With all those asking questions about having a beef processed I thought this might be worth reading. It was posted on a facebook group I belong to. ET
MEAT MATH: All too often, new consumers to the local food trade feel they've been shorted when they receive their meat. That's because meat is generally sold as "hanging weight". When they hear "your hanging weight is 186 lb.", they assume they'll be receiving 186 lb. of actual meat. They run home and weight all their meat and find they only have 117 lb. of meat. AH! The butcher shorted them! But that is not the case at all.
So, let me explain "meat math". Today I loaded 4 steers to be processed. They had a combined live weight of 4,890 (for an average of 1,222.5 lb. each animal). From this weight, I can "guesstimate" what each animal will "hang". Hanging weight is the weight of the carcass... organs, head, feet and skin removed. Hanging weight is generally approximately 60-62% of an animal's live weight. Hanging weight is very precise and is done by the butcher on certified scales. It's for this reason that most bulk meat is sold by "hanging weight".
But here's where it gets tricky (and most people feel they have been shorted). An animal will hang for 2-3 weeks (in a moisture and temperature controlled environment). During that time, the animal will "shrink" some. It will age the meat which is what makes it taste so good. Natural enzymes break down the meat and tenderize it. But, not only will a carcass shrink. There is also "trim". Trim is what is lost when the carcass is cut into actual cuts of beef. Trim is bones, fat, tendons, etc that don't make it to your table. All of those things weigh a considerable amount. Because of that, you lose approximately another 40% of weight on a typical beef animal. This percentage varies quite a bit depending on several things... how long the animal is hung, the type of animal (for example dairy animals have a higher bone to meat ratio and will have a greater trim loss), how good the butcher is, etc.
So, that 1,222.5 live animal ends up as approximately 440 lb. of actual meat! 1,222.5 lb. live weight * .6 = 733.5 hanging weight. 733.5 hanging weight * .6 = 440.0 lb. of packaged meat.
MEAT MATH: All too often, new consumers to the local food trade feel they've been shorted when they receive their meat. That's because meat is generally sold as "hanging weight". When they hear "your hanging weight is 186 lb.", they assume they'll be receiving 186 lb. of actual meat. They run home and weight all their meat and find they only have 117 lb. of meat. AH! The butcher shorted them! But that is not the case at all.
So, let me explain "meat math". Today I loaded 4 steers to be processed. They had a combined live weight of 4,890 (for an average of 1,222.5 lb. each animal). From this weight, I can "guesstimate" what each animal will "hang". Hanging weight is the weight of the carcass... organs, head, feet and skin removed. Hanging weight is generally approximately 60-62% of an animal's live weight. Hanging weight is very precise and is done by the butcher on certified scales. It's for this reason that most bulk meat is sold by "hanging weight".
But here's where it gets tricky (and most people feel they have been shorted). An animal will hang for 2-3 weeks (in a moisture and temperature controlled environment). During that time, the animal will "shrink" some. It will age the meat which is what makes it taste so good. Natural enzymes break down the meat and tenderize it. But, not only will a carcass shrink. There is also "trim". Trim is what is lost when the carcass is cut into actual cuts of beef. Trim is bones, fat, tendons, etc that don't make it to your table. All of those things weigh a considerable amount. Because of that, you lose approximately another 40% of weight on a typical beef animal. This percentage varies quite a bit depending on several things... how long the animal is hung, the type of animal (for example dairy animals have a higher bone to meat ratio and will have a greater trim loss), how good the butcher is, etc.
So, that 1,222.5 live animal ends up as approximately 440 lb. of actual meat! 1,222.5 lb. live weight * .6 = 733.5 hanging weight. 733.5 hanging weight * .6 = 440.0 lb. of packaged meat.
Comment