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Meat Yield

Carlos said:
When processors are busy, often times they rush thru the process, in order to keep animals moving.

I heard a story from a local guy who complained to his processor about how much meat had been left on the carcasses. The owner straight up told him that, "when it's busy, like opening weekends, he hasn't got time to trim it all off the bones."

The customer was not happy and said he'd never go back to this guy because of it. I imagine that's commonplace when the cooler is overflowing and the pressure in on to get 'em done, and move on.
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I get that. And I'm not mad or anything, just curious what others thought. My dad took a doe that was about the same size to a different processor a week later, so it'll be interesting to compare the yield he gets.
 
GumbyGuy said:
Obviously It would start with how big the doe was. Year & 1/2 deer isn't really telling enough to go by.
20 pounds doesn't sound like a lot but that's about all your gonna get from a 90-100 pound deer. What did you have done with the meat? Sausage? Sliced into steak or something else?
With that said, I've always thought the processors slip a pack or 2 on everybody
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No sausage, just steaks, roasts, and ground.
 
swampbadger said:
I'd be more prone to judge a processor by other parameters first.

1) Is it good quality grind? well ground and mixed, not overly bloody and no hair. 2) Turn around time and they can ensure that I'm getting my deer and my deer only. 3) Cost. 4) The amount you get back also plays into cost though.

I've always been disappointed by something with every processor I've tried. I tried 3 different ones and they weren't awful but I just wasn't fully content with it. It's a grisly task and I understand they need to be profitable on their end.

I've had much less complaints about it when I started doing everything myself.
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I haven't cooked any of it, so I'm not sure about the grind quality just yet. Turn around time and cost are very reasonable, but i don't think I'll take another deer there based on the amount I got back. Taking one there was kind-of a test run, so now I know.
 
MidTennFisher said:
30-40% of what it weighs dressed is a good rule of thumb to expect. That's what I typically get but I do all mine myself. One reason is I know that meat isn't being wasted.

Processors often don't do the best work. There's no way they are putting as much care into using all the meat as someone would themselves.

Whatever you got from that doe, you probably would have more if you had done it yourself.
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You're definitely right about that. I prefer to do my own, was just curious about this new place.
 
Weegee said:
What kind of meat yield would you expect to get on a 1.5 year old doe? I try to do my own processing but sometimes timing and weather just don't cooperate. I shot a doe last month and took it to a new processor that I've never used before. Got my meat back and decided to weigh it out of curiosity. 20 pounds. Seems very light to me. I double lunged her with a rifle and gutted her cleanly, so meat loss should have been minimal.
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I killed one last week and processed her myself — she was a small doe but 1.5 years. I didn't lose any shoulder meat. I only got about 29 lbs from her — that does include the bone-in shanks and a bone-in shoulder — so probably about 26 lbs boneless meat. My daughter killed a 2.5 yr the week before and we got 36 lbs (including bone-in shanks) but did lose a pound or 2 of shoulder meat on that one. I do trim heavy and cut out anything that isn't good meat.
 
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Started processing mine myself. Didn't like seeing deer in the floor of the cooler, and not knowing if my meat was from my deer or someone's else's. Had processor make some Italian sausage once. Picked up and there wasn't any there. He walked into the back asked how many I got, pulled that many from a crate full of Italian sausages and put it in my pile. Know for a fact it wasn't from my deer. I know they do t have time to get every scrap but I do.
 
Gravey said:
Buck I killed opening day of rifle season weighed 140 lbs field dressed. Gave him to some neighbors and they had him processed. I asked them to weigh the meat they got back and it was 52-53 lbs I believe.
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I was gonna post these same numbers, I had one dressed 140 and put the finished meat on a scale- right at 60lbs.
 
I have done my own processing for the last 25 years. The deer in Tennessee seem to average 10-20% less live weight than the deer I killed in Indiana, much smaller here. That being said, 20-25% meat of live weight is a good average. Like other guys have said they are, I'm pretty careful at trimming.
 
You can always call them and tell them that you think it was light. They may give you more. A friend of mine did that and they gave him another sack full of meat.

Unless there's meat damage, I would expect to get around 30 to 35 pounds if I did it myself. It has been over 20 years since I've paid anyone to do it but a processor told me he was losing money if his crew couldn't processor a deer in less than 30 minutes. Processors waste allot of meat.
 
I'd wager a bet and say a typical field dressed deer would do good to yield 50% of hanging weight.
Head, hide, bones are not lite weight.
Subtract any blood shot and silver skin and your dropping yield fast.

I don't think 20lbs is abnormally low.

Where was shot placement? Shoulders busted up any?
 
It's hard to say without an actual field dressed weight. Approximations leave too much room for guessing.

I obsess way too much with trimming for clean meat with little silver skin, so I know that my yields are lighter than a professional's would be. I honestly think I only get around 30 percent yield of actual field dressed weight from my own processing.
 
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So I work very part time for a local processor. By part time I always offer them free labor when they are busy b/c they are friends of mine. In return they give me great quality meat for all of my deer at no cost to me. I get to learn all the steps I might be missing from experienced butchers. Today I gutted 3 out of 4 deer that was dropped off. 2 of the 3 being gut shot. In return I killed a buck last Friday last Friday that yielded 50# of grind that we are going to make bacon and brats from. Yes you heard that right. Riley's in Dickson TN makes deer bacon and it is absolutely fantastic
 

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