Cow Camp Chatter: I have a beef about my beef purchase!

Ron Torell, Long-Standing Educator and Advocate of Agriculture

There is a growing popularity for consumer direct sales of locally grown, grass finished, hormone-free, all-natural freezer beef. Many consumers, however,  are in the dark when it comes to understanding  the  yield loss  of a 1,200 lb grass finished steer after harvesting.  The entire steer which has been cut and wrapped to specifications for a family of four will fit into about eight cardboard boxes once it has been harvested, aged and processed. Baffled by this, consumers want to know what happened to the rest of their beef. 

THE CONSUMER PURCHASED: 

One Live Weight Steer                                                                                  1,200 lb

Drop or offal of rumen fill, hide, internals, viscera                                        -540 lb 

Chilled carcass yield after drop/offal (55-65% of live weight):                    660 lb                           

Saw cutting loss of 1.0 to 2.0%                                                                         -12  lb

Trim and waste from bones, connective tissue, moisture, etc.              -171 lb
Estimated pounds of beef left for wrapping:                                                477 lb

THE CONSUMER RECEIVED:

Retail Cuts:                                                                                                               
Steaks                                                                                                                 140 lb
Roasts                                                                                                                119 lb
Brisket, misc. cuts                                                                                                22 lb
Short Ribs                                                                                                            32 lb
Stew Meat                                                                                                            32 lb
Ground Beef                                                                                                      132 lb                      
Estimated pounds of cut & wrapped beef from 1,200 lb live steer:            477 lb

In the above example, the consumer paid $1,440 for a 1,200/lb live steer at $1.20/lb.  On top of this an additional $500 fee was incurred for harvesting, cutting, wrapping and transportation. After processing the consumer received approximately 477 pounds of meat resulting in a total cost of $4.06/lb for what amounted to 40% of the original live weight purchase.  Where did the other 60% go? Disappointed with these numbers, the consumer felt cheated. Understanding how the harvesting process works once the live steer is delivered to the plant is essential in order for consumers to walk away satisfied with their freezer beef purchase. 

The drop or offal of an animal includes the rumen fill, hide, and internal organs or viscera totaling roughly 40-45% of a 1,200 lb live steer.  The majority of the offal value comes from the hide. The packing plant owns the drop/offal of the animal which is generally valued between $7.00-$14.00/cwt.  This is used by the plant to offset packing house operating costs. The rumen fill stays on the harvest floor and has no value. Chilling the carcass for 24 hours and/or dry-aging hanging carcasses for an extended period of time (up to 14 days) in order to add tenderness and eating satisfaction to the meat  results in a moisture loss of 1-4% of the carcass.  Generally there is also a 1-2% saw cutting loss.   

When purchasing a freezer beef, many consumers assume there will be more steaks, porterhouse and filet mignon, less hamburger,  and few, if any, soup bones.  They expect to have several tri-tips and none of the tough arm or chuck roasts.  They fail to realize that there are a limited number of favorite cuts from one beef. Rib eye and T-bone steaks originate from what is called  the “middle meats.”  This area consists of the rib and loin section of the carcass and represents the most valuable portion of the animal. 

As an industry we seldom have a problem selling the middle meats, especially if the animal is a choice or higher quality grade.  The quantity of middle meat steaks depends on the cutting specifications.   If a rib roast is desired then there won’t be as many rib eye steaks.   The filet mignon is the same muscle that makes up a good portion of porterhouse steaks so consumers must decide which cut they prefer.  There are only two tri-tip roasts on an animal originating from the bottom sirloin. The top of the sirloin yields sirloin steaks and roasts.   

 Hamburger is a great outlet for trim and lower-valued muscle cuts that can’t be marketed in other ways. Grinding hamburger also offers a place to market a portion of the fat waste that is inherent with fed cattle.  Soup bones are essentially the same story.  It is unfortunate that other portions of the animal cannot be converted in to equal quality and value as the middle meats. Our Beef Checkoff dollars, however,  are working on doing just that.  Through muscle profiling value is being added to lower end cuts such as the chuck making this portion of the animal more  palatable and desirable to the consumer.  

The figures set forth in this article are used as an example only.  Actual figures realized from other harvested animals may vary greatly depending upon animal conformation, frame size, degree of muscling, fat cover, age at harvest, sex of animal, cutting techniques and individual specifications.  Grass finished beef generally yields a lighter carcass in relation to live weight compared to beef on a grain finish program. This is primarily due to the reduced amount of external fat cover on the grass finished animal.  When all is said and done, the consumer can expect to receive approximately 40% of edible product off of a harvested grass finished 1,200 lb live steer.   

That’s enough for this month.  A special thanks to my wife Jackie for her part in writing Cow Camp Chatter.  As always, if you would like to discuss this article or simply want to talk cows, do not hesitate to contact me at 775-385-7665 or rtbulls@frontier.com.