How Much Beef Do You Actually Get From a Cow?

This is one of those questions that seems as though it should have a very simple answer.

If a bull weighs 500 kg, surely you get somewhere close to 500 kg of beef?

Not quite.

In fact, this is one of the things that can be confusing when a family buys beef directly from a farmer for the first time.

So let's explain it around the kitchen table.

Live weight isn't beef weight

Imagine we have an animal weighing 500 kg standing in the kraal.

That is its live weight.

But that includes everything — hide, head, digestive system, blood and all the other parts that don't become packaged beef.

After slaughter, what remains is called the carcass.

As a rough example, a 500 kg animal might produce a carcass somewhere around 250–300 kg, although this varies considerably between animals.

The carcass then still needs to be cut and processed.

Bones are removed from certain cuts. Meat is trimmed. Some moisture is lost during ageing and processing.

Eventually, the amount of packaged beef going into the freezer is considerably less than the original live weight.

But here's the interesting part

That packaged beef isn't 200 kilograms of steak.

We wish it worked that way too!

An animal only has a limited number of premium steaks.

There are fillets, sirloins, rump, rib-eye and other beautiful cuts.

But there are also roasts, brisket, chuck, stewing meat and a substantial amount of meat ideally suited to mince and wors.

That's why buying a whole animal gives you something supermarket shopping often doesn't:

the whole animal.

You aren't simply choosing the premium cuts from a fridge.

You learn to cook and enjoy different cuts.

A slow-cooked roast on a cold Sunday.

Boerewors on the braai while the children are running around outside.

Mince for spaghetti on a busy Tuesday evening.

Steak when friends come over.

Beef becomes part of the family's meals for months.

Quarter, half or whole?

This is why we offer different allocations of Bysonderheid Reserve Beef.

A quarter is a much easier starting point for many families.

A half suits larger households or families who eat beef regularly.

A whole animal is a serious amount of beef and generally makes more sense for large families, people with substantial freezer space, or families buying together.

Whatever you choose, freezer space matters.

It's something worth thinking about before the beef arrives!

There's something satisfying about a full freezer

Maybe it's an old farming thing.

But there is a certain comfort in opening a freezer and seeing food for your family stacked inside.

You know what you have.

You know where it came from.

And instead of deciding every afternoon what meat you're buying for supper, you walk to the freezer and choose.

For generations, families bought meat this way.

Perhaps buying beef directly from a farm isn't actually a new idea at all.

Perhaps we're simply rediscovering an old one.

The Bysonderheid Family