By Joseph Timpson. Reading time: about 12 minutes.

Custom-exempt beef cannot be sold as beef, online or anywhere else. What you can sell online is a share of the live animal, with the buyer owning it before harvest and the meat labeled “Not for Sale.” Packaged cuts, boxes, farmers market sales, an on-farm store and restaurant accounts all need inspected meat: state inspection for sales inside your state, USDA inspection or a Cooperative Interstate Shipment plant for anything that crosses a state line.

At a glance

• Custom exempt: covers custom slaughter of cattle, sheep, swine or goats “delivered by the owner thereof,” for use in that owner’s household (9 CFR 303.1(a)(2)). Packages are labeled “Not For Sale” in letters at least three-eighths of an inch tall (9 CFR 317.16).
• State inspected: sold only inside the state, “true for both in person and internet sales” (Texas A&M AgriLife).
• USDA inspected: “can be shipped over state lines” (University of Wisconsin Extension).
• Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS): a state plant averaging 25 or fewer employees whose product bears “an official Federal mark” and “may be distributed in interstate commerce” (9 CFR 332.3, 9 CFR 332.6).
• The online rule: a custom-exempt listing sells ownership of a live animal, never “beef.” An inspected listing sells beef, and the page must match the label.

This guide is part of the AMA meat e-commerce library and covers online sales by sales type. If you sell shares, read it alongside how to sell beef shares online, which covers the deposit and balance workflow.

What are the four processing statuses, in one paragraph each?

Custom exempt. The processor slaughters an animal its owner delivered and hands the meat back. The product is limited to use “in the household of such owner, by him and members of his household and his nonpaying guests and employees” (9 CFR 303.1(a)(2)). Every package is marked “Not for Sale” (9 CFR 316.16). Oregon State Extension puts it plainly: the meat “cannot be sold, traded, bartered or given away” (OSU Extension EM 9345).

State inspected. A state program inspects the plant and the packages carry the state mark. Minnesota describes it as processing “under continuous inspection, allowing you to sell meat from your farm to customers within the state” (Minnesota Department of Agriculture). Not every state has a program; New Mexico repealed its rules, so meat sold there comes from USDA plants (NMSU Guide B-234).

USDA inspected. Federal inspectors are in the plant and the package carries the federal legend and establishment number. NMSU notes it lets a producer “sell their product to restaurants, retail stores, and farmers’ markets beyond state borders” (NMSU Guide B-234).

Cooperative Interstate Shipment. A selected state-inspected plant, averaging no more than 25 employees, whose product “will bear an official Federal mark of inspection and may be shipped in interstate commerce” (9 CFR 321.3(b), 9 CFR 332.3(a)). As of July 2026, 11 states had CIS agreements: Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin (NCAT, reporting the USDA announcement of July 27, 2026). Check the current list on FSIS’s Cooperative Interstate Shipping Program page before relying on it

Which sales types can you sell online under each processing status?

“Yes” in the table means the federal processing status allows that sale. Your state may still require a retail food permit or a meat distributor registration for packaged sales; check with your state department of agriculture.

Sales type	Custom exempt	State inspected	USDA inspected	CIS plant
Share of a live animal, deposit before harvest	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Whole packaged cuts to the public	No	Yes, in state	Yes	Yes
Boxes shipped inside your state	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Boxes shipped across state lines	No	No	Yes	Yes
Farmers market	No	Yes, in state	Yes	Yes
On-farm store	No (share pickup only)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Restaurant or retail wholesale	No	Yes, in state	Yes	Yes

Share of a live animal with a deposit

Allowed under every status. The buyer purchases an ownership interest in the live animal before harvest. Colorado’s Department of Agriculture states that the “transfer of ownership interest must be completed and documented while the animal is alive” (Colorado Department of Agriculture). New York, per Cornell, wants “an agreement that shows that the animal or the portions were sold in advance of slaughter” (Cornell Small Farms). Oregon adds that USDA “does not have a specific rule about how many shares you may sell of any one animal” (OSU Extension EM 9345); Colorado allows a share as small as one percent.

Label: under custom exempt, “Not for Sale.” Under an inspected plant, the inspection legend, and leftover cuts can then be sold as packaged beef.

Listing must say: you are selling a share of a live animal, not beef. Name the fraction, state that the deposit reserves the share and that the buyer owns it before harvest, and say how processing is paid. Not “Quarter beef, 130 lb”; instead “Quarter share of a live steer, about 130 lb of packaged beef.” The beef shares guide shows the deposit, cut sheet and balance flow.

Whole packaged cuts to the public

Not allowed under custom exempt. Cornell’s New York guidance is blunt: “Individual ‘freezer meat’ cuts cannot be sold by the farmer” (Cornell Small Farms). Allowed under state inspection inside the state, and under USDA or CIS anywhere.

Label: inspected product must show the product name, an ingredients list if there are two or more ingredients, the name and place of business, the net quantity, and “an official inspection legend” with the establishment number (9 CFR 317.2(c)).

Listing must say: the cut name as on the label, the package weight or range, and the price basis. Texas, for example, requires the inspection mark as proof of an “approved source” plus a permit from the local health department or the state retail food division (Texas DSHS).

Boxes shipped inside your state

Not allowed under custom exempt. A box of “Not for Sale” packages mailed to a stranger is a sale of custom-exempt meat. Allowed under state, USDA and CIS inspection, with the inspected label on every package in the box.

Listing must say: the cuts and weight in the box, the shipping area (your state only, if state inspected), the ship day and the cold-chain method. The shipping frozen beef guide covers packaging, zones and when pickup earns more than shipping.

Boxes shipped across state lines

Allowed only under USDA or CIS inspection. Texas A&M’s Tiffany Dowell writes that state-inspected meat “may be sold only in intrastate commerce” and that “this is true for both in person and internet sales” (Texas A&M AgriLife). A CIS plant’s product “may be distributed in interstate commerce” (9 CFR 332.6(d)).

Label: the federal legend and establishment number.

Listing must say: the states you ship to. If your plant is state inspected, set the store’s shipping zones to your state only and say so on the page.

Farmers market

Not allowed under custom exempt. Oregon State Extension states that meat sold at farmers markets, to restaurants or to grocery stores must come from “a USDA or ODA-inspected facility” (OSU Extension EM 9345). Allowed under state inspection inside the state, and under USDA or CIS.

Label: the inspected label. The market and your health department will have their own rules on freezers and permits.

Listing must say: for online pre-orders picked up at market, the cut, weight and price as the package reads, plus the market, day and time. A custom-exempt share handed over at a market is still a share: worded as one, owned before harvest.

On-farm store

Custom exempt: pickup only. The owner can collect their own “Not for Sale” packages from your freezer. You cannot stock that freezer with custom-exempt packages for walk-in sale. Allowed under state, USDA and CIS inspection with whatever retail permit your state requires; your state department of agriculture can tell you which one applies.

Label: the inspected label for anything sold by the package.

Listing must say: for “buy online, pick up at the farm,” the same cut, weight and price as the package, plus pickup hours.

Restaurant or retail wholesale

Not allowed under custom exempt. A restaurant is not the owner’s household. Allowed under state inspection inside the state; USDA and CIS for any account across the line.

Label: the inspected label; wholesale buyers will also ask for your establishment number.

Listing must say: keep any online wholesale price list separate from the retail store and show the establishment number. The meat processor’s guide to selling direct covers building a retail brand under a plant’s inspection.

Worked example: one steer, two legal routes

Take one 1,300 lb finished steer. Assumptions: a 62 percent dressing percentage, inside the 60 to 64 percent range extension gives for fed cattle (Nebraska Extension), and a 65 percent cutting yield (SDSU Extension). Prices are illustrations of the structure, not a recommendation.

Hanging weight = 1,300 × 0.62 = 806 lb Take-home weight = 806 × 0.65 = about 524 lb Quarter = 524 ÷ 4 = about 131 lb of packaged beef

Route A: custom-exempt shares. You list four quarter shares of a live steer at, say, $10.00 per take-home pound, all in: 131 × $10.00 = $1,310 per quarter. A 30 percent deposit is $393, taken when the buyer reserves the share and before the harvest date. The balance, $917, is due at pickup, and processing is built into the $10.00. The package says “Not for Sale.” The listing says “Quarter share of a live steer.” All four shares are sold before harvest or the animal waits.

Route B: USDA-inspected boxes. The same 524 lb goes into 20 lb boxes: 524 ÷ 20 = about 26 boxes, sold one at a time, all year, to any state. No deposit is needed because you own the meat. The package carries the federal legend. The listing says “20 lb beef box” with the cuts inside.

The difference is who owns the animal on harvest day, and therefore what the page may call the product. Run your own weights through the hanging weight calculator.

How do you write the online product page for each legal route?

Custom-exempt share page. Title: “Quarter share of a live steer (about 130 lb packaged beef).” First sentence: “You are buying a one-quarter ownership interest in a live animal, processed for you at a custom-exempt plant.” Then: deposit amount, what it reserves, when the balance is due, how processing is paid, take-home weight as a floor, and pickup or local delivery only. Add the ownership agreement as a checkbox or linked PDF and keep the signed record. Never use “beef for sale,” “per package” or “ships nationwide” on this page.

State-inspected cuts or boxes page. Title matches the label name. Show weight range, price basis and the state mark in a product photo. Set shipping zones to your state and say “Ships within [state] only” above the add-to-cart button.

USDA or CIS boxes page. Title matches the label name. Say “USDA inspected” and show the legend in the photo. List the states you ship to, the ship day and the cold-chain method. This is the only route where “ships nationwide” is true.

The rule of thumb: if the package could not carry the words, the page should not either. The sell beef direct to consumer guide covers the rest of the store.

What should you ask your processor?

1. Which status is this animal processed under? Custom exempt, state, USDA or CIS. Get it in writing on the kill slip; the label decides every row of the table above.
2. If custom exempt, how do you record the owners? The custom operator must keep “the names and addresses of the owners of the livestock” (9 CFR 303.1(b)(3)). Your share buyers should be on that record.
3. If inspected, whose name goes on the label? The label must show “the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor” (9 CFR 317.2(c)(3)).
4. Can you print my label, and has it been approved?
5. Are you in the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program, or applying?
6. Can you cut some shares and some retail from the same lot? Under custom exempt, no; custom and for-sale product must be “kept separate and apart” (9 CFR 303.1(a)(2)(ii)).
7. What is the slot calendar? Your online harvest dates come from it, and deposits must land before those dates.

How AMA handles this

Agriculture Marketing Agency writes product pages that match the label. A custom-exempt share is titled as a share of a live animal, with the ownership language and deposit terms above the fold and the store set to pickup and local delivery only. Inspected boxes are titled by the label name, with the legend in the photo and shipping zones set to the states the plant’s status allows. Shares and boxes get separate pages. Diamond R Cattle, the ranch in our case study, sells quarters, halves and wholes to families within driving distance and ships boxes nationwide from its Shopify store, with the two routes on separate pages.

The work runs on the store the ranch already has, whether that is Shopify, where the Diamond R program runs, or a farm platform. Our platform comparison covers where each one fits.

What doesn’t work

Listing custom-exempt cuts by the package. “Ribeye, 1.2 lb, $28” from a custom-exempt lot is a sale of “Not for Sale” meat, whatever the page calls it. It usually starts with leftover packages from a share that fell through. Those packages belong to the owner of record, not the store.

Shipping shares. A share is an ownership interest in a live animal, picked up or delivered locally. Boxing a “share” and sending it two states away is shipping custom-exempt meat across state lines. To ship, process under USDA or CIS and sell boxes.

Taking the deposit after harvest. If the animal was hanging before the buyer paid, the buyer did not own it at slaughter. Colorado requires the transfer “completed and documented while the animal is alive.” Sell into a harvest date, not out of a freezer.

Assuming a state mark is a national mark. A state-inspected box shipped out of state on an internet order breaks the rule even if the buyer asked for it. Set the shipping zones so the store cannot make the sale.

Frequently asked questions

Can you sell custom exempt beef online?

No, not as beef. You can sell a share of the live animal online, with the buyer taking ownership before harvest and the meat returned to them labeled “Not for Sale.” The listing must describe an ownership interest in a live animal, not packaged meat.

Can I sell state-inspected beef to a customer in another state?

No. State-inspected meat may be sold only within the state, and Texas A&M’s agricultural law specialist notes this applies to internet sales as well as in-person sales. Only USDA-inspected meat, or meat from a Cooperative Interstate Shipment plant, may cross state lines.

What is the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program?

It is a program that lets selected state-inspected plants with 25 or fewer employees on average ship across state lines. Their product carries an official federal mark of inspection. As of July 2026, 11 states had agreements, so ask your processor whether your state and plant participate.

Does a custom-exempt share buyer need to own the whole animal?

No. More than one person may own a live animal, and USDA has no specific rule on how many shares one animal may be split into, per Oregon State Extension. Some states set their own floor, so check yours, and document every owner before harvest.

Can I sell the leftover cuts from a custom-exempt share?

No. Every package from a custom-exempt animal is marked “Not for Sale” and belongs to the owner of record. If you want packages you can sell, process the animal under state or USDA inspection instead.

Can I take share pre-orders online and hand them out at a farmers market?

Yes, if the animal was owned before harvest and the listing was a share of a live animal. What you cannot do is sell custom-exempt packages to walk-up customers; farmers market sales by the package need inspected meat and whatever permits the market and your health department require.

What must an inspected beef label show?

The product name, an ingredients list if the product has two or more ingredients, the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer or distributor, the net quantity, and the official inspection legend with the establishment number, under 9 CFR 317.2. Your online listing should match that label.

Get your listings checked against your labels

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and vary by state and county. Confirm your route with your state department of agriculture and your processor before your first sale.

---

About the author. Joseph Timpson is a co-founder of Agriculture Marketing Agency, where he leads SEO and technical marketing.

Sources – 9 CFR 303.1, Exemptions. eCFR. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-9/chapter-III/subchapter-A/part-303/section-303.1 – 9 CFR 316.16, Custom prepared products to be marked “Not for Sale.” eCFR. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-9/chapter-III/subchapter-A/part-316/section-316.16 – 9 CFR 317.2, Labels: definition; required features. eCFR. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-9/chapter-III/subchapter-A/part-317/subpart-A/section-317.2 – 9 CFR 317.16, Labeling and containers of custom prepared products. eCFR. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-9/chapter-III/subchapter-A/part-317/subpart-A/section-317.16 – 9 CFR 321.3, Cooperation of States for the interstate shipment. eCFR. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-9/chapter-III/subchapter-A/part-321/section-321.3 – 9 CFR 332.3 and 332.6, Cooperative interstate shipment program. eCFR. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-9/chapter-III/subchapter-A/part-332 – Texas A&M AgriLife, Tiffany Dowell, “Can I Sell State Inspected Meat Across State Lines?” https://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/2023/04/03/question-from-tiffanys-desk-can-i-sell-state-inspected-meat-across-state-lines/ – University of Wisconsin Extension, “Direct Marketing Meat: Getting Started.” https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/articles/direct-marketing-meat-getting-started/ – Oregon State University Extension, Rebecca Thistlethwaite, EM 9345, “Frequently asked questions about using custom-exempt slaughter and processing facilities in Oregon.” https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/em-9345-frequently-asked-questions-about-using-custom-exempt-slaughter-processing – Minnesota Department of Agriculture, “Livestock Producers: Selling Your Meat Products.” https://www.mda.state.mn.us/livestock-producers-selling-your-meat-products – New Mexico State University, Ward and Gifford, Guide B-234, “Selling Meat Direct to Consumers from the Ranch or Farm.” https://pubs.nmsu.edu/_b/B234/index.html – Colorado Department of Agriculture, “Guidance to Ranchers and Custom Exempt Processors Regarding the Ranch to Plate Act.” https://ag.colorado.gov/guidance-to-ranchers-and-custom-exempt-processors-regarding-the-ranch-to-plate-act-sb21-079 – Cornell Small Farms Program, “Slaughtering, Cutting, and Processing of Amenable Meats.” https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/resources/guide-to-direct-marketing-livestock-and-poultry-2/slaughtering-cutting-and-processing-of-amenable-meats/ – Texas Department of State Health Services, “Frequently Asked Questions about Processing and Sale.” https://www.dshs.texas.gov/meat-safety/frequently-asked-questions-about-processing-sale-meat-safety – NCAT, “Georgia Joins Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program,” July 28, 2026, reporting the USDA announcement. https://www.ncat.org/news/georgia-joins-cooperative-interstate-shipment-program/ – Nebraska Extension BeefWatch, “How Many Pounds of Meat Can We Expect From A Beef Animal?” https://beef.unl.edu/beefwatch/2020/how-many-pounds-meat-can-we-expect-beef-animal – SDSU Extension, “How Much Meat Can You Expect from a Fed Steer?” https://extension.sdstate.edu/how-much-meat-can-you-expect-fed-steer

Last updated: September 26, 2026