Processing Percentage Charts

Take home meat you can expect

These charts should help customers understand that "it's not all meat".

• Beef
• Pork

They show the amount of meat to be processed, the weight that the customer can expect to receive, and the percentage of loss through boning, fat removal, and trimmings. These authoritative charts are the results of many cutting test made by meat experts.

Of course, it must be realized by consumers that the size of the animal, the amount of fat, the grade of the meat, and the amount of trimming and boning that is done by the meat processor all affects the percentage of meat that the consumer will receive. These charts can be considered as a guide to give some ideal of the amount of meat to be received.

Beef

Expect 130 lbs front quarter from a 900 lbs heifer or steer A side from such an animal will weigh about 270 lbs (540 lb carcass).

Take-home meet to expect from a 130 lb. beef front quarter

(Trimmed cuts as usually found at retail)

	Cuts	Weight	Percent
	Rib roast, steaks	12 lbs	9%
	Boneless stewmeat	6 lbs	4%
	Short ribs	4 lbs	3%
	Hamburger	38 lbs	27%
	Chuck roast, steaks	37 lbs	26%
	Meat total	97 lbs	69%
	Bone, fat & trimmings	43 lbs	31%

Take-home meet to expect from a 140 lb. beef hind quarter

(Trimmed cuts as usually found at retail)

	Cuts	Weight	Percent
	T-bones, club steak	18 lbs	14%
	Sirloin steaks, roasts	16 lbs	12%
	Round steaks or roasts	29 lbs	22%
	Rump roasts (boneless)	8 lbs	6%
	Flank steak	2 lbs	2%
	Ground beef	16 lbs	12%
	Meat total	88 lbs	68%
	Bone, fat & trimmings	42 lbs	32%

Pork

Take-home meet to expect from a 75 lb. half-pork

(Trimmed cuts as usually found at retail)

	Cuts	Weight	Percent
	Ham, fresh or cured	12 lbs	16%
	Loin roast, chops	9 lbs	12%
	Bacon	10 lbs	13%
	Spareribs	2 lbs	3%
	Shoulder butt roasts, chops	6 lbs	8%
	Shoulder picnic, fresh, cured	7 lbs	9%
	Sausage	6 lbs	8%
	Meat total	52 lbs	69%
	Lard	15 lbs	20%
	Bone, fat & trimmings	8 lbs	11%

Count on above cuts, 52 lbs from an average side of a 215 lb live hog. It is possible to buy whole pork loins at some markets. A clearly trimmed loin will have no waste. From a 150 lb carcass, a loin might weigh 9 lbs.

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