Carcass Dressing Percentage and Freezer Yield

Dressing % = 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 carcass, so a 744 lb carcass gives ~744 x 0.67 = 498 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.

dressing_pct = 100 x hot_carcass_weight_lb / live_weight_lb; boneless_yield_lb = hot_carcass_weight_lb x cutting_yield_pct / 100.

Carcass 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.

The 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.

Estimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.

Field names used by the API: live_weight_lb, hot_carcass_weight_lb, cutting_yield_pct, dressing_pct, boneless_yield_lb

• Dressing and cutting yield dressing % = hot carcass / live x 100; boneless = 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