How many steaks from a cow

How many steaks from a cow?

7/20/2015

Ay caramba – how long is a piece of string? When will Medupi be completed? How tall is a Prasa train? These are the things that keep me up at night. It all really depends on what types of steaks and what other kinds of cuts you may want. The actual live weight to retail cuts yield varies, and is dependent on various factors such as breed, fat to muscle ratio, cutting order, and age.

On average a beef steer weighs about 525kg, but obviously not the entire cow makes it to the table. It will only weigh approximately 60% of its live weight once it makes it to the rail. The 40% loss during the slaughter and dressing procedure is a result of the animal being bled - and the hide, head, hooves and organs being removed. The remaining 60% is often referred to as the “Hanging Weight” or the weight “On the Rail”.

But that’s not the end of it, as weight loss doesn’t stop there. Once on the rail, it will lose moisture - accounting for additional weight loss. Then fat and bone is removed during the cutting, accounting for another 20% loss. So, a 525kg steer (on the hoof) will average around 250kg of retail beef (steaks, roasts, ground beef, stew beef, etc.).

Still – to get to what is considered the amount of quality primary cuts, we have to trim it down even more. Your choice of cut may depend on your budget – some people can only afford non-prime steaks, such as the round steak. Then, some steak snobs don’t include the porterhouse or T-bone steak, since they are combinations of the top loin and tenderloin.

So as a general rule of thumb half will be ground beef, a quarter goes to the various roasts, and another quarter is for your primary steaks. Here’s a breakdown of the math for you:

1 x average SA cow = 525 kg
lose 40% to trimming > 315kg
lose 20% to moisture loss > 250kg
50% to ground beef > 125kg
50% for chuck, shank, brisket etc. > 60kg

Which means we are left with +150 primary steak cuts, split as follows.

Sirloin Steak 7kg 20 cuts
T-bone Steak 5kg 14 cuts
Rib Steak 4kg 12 cuts
Short Ribs 4kg 12 cuts
Rump 4kg 11 cuts
Tenderloin Steak 3kg 10 cuts
Porterhouse Steak 9kg 27 cuts
Kidney and Hanging Tender 2kg 6 cuts
Flank Steak 2kg 5 cuts
Inside skirt 2kg 4 cuts
Outside Skirt 1kg 3 cuts
Strip Steak 7kg 20 cuts

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11 Comments

Iqin

8/24/2018 21:31:05

How many legs does a chicken Have?

Chicken Expert

10/26/2018 00:54:26

Seven. Seven legs.That's one less than a spider. Excluding the spider chickens of North Africa.

shannon miller link

7/31/2020 12:17:42

a cow has only TWO flanks. they can be cut into smaller pieces, but by that reasoning, if you cut them small enough, you could have 100 flank steaks in a single cow. not sure where your "5" comes from. maybe if you cut one into two pieces and the other into three, but why do that?

Mike

3/20/2021 07:59:59

Sounds to me like maybe they did it based on avg weight of each type of steak, and just divided that by the weight they assume to each primal cut. So, 4g flank steaks x 5 would equal the 2kg of total flank meat. Only thing I could think.

Denise D link

1/12/2021 04:27:29

Great reading your bblog post

Andrew

9/9/2021 04:09:05

So I have been doing the math on your general rule of thumb.

average cow 525 kg
less 40% for trimming. you have 315kg. but 40% should be 210 kg
less 20% for moisture. you have 250kg. but 20% should be 105 kg

with you 315 kg for trimming and 250kg for moisture that's more than the whole animal.

then you say 50% is ground beef (125kg) and 50% is chuck, shank, brisket (60kg) so needless to say your math is wrong or i just don't get it. because 50-50 would be the same weight roughly 92.5kg each??

Please tell me what I am missing because this break down doesnt make sense to me

Nando

10/21/2021 23:12:18

Your math is correct but you are interpreting wrong. So you start off with 525 kg, after you remove 40% due to trimming you are left with 315kg. Then you remove another 20% due to moisture and you will be left with approx 250 kg (WHICH IS CORRECT). The way YOU are trying to do is you're incorrectly removing 60% due to trimming (instead of the 40% mentioned) and then you are incorrectly removing 20% from the original 525 kg, but it SHOULD BE 20% from the remaining 315 kg! Which would put you at the correct 250 kg, then 50% of that (for ground beef) puts you at 125 kg for Chuck, shank, brisket, and primary steak cuts.

JOHN

1/8/2025 21:56:34

Looks like Andrew went to school in California, where they teach why you should have two dads instead of math...

Mia Evans link

7/14/2022 06:54:05

It's interesting to know that 60% of the cow is what makes it to the table once the beef meat is extracted. I just wanted to learn more about the process, especially what makes up the cost of their meat as well to understand why they are more expensive. Also, it would be a good idea to also visit farms to see a miniature Scottish Highland cattle and other types of cattle for myself, because I really have this fascination for years now.

Millie Hue link

10/29/2022 13:58:28

It's interesting to know that around 60% of the weight of the live cattle will be used while the 40% are removed such as the blood and organs. I guess that would affect the cost of bull sales, since I plan to buy some of their meat. It would be nice to try them as steak for once, and I will definitely buy again if I love the taste.

MARIOLA GORNA

12/9/2024 06:33:27

Hi I like to join your beef group but I'm not sure if I doing correctly

How many steaks from a cow?

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