This is a recurring question. The uncertainty around the final weight and cost of placing a bulk order holds many customers back from actually placing such an order and it is an impossible question to answer definitively as it very much depends on the starting weight of the animal.
There are three terms to familiarize oneself with:
Live weight – this is the weight of the animal “on the hoof”.
Rail weight – this is the weight of the carcass after the animal has been skinned and prepared for processing.
Box weight – this is the actual weight of the meat that will go into your freezer after processing, packaging and freezing.
For purposes of this blog, we will start with a “on the hoof” beef weighing 1 000 pounds even. The quick calculation would result in 590 pounds rail weight and 425 pounds box weight, based on Choice grade meat. (All We Speak Meat products will be Choice or better – costs will remain the same.)
The above is all very well, but I realize that it still does not really answer the main concern – the customer still does not really know how much of what he/she will receive in the end and, most importantly, what it all will cost.
Skinning and preparing the carcass for processing will remove approximately 410 pounds from the animal. This is the total weight of the “unusable” parts – skin, head, hoofs, etc. After this, one would be left with the 590 pounds of carcass to be processed. Removing the “undesirable” parts such as bones and fat and after allowing for some shrinkage during the hanging period (the carcass will be hung in a cooling facility for a minimum of 7 days before processing) we would be left with 425 pounds of processable carcass parts. This will break down as follows:
Shanks – 4%, Chuck – 25%, Brisket – 6%, Rib – 9%, Plate – 7%, Loin – 8%, Flank – 4%, Sirloin – 9% and Round – 24%. The remaining 4% will be Suet and Hanging Tender.
All very interesting – but the real questions are STILL not answered!! So here goes…. After everything I have described, we are now left with 425 pounds of the “desirable” cuts. This will break down as follows:
Porterhouse, T-Bone and Club Steaks – 34 pounds
Sirloin Roast and Steak – 40 pounds
Round Roast and Steak – 57 pounds
Rib Roast and Steak – 36 pounds
Rump Roast – 16 pounds
Chuck Roast and Steak – 110 pounds
Ground Beef – 90 pounds
Stew Meat – 42 pounds
Misc. Cuts – 34 pounds
Based on our current price of $6.80 per pound box weight, all this will cost our customer $2 890.00 for a whole beef, $1 445.00 for a half beef and $722.50 for a quarter beef. The cost of packaging will be approximately $200.00, and this will be for the customer’s account, but shipping will be free within Texas. Costs will vary of course. For instance, if the starting (On the hoof) weight is 1 200 pounds, everything will go up by 20%. If the on the hoof weight is 800 pounds, everything will come down 20%. Customers can indicate to We Speak Meat what their required weight would be, and we would pick a particular carcass for them to ensure we match their budget as closely as possible.
On half and quarter beef orders, we simply take the above yields and split them into halves or quarters. In other words, customers will receive some of everything in their half or quarter.
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