The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: alfie on June 17, 2015, 09:04:06 am
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I took my first angus x heifer to the butchers he has a small slaughter house and asked for it to be hung for 3 weeks I called the next day and he said it killed out at just over 650 kg but a little fatty.
I went to pick her up yesterday and was told to freezer as she has hung long enough, it was actually 4 weeks to the day, anyway we tried a piece of fillet and it tasted a little sour smelt ok so after doing a bit of looking up she has not been hung, but vac packed and wet aged not what i asked for but my biggest concern is we oly got 173 kg back now from what I have read, I should have got more, a lot more, Am I right.
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650kgs would have been the liveweight. Dead weight of an Angus x heifer would be likely to be around 350kgs - unless she was the size of a mammoth!
The proportion of meat you get back from a given deadweight depends on a lot of factors. How much fat has been trimmed off, how many of the bones have been removed, how much weight has been lost in hanging (more hanging = more drying out = less weight, plus very long hanging times may cause some discoloration in lean meat, requiring more trimming, so even more weight lost.)
In your case, if it was indeed not hung but vac packed straight away, then you wouldn't have lost weight through drying out. But if all the bones have been removed, then there will be a considerable loss of weight - my butcher was telling me he lost a significant proportion of the weight of a Shorthorn bullock as its bones were so thick.
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The last one we got done was a casualty so wasn't too fat. She was 472kg live weight and 270kg dead weight. After butchery we got 173kg back. that included burgers and sausage that would have a bit of fat and rusk added.
so either your beast needed a lot more trimming because it was a lot fatter than mine or it had heavier bones, often varies with breed or the conformation was a lot worse or your butcher has nicked a few kg but i would guess it is impossible to be sure.
A couple of others that we sold 492kg LW and 300.5kg DW the other was 513kg LW and 291kg DW so trhere are a lot of variables
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I had a beltie back from the butcher. Not sure of his liveweight but got around 170kg of beef back. He was hung for 2 weeks. I trust that my butcher didn't take any for himself. To be honest your weights sound about right
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I get my abbator to butcher it for me I i trust em implicitly.