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Vent: I just found out how much meat a single steer actually yields and my whole pricing model feels off
I was reading an old textbook from a meat science class I took ages ago and it had a breakdown for a 1400 pound steer. The hanging weight is only about 62% of that, so around 868 pounds. Then after you break it down and trim, you only get about 430 pounds of actual cuts to sell. That's it. I've been in this shop for eight years and I guess I never did the full math. We pay for the whole animal, but we only get to sell less than a third of its live weight. It makes me look at my case prices totally different. I always thought we were doing okay on margins, but now I'm wondering if we're charging enough for the time and skill it takes to get from a side of beef to a wrapped steak. How do you all figure out your per-pound price on a whole animal buy? Do you just go by the hanging weight cost or do you factor in that final yield number?
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