Should have weighed it. Sounds like she shot a world record. We butcher a 2000LB beef for hamburger every year and that only yields 375 to 450 lbs of meat. Considering that an adult bull will weigh at most 1400 lbs, it must have been on steroids.
Are you butchering your own or do you have a butcher shop do it?
The yield of edible meat from a beef carcass often comes as a bit of a surprise, even to those that have had their own meat processed for years. A previous iGrow article covered dressing percent—the percent of the live animal weight that becomes carcass weight, which for fed beef is usually around 62-64%. In other words, from a 1200 pound steer, you can expect a 740 – 770 pound carcass. But from that carcass there is another significant portion that will not end up in your freezer or in the meat case for consumers. The expected yield of retail cuts from beef carcasses ranges from approximately 55% to 75%, depending on the fatness and muscling of the animal, and the type of cuts produced. A typical 750 carcass with ½ inch of fat over the rib eye and average muscling of a 12-13 square inch rib eye will yield about 65% of the carcass weight as retail cuts (roasts and steaks) and lean trim. So, in other words, you start with a 1200 pound steer, which has a dressing percent of 63%, so that you have a 750 pound carcass. From that you will get about 65% of the carcass weight, or roughly 490 pounds, as boneless, trimmed beef.
