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A Question For The Butchers On Here.
Horse Plains Drifter
Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 40,242 ***** Forums Admin
For a beef carcass, what is the approximate percent of loss between hanging weight. and the cut/wrapped/take home weight? TIA for any input.
Comments
About 60%, according to the internet...
60% +-, 40% loss
Usually 60% of live weight is what you end up with. Last two I hauled in were almost exactly that with two weeks hang time. Keep in mind the longer the carcass hangs the lighter it gets.
This is something I actually know about. I cut my first pork chops in my grandmothers grocery store when I was 10 years old because my Dad and grandfather were not in the store.
Live weight 1,000 lbs. A good dressing % was 60%. That was 50 years ago. I doubt that % has changed in a beef. It might have changed in a hog as every generation is so much quicker hogs versus beef.
A 1,000 lb. beef will dress 400 lbs. of boned trimmed beef if a REAL good yield. More often somewhere between 350 to 400 lbs. This is why beef is expensive. A whole lot of money is invested in getting a calf to 1,000 lbs. to have it yield 400 lbs. of meat.
This is why chicken, turkey and pork are so much less expensive per lb. Chicken, turkey and pork lend themselves to factory farming much more so than does a herd of cows.
40% is about what I've gotten from my beef. Same roughly as deer and elk.
Yield percent is part of what is driving the "Angus beef" campaign.
I dare anyone to sit down at a table with a prime Angus and a prime Hereford steak on their plate and pick which is which.
Angus is a finer-boned breed so dress out slightly better.
That's why you see a lot of "Baldy Black" calves in the feedlot -- Angus bull on a Hereford heifer makes for an easier first calf.
"Pulling a calf" is an unfun part of raising cattle.
"I dare anyone to sit down at a table with a prime Angus and a prime Hereford steak on their plate and pick which is which."
Yep, I have been saying the same thing for 25 years, or whenever this Angus thing became a thing. I have dined on everything from 3-1/2 YO range steers to Holstein bulls, to some of the most premium critters around. 98.5% of it is how they're raised/fed, not what they are.
Great, now I want a steak.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
I will take your dare! Medium well please! I will let you know what I think after they are eaten😁
Not to mention Angus beef has a lot better, by a long shot, PR people...
The retail prices for a good steak right now have me eating a lot of pork and chicken.
I have even tried to psych myself by adding steak sauce but it just aint working!!😥