How much meat does a steer usually produce?

[chadreed88]

How much meat does the average 15-18 month old steer make. I know it has many factors but if you could give me an estimate that would be great. Also what is an average cost for butchering? Just want to make sure its worth my money to have this done.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

about 40% of live weight (as you said depending on lots of variables) My local place charges $50 to kill and I THINK it was 49 cents/lb cut, wrap and freeze. I could be wrong - it's been a while.

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

Decent genetics/management will get you a hanging weight of at least 58-60%. Exceptional genetics/management will get you hanging weights up to 65%. You will pay the poundage fee on the hanging weight; my butcher is like 55 cents per pound now :help:

The actual packaged weight of the beef will average 30-32% less than the hanging weight. Again, genetics and management affect this also, as does the skill level of the butcher, also how you have it cut and whether you keep the heart, oxtail, liver, tongue, etc. I've had a hard time beating 60-61% hanging weight much to my chagrin, but the loss from hanging to package has averaged about 26% for me, with a low of 23% and a high of 32%. I've been very pleased with the cutability. A friend fed a black steer too long, and lost 40% from hanging to package.

So, if you have a 1000# steer(to make it easier to figure for example's sake) and it hung at 60%, the hanging weight would be 600#. If you lost 30% cutability, your actual meat weight would be 420#, 42% of the live weight. If you had a humdinger that hung at 65%, and lost only 25% cutability, you would end up with 487.5, nearly 49%. If you reached that 23% mark, you would have 500.5#, just over 50%. Once they get over a thousand pounds, the hanging percentage usually increases some.

Before he started butchering my beeves, the butcher informed me that it was almost unheard of to lose less than 30% from hanging to package. I think our success has something to do with not getting them too fat.

 

[Howdyjabo]

I was just sitting here running numbers on just this subject--
heres what I came up with.

40-48% of liveweight in marketable meat

1100 lb finished animal gives an estimated 512 lbs of meat(only 173lbs of steaks) worth $4.46/lb average (based on grocery store prices that I collected on each cut).
Thats low end $2283.52 worth of meat.

Have to add in cost of animal ($1200) Thats with a decent profit on the front($1/lb).
cost of hauling ($60)
harvest fee- here its $60
cut and wrap- here its $.50/lb ($380)
pick up($50)
and .09/lb($46) to store for a year in a freezer
Costs- $1796

If you can sell or eat all the meat- its at least a $ 487 profit
and you get better meat........... hopefully
I'd love to hear if I have missed something or calculated wrong

 

[Susie David]

The yield depends on the condition of the individual animal.
We have been averaging between 60% and 62% from live weight to hanging weight. Our cutting and aging loss is 33% to 36% with 35% being what we use in our calcualtions which has held up pretty well overall. We can figure within five pounds the amount of packaged beef that our steers will yield and we do not count the variety meats (heart, tongue, tail, liver, sweetbreads).
Processing varies around the country. Up here we pay $55 for on farm slaughter and 40 cents per pound of the hanging weight for cut and wrap. Our USDA processing is $40 for the kill and 45 cents per pound for cut and wrap.
Be sure to use a well respected butcher, poor processing can ruin the best carcass. We avoid stressing the animal any more than necessary as, IMO a calm cow yields the best beef.
Dave Mc

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

There have actually been studies that have proven a link between docile, calm animals and meat quality.

Only once or twice have I ever had store-bought meat that was even close to as good as my home-raised. One was some CAB from behind the counter, and the other was CHB from the normal store reefer.

 

[MikeC]

How much meat does the average 15-18 month old steer make. I know it has many factors but if you could give me an estimate that would be great. Also what is an average cost for butchering? Just want to make sure its worth my money to have this done.

If you have a genetically good calf that is fed properly, it will be well worth the money.

Our butcher charges a $25 kill fee plus $0.35 per carcass lb. for vacuum wrap.

If you just pull "the average" ordinary calf from the pasture, 9 times out 10 you will not be satisfied.

Cost of gain is running somewhere around $1 per lb. now. But remember you will only get 1/2 that back in meat so the "Meat" cost of gain is around $2.00 per lb.