I quote 55 percent from hangong carcass to package. Competition quotes 70 percent. Are you kidding me. I see this quoted often by backyard producers http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Cooking-Tips--Techniques-642/beef-cut-yield-per-steer.aspx?CatID=642
If you go to the breakdown for each section, they quote fat and bone as yield. Most people don't want this who buy a whole beef for the freezer. Add it al up and the 569 pound yield goes to about 420 pounds. Much closer to what I quote
Yield is most dependent on what is kept and generally the cut instructions. If ya want more, we can certainly trash up the grind and not trim roasts and steaks
I have always told people that carcass to take home is 62%. We sell ours on the carcass weight. Right now beef is running $2.80 cut, wrapped and frozen. The processing part of the charge is about .65 per/lb.
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We used to say 70% at best, I think, but that was 30 years ago. I may be wrong. However, that was all bone in. Bone in chucks, and bone in short loin. Also, we didn't trim as close back then. This would also include bone in full cut sirloin which has a huge heavy bone that you probably remove and of course it wouldn't count in your yield, but did in ours (sometimes). That bone is sirloin also includes tri tip, ball tip, and filet. All that just doesn't get trimmed as well when cut together. We'd also have full cut bone in round steak giving more weight than boneless steaks, or rump roast and top round steaks. Maybe our 70% figure would require ground beef with 30% fat. we'd always explain that 70 is the very best and it can go down a lot depending on how you want it cut. All boneless? Lean ground meat? No problem. Just realize you'll get less yield.