.
A quarter is half a side, either front (forequarter) or rear (hindquarter). The hindquarter has more of the high-value cuts (sirloin, fillet, rump, topside), the forequarter has the slow-cooking meat (chuck, brisket, shin) and most of the bones. Reputable farms sell mixed quarters so you get a balanced share.
You’ll also hear “live weight” (the animal on the hoof, around 500–650 kg), “hanging weight” (after slaughter and dressing, before butchery — this is what you usually pay on), and “packaged weight” or “take-home weight” (what ends up in your freezer). Yield from hanging to packaged sits at around 65–75% for grass-finished beef, depending on how much trim and bone you keep.
Pricing — what to expect in NZ
There’s no single number, because farms price differently. Some quote per kilogram of hanging weight, some quote per kilogram of packaged weight, and a few quote a flat package price. Make sure you’re comparing the same thing before you decide.
As of 2026, a regeneratively raised, grass-fed side of beef in NZ tends to land in this range:
- Hanging-weight pricing: $14–$22 per kg. A 150 kg side at $18/kg is $2,700 hanging, plus a butchery fee (often $2–$4 per kg of hanging weight).
- Packaged-weight pricing: $20–$32 per kg. A 100 kg packaged side at $26/kg is $2,600 all-in.
- Per-cut from a farm shop: works out 15–35% more than buying a side, because you’re paying for the cherry-picking and the inventory risk.
Compared to a supermarket, bulk pricing on grass-finished beef from a real farm is usually similar to (or slightly cheaper than) supermarket prime cuts, but you’re getting the slow-cookers, mince and bones included for the same per-kg rate. The economics tilt heavily in your favour if you actually use the whole animal.
Watch for hidden costs: butchery fees, vacuum-pack fees, courier fees for North Island delivery, dry-ageing surcharges, and minimum-order add-ons. A good farm tells you all of this up front before you commit.
What you’ll get in the box
A typical mixed side, butchered to a sensible standard NZ cut sheet, comes back something like this (rough proportions, will vary):
- Premium steaks — sirloin/porterhouse, eye fillet, rump, ribeye/scotch — around 12–15% of the side
- Roasts — topside, silverside, bolar, rolled brisket — around 15–20%
- Slow-cook cuts — chuck, blade, shin, oxtail, brisket — around 20–25%
- Mince and patties — around 25–35%
- Sausages — around 5–10% if you’ve asked for sausages
- Stock bones, marrow bones, organ meats — around 5–10% if you’ve asked for them
Most farms send a cut sheet a week or two before slaughter so you can decide. Things to specify: thickness of steaks (2 cm is standard, 3 cm if you cook reverse-sear), portion size of mince and sausages (250 g or 500 g packs change how often you defrost), whether you want bone-in or bone-out roasts, and whether you want any cuts smoked or aged.
If you don’t tell the butcher, you’ll get the house default — which is usually fine, but not necessarily what you’d choose.
Freezer space — the practical bit
A 100 kg packaged side takes about 250 to 350 litres of freezer space, depending on how it’s packed. A small chest freezer (200 L) won’t fit a side. A 300–400 L chest freezer is the sweet spot for one side per year. If you’re going whole beast, plan on 500–700 L.
Before you order, measure your freezer in litres and double-check with the farm what their packed volume runs to per kilogram. A few farms will offer split delivery (drop the steaks first, then the mince, then the slow-cookers) but most don’t, so freezer prep is on you.
If you don’t have a chest freezer, the maths usually still works in favour of buying one alongside your first side. A second-hand 300 L freezer in NZ runs $200–$400. You’ll save that back inside two years on the meat alone.
Lead time and seasonality
Beef in NZ is not a same-week product. Most regenerative farms run on a slaughter schedule with a local processor and have waiting lists of three to twelve weeks, depending on demand and how many animals they finish in a year.
Animals are usually finished at 24 to 36 months on grass — which means the farm is committing to a finishing window months in advance, and adding more orders means waiting for the next animal in the rotation. If a farm tells you they can have a side in your freezer next Tuesday, ask where the animal came from. Real grass finishing takes time.
Autumn (April–June) tends to be peak quality in our part of the country: the animals have been on the best of the summer pasture, and the cooler ageing temperatures suit dry-ageing. Spring is also good. Mid-summer can run leaner if the season has been dry.
How to choose a farm
A side of beef is a bigger commitment than a tray from the supermarket — both financially and practically — so it’s worth a few questions before you order.
- What does “grass-fed” actually mean here? Almost all NZ beef is pasture-raised, but “grass-finished” (no grain at any point) is a stricter standard. Ask which one.
- Are the animals on the farm year-round, or finished elsewhere? A farm that buys store cattle and finishes them on contract is different from one that breeds, raises, and finishes the same animal on the same whenua.
- What’s the farming system? Rotational grazing, low stocking rates, pasture diversity, and minimal inputs are the markers of a regenerative system. Lush single-grass pastures with synthetic fertiliser are not the same thing.
- Where’s the butchery done? Local on-farm butchery, or a small contract butcher who handles the carcass with care, is a different product from a high-volume processing plant.
- Can you visit? A farm that says yes is a farm that has nothing to hide.
- Is the price transparent? Hanging-weight quoted, butchery and packing itemised, no surprise surcharges.
You’re not just buying meat. You’re choosing whose paddocks your kai comes from for the next year. The questions are worth the time.
Why we farm the way we do
We’re a small farm in the Hutt Valley, half an hour out of Wellington. The cattle here graze across rotating pastures alongside 500-plus acres of native old-growth forest, and we farm with a long horizon — soil first, animals next, food after that. We use Halter virtual fencing to move mobs daily, follow the cattle with sheep, and let the mycelium network under the pasture do the slow work of building back what 150 years of clearing took out.
That farming approach changes the meat. A grass-finished animal on a regenerating pasture system tends to carry better fat composition, more depth of flavour, and a different mouthfeel than feedlot or grain-finished beef. We can’t promise it will be your favourite — taste is personal — but most people who switch don’t go back.
Sides go through our local butcher, dry-aged 14–21 days unless requested otherwise, packed in vacuum-sealed cuts, and frozen ready for delivery or pick-up. We send North Island and offer Wellington-region pick-up direct from the farm shop.
If you want to talk through what a side might look like for your household, get in touch. Sides are not always available, but we usually have whole animals coming through every few months and can put you on the list for the next one.
Want a smaller commitment first? Our meat boxes ship 2 kg to 6 kg of mixed regenerative meat fortnightly across the North Island. Or come visit the farm shop in Whitemans Valley — Tues to Sun.