Carcass Dressing Percentage and Freezer Yield
The dressing percentage and take-home meat yield of a slaughter animal, for pricing freezer beef, pork, or lamb.
Example
You enter
- Live weight (lb) 1200
- Hot carcass weight (lb) 744
- Cutting yield (% of chilled carcass) 67
- Cooler chill shrink (%) 3.5
You get
- Dressing percentage 62.0 %
- Chilled carcass 718 lb
- Freezer yield 481 lb
Checked against published worked examples from: University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension (Grant County); Mississippi State University Extension.
Details, formula, and sources
ScopeDressing % = hot carcass weight / live weight: a 1,200 lb steer with a 744 lb carcass dresses at 62.0% (beef ~60-64%). Pork runs higher (skin and feet stay on) -- a 260 lb hog at 190 lb carcass = 73.1% (~72-75%); lamb ~50%. The boneless freezer meat is far less than the carcass (bone, trim fat, cutting loss): a beef cutting yield ~65-70% of the CHILLED carcass (3.5-4% cooler shrink), so a 744 lb carcass chills to 718 lb and gives ~718 x 0.67 = 481 lb cut-and-wrapped. Dressing rises with fatter, more muscular animals and falls with gut fill and heavy hide. A pricing/planning aid; the processor's certified scale, the cut sheet, aging shrink, and the packer/locker govern the freezer yield.
Formula or tabledressing_pct = 100 x hot_carcass_weight_lb / live_weight_lb; chilled_carcass_lb = hot_carcass_weight_lb x (1 - chill_shrink_pct / 100); boneless_yield_lb = chilled_carcass_lb x cutting_yield_pct / 100.
Source and editionCarcass dressing percentage and cutting yield (standard meat-science figures: beef ~60-64%, pork ~72-75%, lamb ~50%; beef cutting yield ~65-70% of the carcass), by name; the processor's certified scale and the cut sheet govern the actual freezer yield.
Free accessThe dressing-percentage ratio and cutting-yield fractions are public meat-science practice; the live weight, carcass weight, and cutting yield are the animal's and processor's values.
What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
API field nameslive_weight_lb, hot_carcass_weight_lb, cutting_yield_pct, chill_shrink_pct, dressing_pct, chilled_carcass_lb, boneless_yield_lb
- Dressing and cutting yield dressing % = hot carcass / live x 100; chilled = hot x (1 - shrink), shrink about 3.5-4%; take-home = chilled carcass x cutting yield; beef 60-64%, pork 72-75%, lamb ~50% dressing; beef cutting yield ~65-70%standard meat-science figures
- Freezer yield boneless take-home is well below the carcass (bone, trim, cutting loss); the processor's scale, cut sheet, and aging shrink governcustom-processing practice