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Weight loss from live wt. to the freezer

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Faster horses

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Some friends of ours always buys a half beef from a supplier nearby. This particular time, he weighed the meat when he got it home from the processing plant.

Upon talking to the supplier, this beef weighed 1600#. It was big. The hanging weight, which is what he paid for, weighed 484#. That does jibe, making the beef dress at 60%. Now before putting the meat in his freezer, they weighed what they picked up at the processers. Suprisingly, they only had 263 pounds of meat.

They usually get ribs and they didn't this time. Otherwise, the meat was cut up as usual. The Mrs. said there weren't very many roasts and the meat didn't fill the freezer as full as usual. The kicker is, this was a much bigger steer.

What they would like to know is: what % of hanging weight should you get back? I told them it would depend largely on how much of it was de-boned. They didn't ask that this be deboned any more than usual.

So, can anyone shed some light on this?

I'm wondering if a box (or two) of meat is still at the processing place.
 
40 or 50% of the live weight would be calculated like this:
1600# x 40% equals 640# for the whole critter. Half would be 320#.
1600# x 50% equals 800# for the whole critter. Half would be 400#.

Or do you mean 40-50% of live weight would be hanging weight?
We know that is 60% because live weight was 1600# and hanging weight was 968; half of it was 484#. It is from there on, that something isn't right.
 
Faster horses said:
Some friends of ours always buys a half beef from a supplier nearby. This particular time, he weighed the meat when he got it home from the processing plant.

Upon talking to the supplier, this beef weighed 1600#. It was big. The hanging weight, which is what he paid for, weighed 484#. That does jibe, making the beef dress at 60%. Now before putting the meat in his freezer, they weighed what they picked up at the processers. Suprisingly, they only had 263 pounds of meat.

They usually get ribs and they didn't this time. Otherwise, the meat was cut up as usual. The Mrs. said there weren't very many roasts and the meat didn't fill the freezer as full as usual. The kicker is, this was a much bigger steer.


So, can anyone shed some light on this?
60% of 1600 should be 960#
40% of 1600 which I guess would be the wraped meat weight is 640#
Half of that would be 320#
 
Ya had me curious, so I did some lookin, this is bout the only article I could find that had any explanation on processing beef and weight.

Determining Cutting Instructions for Rehoboth Ranch Lean and Clean Beef
First, some definitions:

Live weight - weight (lbs.) of the beef before any processing has occurred.
Hanging weight - weight (lbs.) of the animal after it has been dressed out and hung to dry age. This isthe weight for which the price of the beef and lamb is calculated to insure fairness in the pricing structure for customers different processing preferences. For example, some customers may prefer to have boneless cuts packaged. Charging by hanging weight allows us to avoid charging by the cut, since the customer is buying the whole hanging beef or lamb or side of hanging beef for processing the way they prefer.
Package weight - weight (lbs.) of the final processed meat in the package.

Beef

For a beef, hanging weight is about 60% of live weight. After processing, the net package weight will be about 60% to 65% of hanging weight. For example, a 850 pound steer will have a hanging weight of about 510 pounds. After processing there will be about 310 pounds package weight of beef (or about 155 lbs. per side). The cost is $2.25 per lb. hanging weight, so the final product will cost $1,147, or about $3.70 per lb. for tenderloin to ground beef.
 
If they had more hamburger made, it would sure lighten the wrapped weight.

The first time I had a cow made all into hamburger and I got, about 250 pounds from a 1000 pound cow, I was shocked, until I investigated and found that that was normal on an older cow.

faster horses, did you get my pm?
 
The weight hitting the freezer really depends on how it was cut and wrapped. As was mentioned ground beef hass all the bone removed so weighs less.

If other cuts were boned the weight would be less as well.

283 is 54% of 484. This would suggest the chuck was ground. If it was they got all the meat. If they have bone in roasts, there should have been another 28-56 pounds (10-20%). Traditional bone in cuts would yield up to 75% of carcass weight.

The 60% dressed weight was that over a scale or just an estimate? If the animal weighed 1600 on a full stomach it could have dressed less than 60%, and that would affect the final yield.


This experience is exactly why many ranchers cuss packers. They don't realize the losses involved in processing, and costs associated with losses.
 
Thanks, everybody. I knew I could get good information from you!

We have come to the conclusion that a box of roasts and steaks are missing.

Jason, the weight of the meat in their freezer was 263, not 284. Not much difference but enough to be a box of meat. And that is figuring the percents on the low side.

It was great getting input from all of you.
 
Jason is right, but to add to it, was the 1600 pounds a heavy muscled animal or was it a too fat animal? if it was a too fat with an inch of backfat, the trim is going to take away alot of weight, that is the reason for the heavy discounts for YG 4 and 5 animals by the packers. Only a 60% yield indicates to me that the animal was light muscled and or full when the live weight was taken. We had our 4-H kids do this calculation for the simple reason that everybody is always accusing packing plants of keeping some of the meat. Parents were amazed at the weight loss :???:
 
FH:

This article written by Duane Wulf, PhD, Meat Scientist at SDSU may help--there are lots of variables in the weight of meat brought home from a locker and he does a good job of addressing them.

I got this article from this website: http://ars.sdstate.edu/meats/ but it doesn't directly link you to the article. Hope this helps out! TTB

Did the Locker Plant Steal Some of My Meat?
by Duane M. Wulf, Ph.D.
Department of Animal and Range Sciences
South Dakota State University



To determine how much meat you should get from a market animal:

Pounds of Meat = (Dressing Percent X Carcass Cutting Yield) X Live Weight

Therefore, two factors affect the percentage of meat that you will receive:

1. Dressing Percentage
2. Carcass Cutting Yield

Dressing Percentage

Dressing Percentage = The percentage of the live animal that ends up as carcass.

Dressing Percentage = Carcass Weight / Live Weight X 100

Dressing Percentage is affected by:

1. Gut fill – The more gut fill at the time the live weight is taken, the lower the dressing percentage will be. If an animal is weighed right off of full feed, the dressing percentage will be 2 to 5% lower than if the animal is fasted for 24 hours prior to weighing.
2. Muscling – A heavier muscled animal will have a higher dressing percentage than a light muscled animal.
3. Fatness – A fatter animal will have a higher dressing percentage than a lean animal.
4. Mud – Cattle with a lot of mud attached to their hide will have a lower dressing percentage than clean cattle.
5. Wool – Lambs with long wool will have a lower dressing percentage than recently-shorn lambs.

Average Dressing Percentages:

Beef cattle: 62%
Dairy steers: 59%
Market hogs: 74%
Market lambs: 54% (shorn)

Carcass Cutting Yield

Carcass Cutting Yield = The percentage of the carcass that ends up as meat.

Carcass Cutting Yield = Pounds of Meat / Carcass Weight X 100

Carcass Cutting Yield is affected by:

1. Fatness – Leaner animals will have higher carcass cutting yields than fatter animals.
2. Muscling – More muscular animals will have higher carcass cutting yields than less muscular animals.
3. Bone-in versus Boneless – This will dramatically affect carcass cutting yield. If more boneless cuts that are made, then the carcass cutting yield will be lower than if bone-in cuts are made. If bone-in chuck roasts, rib steaks, T-bones, and bone-in sirloin steaks are made, the carcass cutting yield will be much higher than if boneless chuck roasts, ribeye steaks, strip steaks, and boneless sirloin steaks are made. It is important to note that the amount of edible meat will not change, but boneless cuts will take up less room in your freezer. If you get soup bones and short ribs, the carcass cutting yield will be higher than if you have these items boned and put into ground beef.
4. The Amount of Fat Remaining on the Meat Cuts – If the meat cutter leaves more surface fat on the meat cuts, then the carcass cutting yield will be higher than if the meat cuts are closely-trimmed.
5. The Leanness of the Ground Product – If the ground product (ground beef, ground pork, pork sausage, ground lamb) is made very lean, then the carcass cutting yield will be lower than if the ground product is made with more fat. For example, a typical beef carcass could have 20 more pounds of ground beef if it is made into 70% lean ground beef than if it is made into 92% lean ground beef.



BEEF EXAMPLES:

Average beef animal, weighed full, 1200 lbs., boneless steaks and roasts, closely trimmed, lean ground beef:

(.61 X .62) X 1200 = 38% X 1200 = 456 lbs. of meat

Average beef animal, weighed full, 1200 lbs., bone-in steaks and roasts, regular trimmed, regular ground beef:

(.61 X .71) X 1200 = 43% X 1200 = 516 lbs. of meat

Average beef animal, weighed full, 1200 lbs., some bone-in and some boneless steaks and roasts, closely trimmed, regular ground beef:

(.61 X .67) X 1200 = 41% X 1200 = 492 lbs. of meat

Average Holstein steer, weighed full, 1200 lbs., boneless steaks and roasts, closely trimmed, lean ground beef:

(.58 X .57) X 1200 = 33% X 1200 = 396 lbs. of meat

Lean, heavily muscled beef animal, weighed full, 1200 lbs., boneless steaks and roasts, closely trimmed, lean ground beef:

(.62 X .69) X 1200 = 43% X 1200 = 516 lbs. of meat

Very fat beef animal, weighed full, 1200 lbs., boneless steaks and roasts, closely trimmed, lean ground beef:

(.62 X .46) X 1200 = 29% X 1200 = 348 lbs. of meat

Lean, heavily muscled beef animal, weighed empty, 1200 lbs., bone-in steaks and roasts, regular trimmed, regular ground beef:

(.65 X .80) X 1200 = 52% X 1200 = 624 lbs. of meat



PORK EXAMPLES:

Note: The dressing percentages and carcass cutting yields in these examples are for skin-on pork carcasses. Many meat plants skin pork carcasses. Skinned carcasses will have lower dressing percentages and higher carcass cutting yields. However, you will still come up with the same answer when calculating the amount of meat so these examples still apply. In other words, you will get the same amount of meat from a pig whether the carcass is skinned or not.

Average market hog, weighed full, 250 lbs., bone-in chops and roasts, closely trimmed, regular ground pork/sausage:

(.72 X .74) X 250 = 53% X 250 = 133 lbs. of meat

Average market hog, weighed full, 250 lbs., boneless chops and roasts, closely trimmed, lean ground pork/sausage:

(.72 X .65) X 250 = 47% X 250 = 118 lbs. of meat

Lean, heavily muscled market hog, weighed full, 250 lbs., boneless chops and roasts, closely trimmed, lean ground pork/sausage:

(.73 X .73) X 250 = 53% X 250 = 133 lbs. of meat

Very fat, light muscled market hog, weighed full, 250 lbs., boneless chops and roasts, closely trimmed, lean ground pork/sausage:

(.74 X .50) X 250 = 37% X 250 = 93 lbs. of meat

Heavily muscled market hog, weighed empty, 250 lbs., bone-in chops and roasts, regular trimmed, regular ground pork/sausage:

(.76 X .82) X 250 = 62% X 250 = 155 lbs. of meat



LAMB EXAMPLES:

Average market lamb, shorn, weighed full, 120 lbs., bone-in chops and roasts, closely trimmed, regular ground lamb:

(.51 X .75) X 120 = 38% X 120 = 46 lbs. of meat

Average market lamb, shorn, weighed empty, 120 lbs., bone-in chops and roasts, closely trimmed, regular ground lamb:

(.54 X .75) X 120 = 41% X 120 = 49 lbs. of meat

Average market lamb, shorn, weighed full, 120 lbs., some bone-in and some boneless chops and roasts, closely trimmed, regular ground lamb:

(.51 X .68) X 120 = 35% X 120 = 42 lbs. of meat

Lean, heavily muscled market lamb, shorn, weighed empty, 120 lbs., bone-in chops and roasts, closely trimmed, regular ground lamb:

(.57 X .78) X 120 = 44% X 120 = 53 lbs. of meat

Fat, light muscled market lamb, long fleece, weighed full, 120 lbs., bone-in chops and roasts, closely trimmed, regular ground lamb:

(.48 X .65) X 120 = 31% X 120 = 37 lbs. of meat
 
It probably is just a mixup at the locker plant-we sold a guy half a hog one time and they never gave him his porkchops-was pretty funny when he phoned-I told him I'd got a double order lol.
 
Again, thanks all.

We believe the processing plant to be honest. I hope they find a box of meat and that puts the whole thing to rest.

The steer was weighed live, so the live weight is KNOWN. It also was fatter than what the customer usually gets, so right therein could lie the problem.

No one is getting upset about this, just trying to figure out if there could be a box missing, without accusing anyone.
 
From your figures, they only got 33% of the live weight back. This is surprising as I have never got back less than 40 - 45% even if all hamburger and NO bone whatsoever.

Jason brought up the subject that we should feel sorry for the packers because of this scenario, but it's like apples and oranges.

The big packers sell everything except the moo. Smaller, custom packers have to pay someone to haul the by-products away.
 
Yea, 40% would be 320# for the half, not 263#, which is what they actually got. They figured the boxes weighed an average of 50# each, so that goes back to missing a box of meat. It seems they don't have enough roasts or steaks from that big a critter.

When it looked like they didn't have many roasts or steaks, they then weighed each package of meat and came up with 263#.

They have called the processing plant and they are looking for another box of meat that may have been missed.

I will keep you posted.

You all have been VERY helpful. Thanks!
 

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