West Central Iowa | pehinric - 10/3/2024 18:20
What is the difference between Y3 and Y4 beef in how much usable meat is in a carcass?
I sell and cut my own cattle and I want to be fair to my customers when one of my beef ends up being a Y4. Normally they are Y3. I know a Y4 does not yield as much meat and I am looking for a rule of thumb to discount the Y4 to my customers because of the extra fat waste.
Hope this makes sense.
Pete Hinrichsen
Yield grade is not exactly measure of usable meat. It is mostly a measure of fat cover on a carcass, yes it is adjusted by carcass size, and ribeye area… but is your processor running the calculation or giving you preliminary yield grade? Also you could have a thin cow have a yield grade of 1, but have a rather high percentage of bone. I would not adjust price on yield grade, I would adjust it on fat cover and ribeye size, and the packer discount is partially to pay for trimming, and not exactly fair to you. A yield grade 3 vs. 4 could be almost identical as a 3.9 is called a 3. |
Difference between Yield grade 3 and Yield grade 4
