Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

Hi can anyone let me know quanties and cuts of meat i might get from my Dexter

How heavy is your Dexter?

He was heavy when he stood on my toe.

In reality i am a bit off it yet, just trying to get educated

Just collected produce from a 205 kg carcasses totalled 124 kg of joints /steaks/mince plus two fillets and 100 faggots .

Regards Simon

He was heavy when he stood on my toe.

In reality i am a bit off it yet, just trying to get educated

It really is a piece of string question, as it depends how you have it butchered and boned out. We have boneless hind joints, boneless fore joint, sirloin, rump & ribeye steaks, fillet, mince & dice, all off the bone, and just short rib joints on the bone and it comes out at about 67.3% of deadweight, which itself is about 53% of liveweight. So a 340kg animal would give a 180kg carcass and 121kg of saleable meat.

Here are some proportions from a (199kg) steer butchered with forerib joints instead of steaks;

Mince 30.976kg 23.1%
Dice 11.216kg 8.4%
Rib joints 10.054kg 7.5%
Hind joints 24.892kg 18.6%
Fore joints 30.014kg 22.4%
Braising steak 6.166kg 4.6%
Steaks 18.556kg 13.8%
Fillet 2.138kg 1.6%

Lighter weight steers/shorts might have a greater proportion of mince and dice with less fore joints and steaks. Fatter animals have more trim too, which brings the saleable proportions down and both thin and fat animals will end up with less saleable meat as a proportion of carcass weight (circa 62%)

An interesting way to assess the difference between two carcasses is to compare the difference in meat weights as a proportion of the difference in carcass weight. e.g. the heavier carcass weight minus the lighter one (A), do the same with the respective meat weights (B) and then divide (B) by (A) x 100 to give a percentage. A figure above your overall carcass weight means the extra kgs were worth it and a figure below means there was extra trim to throw away.

eg, two steers, one 90% the weight of the other;
Steer 1 - DW 205kg, meat weight 130.38kg (63.6%)
Steer 2 - DW 179kg, meat weight 120.467 (67.3%)
Difference DW +26kg (A), meat weight +9.913kg (B)
(B) / (A) x 100 = 38.13%

Assuming you were 'paying' yourself £4 per kg DW and receiving £12.50/kg for the meat, that extra 26kg/9.913kg is costing £104 and yielding £123.91, or just £19.19 gross margin. If the extra weight kept pace with the boning out percentage of the lighter carcass there would be an extra 17.5kg of meat to sell (26kg x 67.3%) or £114.75 gross margin ((17.5kg x £12.50) = £218.75 - £104)

I may have digressed somewhat from the original question.

Rob R wrote:It really is a piece of string question, as it depends how you have it butchered and boned out. .................

Before we cut a carcase we find it very difficult to work out exactly what we are going to get beforehand.

The beef network were giving out handouts with a breakdown of a typical Dexter
L\W 375 kg 100%
D\W 210 kg 56%
Beef after bones and trim removed 127.5 kg 34%
Made up of
Fillet 3.48 kg 1%
Sirloin 9.35 kg 2%
Rump 8.59 kg 2%
Topside 11.5 kg 3%
Silverside 17.6 kg 5%
Brisket 11 kg 3%
Fore Rib 13.8 kg 4%
Braising Steak 21.5 kg 6%
Stewing Meat 8.34 kg 2%
Mince 22.34 kg 6%

Our weights for non-short Dexter collected today - fresh/vacuum packed/delivered direct to restaurant:

Fillet 2.85kgs
Sirloins 9.15kgs
Rumps 7.25kgs
Ribs on bone 7.33kgs
Silverside 8.83 kgs
Topside 19.09kgs
Braise/chuck 13.83kgs
Shins 7.64kgs
Blade 6.58kgs
Stew 9.16kgs
Mince including brisket 26.58kgs

Hope this helps.
Regards
Alison Kirk
Boram Dexters

Really useful information everyone. How many of you get your carcasses graded? I use Uttoxeter and they have always graded, i find it extremely usefull. I have got the hang of it now and i can normally get my correct grade by looking at the live animal, mind you its took a few years!! Its all about getting the hang of knowing when the finished animal ready.

Had 4 steers back last week - three were 177 kg, 180 kg, 178 kg carcass weights, one was only 147 kg (short legged dam).
177kg steer gave:
Silverside 8.38,
Topside 16.36,
Stewing 16.1,
mince 11.42,
rib on bone 7.96,
brisket 12.4,
chuck 10.26,
Blade 7.6,
short rib 6.00,
fillet 2.06,
rump 5.22,
sirloin 7.98

which I make 63% of dead weight.

The other larger steers did pretty much the same. I think they possibly went backwards a bit in the last few weeks as the grass got poorer - had hoped they'd be a bit bigger, but butcher said they were perfect. Mind you I suppose he wants us to come back.

The 147 kg small steer yielded 68% but I don't suppose I can draw any conclusion as to whether they yield more based on such a small statistical sample.

Incidentally - I had a customer ask for shin - where would that be in the above cuts list?

Hi Fen Farm Dexters,

I'd say your shin was included within the weight for stew.

As for grading, our local abattoir does not grade even for the local butcher/farm shop we supply.

However, when we sell through Traditional Breed Meat Marketing (TBMM) carcasses are graded and to achieve 'base' rate we need grades of U3/U4L; R3/R4L; O+4L/O-4L (O grades are most likely with Dexters, although R grade can be achieved; U grade not at all likely). P+ grade will mean deductions of between 40p and £1/kg - must be avoided at all costs!

14 x steers and heifers this year have averaged a d/w of 195kgs - 223.4kgs, achieving grades of:

11 x O+4L/O-4L (base rate)
2 x -O4H deducted 10p/kg, still achieving a price of around £800 each
1 x O+3 deducted 5p/kg, -ditto-

Returns from Dexters sold via TBMM over the year have ranged from £800 up to £915.94 per animal, due to the increase in beef prices generally. Grading sheet returned with cheque from butcher.

Ensors Abattoir: No slaughter charges - only a TBMM Co Levy of £15/animal + MLC levy@ £5.58/head.

These figures are from home bred Dexters, within breed standard - short cows with non-short bull and vice versa. No concentrates, just finished off red clover silage during winter and grass during summer months.

Regards

Alison Kirk
Boram Dexter Cattle

No grading at our small local abattoir, either, but I would be interested to see cross referenced figures for the grade v saleable meat yields, to see how closely correlated they actually are.

Our deadweight -v- saleable meat yields is 64%-65% consistently. We get this consistency because we are fortunate in being able to produce beef from our own animals only and not having to buy in, so from conception right through to the plate our animals are carefully monitored. The two butchers we supply - one in the North Cotswolds and the other in London (via TBMM) have been extremely positive about our beef, as have the chefs we supply locally. We value customer feedback and especially the accolade we have been receiving of late.

The non-short Dexter heifer delivered direct from abattoir on Friday (as below) realised £1,082 - slaughtered directly off grass on 11th October. Her deadweight was 182kgs, but with this particular restaurant taking a whole Dexter every 4 weeks we had to let her go.

Selling on a deadweight basis probably not best to sell direct off grass at this time of year, so our 2011 autumn born Dexters were brought in during last week of September, wormed, backs clipped out to stop sweating, and fed chopped red clover silage - the first two of which are going for slaughter on Tuesday and destined for London.

Hope this answers your question.

Alison Kirk
Boram Dexters

Thank you. So the O4 =/- & L/H are about 64-65%, of course we'll need some varied results to compare it to but having achieved that consistency & prices it certainly demonstrates that a good profit is achieveable with Dexters, which can only be good for the breed.