Free cut sheet & processing templates.

Processing season is here. Print-ready cut sheets for beef, pork, and lamb & goat — the form your processor actually asks you to fill out — plus a butcher-day record and a share sheet for selling halves and quarters. Free, no signup.

✓ Print or open in Excel✓ No email required✓ Built from real processor forms

Cut sheets

Every choice on a cut sheet changes what comes home — boneless and close-trimmed yields less, and that’s fine if it’s what you wanted. Fill it out at the kitchen table, not on the phone while the processor waits.

Beef Cut Sheet

Free

Steaks, roasts, ground, and the extras most people forget to ask for — laid out the way the processor’s counter form reads.

Steak thickness · Steaks / pkg · Bone-in / boneless · Roast size · Ground pkg (1–2 lb) · Patties · Stew · Cube steak · Short ribs (English / flanken) · Brisket (whole / flat & point / ground) · Heart · Liver · Tongue · Oxtail · Soup bones · Suet · Aging (wet / dry) · Vacuum / paper

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In the app, save it as “Our half, 2026” and duplicate it next year. Track it free →

Pork Cut Sheet

Free

The hog is all decisions — hams fresh or cured, bacon or belly, chops or ribs, and how much goes to sausage.

Hams (fresh / cured · whole / half / steaks) · Shoulder (butt roast / steaks / sausage) · Picnic · Chops (thickness, per pkg) vs loin roast · Back ribs · Bacon (thick / regular) or fresh belly · Spare ribs · Sausage (breakfast / Italian / brat · bulk / links) · Hocks · Jowl · Leaf lard · Feet · Organs

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Log the pig’s butcher day in the app and it figures your cost per pound in the freezer. Track it free →

Lamb & Goat Cut Sheet

Free

Smaller carcass, fewer cuts, bigger regrets if you forget to ask for the shanks. Works for goat the same way.

Legs (whole / half / boneless / steaks) · Shoulder (roast / chops / ground) · Loin chops or saddle · Rack (whole / rib chops) · Shanks (whole / osso buco) · Breast / riblets · Neck · Ground & stew pkg · Organs · Bones · Vacuum / paper

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The app’s processing record works for any species you send off. Track it free →

Butcher-day records

The trip is three moments — drop-off, the call, boxes back — and the number that matters lands at the end: what that freezer beef actually cost you per pound.

Processing Record

Free

One sheet per animal, filled in as the trip happens. The live weight and the hanging weight are what turn into your dressing percent.

Animal / tag · Species · Processor · Drop-off · Kill date · Med withdrawal clear? · Live wt (date) · Carcass wt (hot / chilled) · Aging days · Packaged wt · Kill fee · Processing bill · Dressing % · Cost / lb

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In the app it’s the same three moments in one record — and it figures dressing %, yield and freezer cost per lb as the numbers come in. Track it free →

Split & Share Sheet

Free

Selling a half or a quarter? Who’s taking what, on what basis, what they put down, and what they still owe.

Buyer · Share (whole / half / quarter / eighth) · Price basis (per lb hanging / per lb packaged / flat) · Rate · Deposit · Paid on · Balance due · Their cut sheet? · Their packaged lb · Notes

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In the app each share tracks deposit and balance, and payments land in your books as meat sales. Track it free →

What to expect from a steer

Extension figures, so you can sanity-check the processor’s call. Pigs dress higher (typically 70–75%) and lambs lower (around 50%); the take-home spread is mostly your cut sheet’s choices, not a problem.

Figure	Typical	Source
Dressing %, grain-fed steer	60–63% (1,200 lb → ~756 lb hanging)	OSU Extension
Aging shrink, ~14 days	~6%	OSU Extension
Take-home, of chilled carcass	50–65% — mostly the cut sheet	OSU Extension
Packaged from a 1,200-lb steer	~470 lb (≈40% of live)	MSU Extension

Grass-fed and cull cows land outside steer norms honestly. “Hanging weight” isn’t defined the same by every processor — ask whether they mean hot or chilled.

When the boxes come back

Know what that freezer beef really cost

Homestead Paradise’s Processing card follows the whole trip and turns it into the numbers nobody else gives you — dressing percent, cutting yield, and cost per packaged pound with feed included. It checks the kill date against any medication withdrawal before you book. And the shares you sell track deposit and balance due, landing in your books as meat sales without a second spreadsheet.

“That steer dressed at 61% and came back at 468 lb packaged — with feed, you’re at about $4.10 a pound in the freezer. Your quarter buyer still owes $180.” Your Smart Advisor points things out and suggests what he’d check — you decide.

Start free →

Free to start with a 14-day full trial, then it settles onto the free plan — never a paywall. Export to CSV anytime; we don’t train any model on your records.

More for the fall

Fall homestead checklistThe printable seasonal to-do — coop, garden, pantry, gear.Freezer inventory templateSo the bottom of the chest isn’t an archaeology dig.Expense & Schedule F templateWhere the kill fee and the feed bill end up.

Common questions

What is a cut sheet?

The form that tells the processor how to cut, package and label your animal — steak thickness, roast size, ground package weight, which extras to keep. Every choice changes how much comes home and in what form, so the sheets above walk you through the decisions before the processor calls.

How much meat do you get from a cow?

From a 1,200-lb grain-fed steer, expect roughly 470 lb of packaged meat — about 40% of live weight. It dresses to a ~756-lb hanging carcass (60–63%), loses about 6% to aging, and then 50–65% of the chilled carcass comes home depending on how you cut it (OSU and MSU Extension figures).

What is the difference between hanging weight and packaged weight?

Hanging (carcass) weight is the animal after slaughter, before cutting — and processors don’t all mean the same thing by it, so ask whether it is hot or chilled. Packaged weight is what actually comes home in boxes. Bone and trim always make packaged smaller; the gap is normal, not a shortfall.

How do I sell a half or a quarter?

Agree on the basis first — a price per pound of hanging weight, per pound packaged, or a flat price — then take a deposit and record the balance. The share sheet above tracks all of it per buyer. Rules on who can buy and how vary by state, so check with your processor about what your arrangement allows.

Are these templates really free?

Yes — print them or open the Excel copy on your own computer, no signup and no email. Homestead Paradise has a free tier too if you would rather keep it all in one place.

From the 2B Creations workshop

Feeders & waterers that stop the waste.

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