steer meat

[mountainranch]

Hi everyone, We took a 1,000 lb. angus steer to the processor, several weeks ago. I am guesstimating that we should get about 350 lb. of packaged meat to take home. What would be the minimum,and average you should expect for a steer this size? THANKS

 

[bigbull338]

you should get 400 to 450lbs of meat.maybe a tad more than that.i use 50% as the throw away or bones.

 

[dcara]

I yield about 42%-45% of live weight for cutouts that yield roughly 50% groundbeef and 50% steaks and roasts. This is close to what BB338 said. You can get the most "weight" by yielding more roasts, vs groundbeef, from the arm and chuck (GB yield ~30%). The other extreme is to bone it out completely which will yield the least "weight", roughly 33% of live weight. My butcher costs (per lb of hanging wt.) are the least for the most "weight" (i.e. more roasts vs GB), and the most for the least weight (i.e. bone out). That is, he charges a little more for the additional work involved in a bone-out

 

[backhoeboogie]

The single most important thing to me is the quality of meat I get home with. I ask for extra lean ground beef which cuts not only the weight volume, but also the freezer space.

You can take a few steers to the processor and some slightly heavier ones live weight have a lighter hanging weight than others.

I asked that mine hang for 12 days or so.

In the end, you get home with what you get home with. Some times you do a little better than others. I would not get bent out of shape over a few percentage points. It doesn't make any difference in the freezer.

Great eating steak and beef in general, in the end, is what you are after.

When you find a good processsor, stick with them. I have been going all the way to Hamilton, TX the last few years.

 

[mountainranch]

One of the reasons i'm asking is that I have heard several negative comments about the processor,after we had already delivered the steer. I wanted to know what a reasonable wt. I could expect if they treat us right. Also, we have a medium size freezer, about 15 cubic ft.. i'm hoping we have enough freezer for the whole beef. If not, we may behaving a big b-b-que. lol