It is important to understand that the amount of edible lean will be the same regardless if the retail cuts are boneless or bone-in.Ĭhoosing to bring home organ meats such as liver, heart, and tongue will also influence the pounds of meat product you take-home, increasing your cutting yield. This may be advantageous depending on freezer space availability and eating preferences. Requesting closely trimmed and boneless chops and roasts and ground pork/sausage will result in less pounds of take-home product because the excess fat and bone will be removed.

Table 2: Average Carcass Cutting Yield Cut Type The percentage of carcass weight remaining as “take-home” retail meat cuts is called the carcass cutting yield.Ĭhilled Carcass Weight * Carcass Cutting Yield = pounds of “take-home meat”Ĭarcass cutting yield is variable and depends on the carcass’s fat thickness (leaner carcasses increase yield), muscling (increases yield), and the amount of bone-in versus boneless retail cuts (boneless decreases yield). The different methods will impact carcass weight and dressing percentage but will not impact the amount of edible lean.ĭuring carcass chilling and fabrication, some carcass weight will be lost from the hanging, boning, and trimming process. Some processing plants will remove the skin and leave the head for the chilling process and others may remove the head and leave the skin. Locker plants have variable methods of harvesting hogs. Dressing percentage is the percentage of meat and bone on the animal compared to its live weight and is influenced by many factors such as muscle score and fat cover to name a few (Table 1).ĭressing Percentage = (Carcass weight/Live weight)*100 The remaining bone, adipose (fat), and lean (meat) makes up the post-harvest hanging weight (hot carcass weight). When a market hog is harvested certain parts of the animal such as the feet, blood, and viscera (internal organs) are removed. To better understand the amount of meat you may expect from a market hog, the first step is understanding the difference in live weight compared to carcass weight. Pork purchased from locker plants is typically sold as whole or halves.Carcass cutting yield is just one factor that influences the amount of take-home product.Feet, blood, and viscera are not parts of a carcass.A carcass is comprised of lean (meat), fat (adipose), and bone.

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