How Much Meat is REALLY in a Cow?

Ever wondered how much eating meat you'd get off of a whole cow?
Today, you're in luck! Join The Bearded Butchers & Crew as they expertly butcher four steers, removing every single bone and non-edible part, uncovering the exact yield of this high-quality beef, breaking it down by how many pounds, ounces, and servings you can make out of a cow. Plus, you get to hear the costs involved and find out exactly how much money it takes to get this food to your plate! You will not want to miss out learning the details associated on where your meat comes from, that's for sure.
Beautiful tender cuts of meat have one great value, and that's nutrition. Good for you, good for the environment, and perhaps one the champion pieces of modern agriculture, this process is one of the very best ways to feed a lot of people high quality food, something that's been done for decades here in the United States of America. Sharp knives and skilled labor are on display here, as well as the titans of agriculture - both farmers and BUTCHERS. Would you try one of these Oxroast sandwiches if this was YOUR hometown?
You can also check out our other video on this event, found here: • Butchering for the Tow...
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[@stevenedington6265]

I discovered your channel only about a month ago. Watching you guys work means a lot to me. To give you the proper context I’m 72 years old. My dad was the head cutter then manager of the meat department of the local A&P grocery store. In the 50’s and 60’s he ordered his beef by the quarter. It was many a time I would go in on a Sunday to help him as a young teenager cut the setup for Monday. Later as an older teenager I worked in a grocery store meat department myself. All though working as a meat cutting did not become my career path I have fond memories of my dad as a meat cutter. Watching you guys work brings those memories back. Thank you for that. I had a lot of respect for my dad and I miss him now that he is gone.

[@andreskanes1348]

I also learned meat cutting at my local A&P meat department. I started when I was 18 and did it for 10 years before moving on and starting a construction company with my wife. There are still days where I'd give almost anything to go back to that work.

[@snudge9626]

I take my hat off to you guys. You are not just butchers; you are entrepreneurs! You capitalise on every aspect of your butchering world. You make educational videos, you make a multitude of spice blends to compliment your meats and you have your name on butchering knives. It's plain to see you put your hearts and souls into your work and you deserve all the success you get, well done.

[@rileyhooper7911]

Cattle hauler here, for reference four steers at a standing weight of 5,495lbs comes to 1,373lbs per head at a cost of $2,623 per head. Kill cows go to the packing house between 1,100 an 1,500lbs and we can typically fit 45 head in the trailer if it’s a fats trailer. So if all the cows weighed 1,373lbs each a full load is 61,785lbs at $1.91 a pound would run $118,009.35.

[@TheBeardedButchers]

Thanks for sharing the knowledge! 👊🏻

[@52flyingbicycles]

That’s a lot of money, but also a lot of work to get those cattle raised and butchered.

[@P2Zip]

A​nd how long would it take you to process that much meat?

[@rileyhooper7911]

@@P2Zip a packing house in the US can kill and process between 6,000 and 10,000 head a day.

[@reid5885]

@@rileyhooper7911while that’s true it doesn’t compare to getting your stuff done by people who do the whole process. If you can find a shop with a good reputation then chances are the people in there care about the quality of the product the customer receives back. They will slow down and do it right for the person who brought them the animal/their customers…. In a packing house people are just trying to punch a clock and get out. At the end of the day those people don’t care about their mistakes or the quality of things. Basically what I’m saying is mistakes are acceptable in a packing house…. Not in a full-service shop unless it’s going out of business.

[@kajagoogoo9613]

I appreciate how hard you guys work every day. That is NOT easy to cut meat for a living! Bless your passion and families!

[@stevenhill3136]

Easy work for them

[@JuicySommelier]

It’s easy to cut the cheese

[@JFabers]

It’s actually easy if you have sharp knifes

[@Buddystemz]

@@JFabersanything is easy when you do it long enough. Have you ever worked in a slaughterhouse? Cutting up a deer at home is different than doin this for a living.

[@georgedoolittle7574]

*"bone broth."* I don't think people realize just how much food there is on an entire *ANYTHING* least of all a head of beef. Something wrong with the grocery store meat aisle big time still absolutely same with cheese as well.

[@ricksanchez7459]

My brother and I would see who could drink the most whey at dairy/creamery we worked at years ago. Back then it was thrown to the pigs. Now its an ingredient in about everything.

[@MultiDooder]

It's called "stock" , been around for a couple hundred years, basic culinary training, fuck the buzzwords

[@Demopans5990]

Just wait until bone broth gets ruined. Ox tails used to be very cheap because no one wanted the stuff. Then rich people discovered it.

[@donaldpruett852]

My father bought a meat packing house in Burnett Indiana at the end of WWII. Burnett is a small rural community just about 15 - 20 miles N-E of Terre Haute. He ran that packing house until his health gave out so in1955 we moved to Phoenix. I was 10 years old. I remember about 1950 or so being in the scale house with him buying a truck load of cows. I heard him tell the seller he'd give him ten cents a pound on the hoof and the seller immediately agreed to that. Dad sold quarters of beef to butcher shops and some restaurants. He'd sometimes sell buckets of lard and hamburger out the door but not too many other cuts. Had I been a lot older I could have helped him and wound up in the meat business too. He passed away a year after we got to Arizona. 10 cents a pound? circa. 1950?

[@kirkzweibruck]

Ive been a butcher for nearly 20 years and watching your videos re ignites the passion o have for the industry thank you for the effort you guys put into all your content

[@MrRebar15]

*The Bearded Butchers* Bravo well done, thank-you gentlemen for taking the time to bring us along. GOD Bless.

[@BlitheApathy]

Thank you for your videos. They are informative and inspiring as I have been trying to relearn butchering. I have a small homestead an I got spoiled by my dear neighbor as he was a great butcher and he would prosess our meats for us if he got to have some good cuts and the scrapple/bones for his dogs. He actually got me to try beef tongue an liked it, he made beef tongue/skirt steak carne asada tacos. He also would make custom cuts an outher cuts I have just never seen before. Apparently they do things a bit different where he was from. But recently he unfortunately broke his back an had to stop any heavy lifting unfortunately. I need to brish up on my butchering skills again. But all in all you really get a full appreciation for the food you eat when you've raised/grown it yourself.

[@hendrikharryg]

Fascinating video! Great to see different cutting styles for direct deboning. It was also a good use for a carcass that - for someone looking for commercial cuts - was a waste cut. I can now say that I have seen a ribeye cut down to its constituents.

[@carpedukem]

Live animal weight total: 2493 kg Hot carcass hanging weight: 1547 kg Total boneless trim weight: 1134 kg *flies away*

[@aasemkhalid3685]

@carpedukem thank you for the metric conversion

[@Elbslayer]

which means a ton of organic waste is produced by every cow turned into meat. :o

[@henryanombosehenry8148]

​@@Elbslayernot truly waste. That's where your dog food comes from for example

[@theholypopechodeii4367]

​@Elbslayer The bones have uses too in broth and blood and bone fertiliser. The offal is eaten, and of course, the skin can be turned into leather. A lot less waste than what the weight implies.

[@Elbslayer]

@@theholypopechodeii4367 of course you can bring in leather but face it: shoes and bags are made of plastic these days. there is no scale to used beef meat and used leather/bones/pet food

[@Tabah238]

I would have thought it would be easier to just break the halves down normally and de-bone as you go! This is why you guys are so great. Keep up the fantastic work!

[@jsawick9536]

Love the videos. I try and do my own butchering from whole steer to version and turkey. I’ve watched the whole deer and beef videos and can sometimes get confused for example you take the flat iron off. It happens so fast and the carcass position changes. I know it comes from the shoulder and figure it out after a while from your videos and diagrams but I cannot always remember the exact seams and such to cut to maximize yield and minimize loss. So a video where you take a shoulder or another section apart and show what seams and such to cut and almost put it back together afterwards would be awesome!

[@nickma71]

If I buy half a cow in the near future, I would already skip the porter house and T-bone, and go with the filet and strip steak. These videos have actually been education to me the last few years.

[@bobrohrer5925]

Good video guys. Learn more about meat every time I watch you guys. Keep up the great work and thank you.

[@rodmckenzie9089]

I think that is one of the most amazing videos you guys have ever produced. Seriously! And some of the cuts that you showed, especially the spinalis, The mock tender loin, some of the arm roasts, the hanger and skirt, and where the finger meat comes from. Absolutely amazing! ps can I have the bones for stock?😂

[@roberthousedorfii1743]

YES, YES, the spinalis! I feel they've showed that to us before, perhaps? But this was CLEAR. VERY useful! VERY nice.

[@Rich.Colours]

At 13:10 when you flipped that meat around it made me think of the flintstones! Bronto burgers and ribs :D Awesome video guys. So interesting to see where all the cuts come from and the skill and knowledge it takes to break it all down.

[@ryanorion3779]

5:21 that hook vs. knife sound made me wince. Luckily didn’t hit the edge. Great work, for a great cause.

[@dalereynolds2945]

I love the way you go through the process. I'm partially farm raised and have worked in meat works . You do your content with love. Good farmers , good butchers.

[@axeldaval3410]

Would you guys be interested to make an episode about how meat is cut outside of Europe. I feel like many steaks we have in France do not reassemble at all to what you guys are cutting.

[@Trinifood]

You are absolutely correct!

[@JerryBeeee]

That’s some very bad butchering !

[@Max-9871]

You guys actually doing my dreamjob. Butchering like you do is so much art and precision imo. Sadly real butchers who do whole high quality animals are kinda extinct in my country and most of the "butchercraft" goes down to big factories processing beef or "super market butchers" who just do the final cut out of already perfectly prepared factory products for the customer.

[@Tscaperock]

I always look forward to seeing your new videos! The longer, the better!

[@jd9119]

When you start looking at the cost per pound for the steer, through the processing to something people can eat and the delivery to the stores and the markup the store has to make on it, it's kind of amazing how affordable beef is. When you think that you can get at the grocery store a ribeye (with the bone, because I won't buy boneless) for $7.99 per pound on special or $12.99, it's a marvel that it can be even be done.

[@lukecowell1697]

Nobody understands how heavy a forequarter is until they pick one up like that

[@theoneandonlymichael6627]

Super cool. I never deboned a whole cow. You guys make it look so smooth. Great job and keep the content flowing my friends.

[@vasilisouris4853]

Another great video, ad a spit roaster seeing the rub meat still attached to the flank just showed great opportunity, biggest item in the bucket list, is to travel to America and cook spit roasts with you guys

[@hblaze224]

Its nice to see Scott cut, not so intimidatingly precise like Seth haha

[@KrystalK982]

We ordered half a beef and we have to have our cut list to them by Tuesday. Thank you so much very educational

[@zachgorman]

Loved the breakdown and numbers. It puts everything into perspective.

[@ixlabnoriega5244]

The better video that i have to see. Thanks for all guys!!!

[@lightbox617]

I am not on the income level that makes me ready to buy from your group but...I appreciate your work, your posts and what you teach me. I rarely by beef because I can't get good beef in Newark, NJ. I do buy pork, chicken and, when in Europe, duck and goose. I do value two things that you see to neglect: Fat and bones. Water, root vegetables, bones. salt and a bay leaf.....oh..garlic and onions, can feed me for a week. Don't lose the bones or send some to me. Thanks

[@sluggotinfantryman]

So informative. Now I understand why the Amish in Polk County are less. Purchase price of the steer. They raise them. Creekside Custom Butchers. Polk County TN. In WASHINGTON now. Nothing is cheap. GREAT TO SEE THE CREW Young Guns. 👏

[@danielraynor4075]

Another great video from the Best Butchers in the YT World 🌎 an you knocked it out of the park, thanks again for another great video 👍 🎉🎉🎉😊

[@kimdawcatgirl]

Awesome! I appreciate your skills, and because you share them, I was able to process an unfortunate yearling doe who got herself wedged between a pole and a tree trying to get out of a fenced area behind the local hardware store. She exhausted herself and died when the store worker freed her. 😢 They called me and I took her home and processed her in 2 hours. I keep the back and internal straps and put up the rest for my dogs and my cat rescue. The doe didn't die in vain!

[@muzaaaaak]

Respect for nature. We’re all connected to the earth. Thank you for your act of kindness and taking care of gods creatures.

[@RRaucina]

Hard to imagine that beautiful rib roast being chunkend and boiled.

[@danielashley8638]

This is so interesting. You guys are great at your trade, and great teachers for those who want to break down whole animals. Every video of yours teaches me something I didn't previously know.

[@TheBeardedButchers]

Glad to hear! Thanks for watching the video!

[@loiusmonroe1146]

That was an awesome work up on price per oz. of beef. Thanks

[@carlson2012abqb]

One of the best channels on KZbin. Keep it up fellas!

[@kenbell7857]

I watch your videos quite often but have to say I enjoyed this video the most so far.

[@testerchannelcycle]

A short or episode on butchering beef cheeks (cachete de res) would be very interesting for barbacoa fans. Love your biz bros.

[@johnhayag4712]

Thank god for Bearded Butchers, love the videos.

[@b1zarre23]

Amazing content guys and thank you for sharing the breakdown of costs!

[@jimeckenrode1271]

Another fantastic video, thank you so much.

[@tristonbowen9923]

You guys should make a video on making salamis and prosciuttos. I feel like there's a lack of proper instructional content in this area and feel like with yalls setup you could really pull it off. You could even do waterfowl prosciutto and venison salamis with ohio hunting season right around the corner.

[@rodneyferguson446]

I'm 68 and learned how to process my own venison/beef/pork from my Dad back when I was a young teenager. It's been a Looong time since I've done it but we used to do it just like ya'll did. We tried to steak out any muscle we could and anything we couldn't went to the Grinder for hamburger (or sausage if it was pork). When we were finished, the Carcass was pretty much picked clean. We didn't do ribs or Bone-in Ribeye because We couldn't eat or digest bone, LOL! That's why I hate buying bone in anything these days and am truly amazed at what People will pay for a "Tomahawk Steak" (it's a BONE, People! LOL). We would also buy 100 chisks from Hornung Hatcheries and raise them until they were the right size,. Then we'd process our own chickens. There's nothing like having to pluck then singe 100 chickens all at once.....I'll never forget the smell of wet or singed Feathers (or using tow sacks and boiling water to scald/scrape a Hog). Thanks for the Video, it brought back a LOT of Memories!

[@chrisduffy2737]

Good production value, good music, good video. Thanks!

[@BenSea11]

Great video fellas! Very informative and I learned a ton. Now I’m hungry

[@thomasmitchell4155]

A truly masterful display!

[@robhoskins1113]

I drove passed yalls shop today!

[@douglasmijangos3327]

15:55 😳 oooohhh my God 🤤 watching this at 3 in the morning and drooling 🤤 watching you trim that … feels like I’m dreaming … I had to pinch myself bruh 😂

[@KingKarnes]

😂

[@deonbabudayal1628]

Thank you immensely for the spinalis dorsi tutorial ❤

[@tomekmamczura8294]

I imagine you had a lot of fun during this fristyle processing. Sometimes it's nice to get out of the daily routine. Greetings from Poland 🇵🇱

[@rodstudemire6966]

Excellent work fellas from Central Florida

[@JakeB-Real]

This is amazing. We must protect beef production.

[@AussieAdventurer]

Thanks so much for this information and watching you work was a pleasure I‘m from Australia 🇦🇺 and will use this info at some point to help m make a decision for perhaps buying a whole beast one day ( our prices are obviously different from yours but the weight figures are the same so 👍👏👏) Cheers mate and to all your crew for donating your time and effort into this community event 🫡

[@RichFitswell-tr7ux]

Great work, truly a art and understanding about how its done , eat more meat!!!!!!!

[@PeeJay3714]

Like the cooking of your cuts. Shows the completed process and the results are awesome. You guys should check out the massive clay pot smokers that are used in Thailand . They might make some seriously good Q. Can sell the whole system at your store too. Great vlogs keep it up

[@ReWyldOutdoors]

@bearded butchers , you should do a competition where each gets a side of beef, and you try to get as many different cuts of beef as possible! Then get someone to grade the cuts! Would be fun to watch!

[@DareDog.]

Seth did that. On that history channel butcher show. He lost.

[@Hortonscakes]

I love you guys! I'm all in! Let's goooo!

[@samlarsen7641]

Really enjoyed that video. Keep em coming.

[@jdkingofthesmokering7457]

Very informative. You guys do a great job!!!!!

[@gergelyritter4412]

And it's not only the meat, which is used from cows! Bones are often used in different products as well. Gelatine for example contains bone dust of sorts. Almost nothing gets wasted.

[@wheezy-c]

Great job as always y’all! Is there a way we could see a wet aged vs. your standard 2 week dry age vs. a long dry age? Just interested cause we only really have wet aged around my town. Keep up the great work 🙌

[@cogarmydom956]

I know the feeling because I was a deboner for two and half years it’s not easy especially bison bulls because their meat is tough. I have to cut up to probably 10 animals in one day. It’s hard on the knife, the equipment, but the hardest was tubeing it all after grinding it. I think all together the grinds came out to 3000 pounds it was a long day at the press lol

[@sluggotinfantryman]

Thanks for the last 5 years! Epic!

[@peterburton3147]

Another great video. Thanks guys!

[@OregonSilverStacker]

This channel always makes me hungry

[@jackgtalive195]

Let’s Show this to the vegans love this channel keep up the good work

[@fritz1990]

Would love to work with you guys for a month or two. To rehone my knife skills and to understand the cuts you make and what people call them. I'm no longer young. I live in Alaska. Have been butchering my own game for years. Usually try to get roasts from the flanks, backstrap and tenderloin, cut into finger stakes. Prime muscle groups into stew meat, and everything else ground to burger. Moose are a bugger to get out of the hills.

[@GregoryCox-z3e]

Even though the meat was being processed to be ground or pulled, nice job of cutting, looked professional. I see you are rocking the MKC knives or at least it looked like it. I missed out on the orange handle one, bummer. Thank you for all your educational videos and making them fun.

[@Thee_Sinner]

While it won’t change the per serving cost, I think it is worth factoring in what you would sell the hides and bones for.

[@gregneislein1846]

Can you guys do a dried/ hanging sausage video? Would really appreciate a good guide on how to get the tang?

[@ricksanchez7459]

If youre a fan of beef, please support hageman's bill to ban electronic tags. The average beef cattle farmer is pushing 70 years old, and runs about 30 cow/calfs, we dont want to deal with more tags, there wont be any ear left.

[@alfawolf1238]

Your videos inspire me to be a butcher too one day

[@Darthyen]

This is an awesome informative video, love it. I finally got to try the Bearded Butcher original spice (a gift from my dad and it is awesome) which he purchased from our local butchers, who are also bearded and brothers (The Meat Shop). People in Central Newfoundland should check them out.

[@rustyfan89]

I had a spinalis steak at a high end steakhouse and it definitely ranks up there with one of the best steaks I’ve ever had!, not cheap but well worth it

[@roberto.peterson9917]

curious what going to become of all the Bones from this understand meat going for good cause But there still a healthy value in bone broth ? finishing the bones and marrow into broth

[@roberthousedorfii1743]

I would have liked a little bit more detail on the meat removal process, but god damn, EXCELLENT VIDEO. Thank you ALL!

[@garryhammond3117]

Excellent and very informative! - Thanks - Cheers!

[@noahhill841]

Videos like these always make me hungry

[@Yungwrld999]

Man, I’ve always had a love for meats but I’ve just recently wanted to really get into how cuts are made and cut, I genuinely thought it was a lot more simple than what it seems but man, I’m intrigued. How can I get into such career?

[@davidvondrak2931]

I think a cool video would be to compare a picana to a tri tip. Point out where they reside on the carcass. I know they’re from same general area but how are the flavors and muscle fibers different. Remove the cuts, show similarities if any exist then barbecue them and have a taste test.

[@NelsonNdirangu-x5o]

Hello guys am Nelson from Kenya I like watching you channel good job guy's

[@jeffgerber6919]

I have watched sooo many of your videos in the past, never a dull moment! I do have one question, What temperature is the cutting room kept at?

[@DareDog.]

50-60F

[@robertparamore2863]

That puts things into perspective. It still sounds cheaper than my local grocery store. What are fillers you find in cheap burgers?

[@JRL22-Tango]

Fascinating vid dude. Well done. Cheers, a carnivore from way back down under

[@andrewrivera4029]

Used to go to Costco and get those rib eye cap rolls! OMG they were the best!

[@jodytollefson7187]

I worked for over 22 years in a slaughterhouse in Alberta Canada and one of the biggest things they harped at us about was clean bones in this video you guys did it fast and left half the meat on the bones.

[@johnnyshell2839]

Sounds like you either worked for a large company scared of bottom lines or a very single shop where every gram counts. Either way it's a shit situation my man.

[@jodytollefson7187]

@@johnnyshell2839 I worked for a large company called Cargill I work there from 1996 to 2018 and we had over 2000 people working there.

[@TheBeardedButchers]

We went back thru and cleaned all the meat off the bones, and saved the bones for making bone broth.

[@jodytollefson7187]

@@TheBeardedButchers Nice no waste.

[@asakashigure]

MMM roll that beautiful beef footage!

[@Zenoroth1]

This is like carnivore asmr to me. I love steak and this is so satifying to see everything taken apart lol

[@alexp.6406]

So when you buy half-beef from online sellers, how many pounds of meat do you expect to receive?

[@Kenny-Whisnant]

Thanks for all the information! I always like your shows. you all always make butchering look so easy. I can tell you've done this before! LOL

[@MikeK2100]

So far the best ground meat was what an Amish Farmer called it, "Whole cow ground beef!" What created this was his wife who insisted for ground meat, the entire cow had to go be it, and that is what he did. Deboned an entire cow, chunked it, then ran it through the meet grinder. I have a mix of ribs, shank, and tail that I generally use, but brown it on the grill, then crock pot it. Save the liquid chill it to get the fat off, then reduce it by half to put back in. If their is crunchy cartilage, that get get that out just leaving the chewy stuff, and while I have a meat grinder, go for German made Japanese cleavers and go for it! Originally this was called emergency meat, but the cost of the cuts is no longer cheap. Two recipes I am planning to use this treatment and mix for is the original chili recipe, and also a Sloppy Joe recipe.

[@somebody700]

Funny how this popped up for me today as I went to a local farmer who raises the animals, does the slaughtering and butchering himself! It's not only that grocery store meat is more expensive, but it is usually old and smells funny. I stopped buying it long long ago. I got a quarter of a cow, 180lbs hot carcass hanging weight was my share, and he asked $630 including processing and packaging. That's about 130lbs net meat or just shy of $5/lb for all cuts (he does not do front/rear quarters, he splits the cow into 4 equal shares and gives cuts from all places in each quarter). He also gives the bones for free if I ask for them, and all organs are free if I want any. So is the head, tail, and the other parts that are not usually taken. I'd much rather deal with the farmer than some big corporation that does not even have a cashier to speak to.

[@roberto.peterson9917]

alot of the trimming grissel and sinue would be good for bone broth collagen something our bodies need for joint health

[@weinerdog137]

Used to figure 40% weight in freezer from on the hoof weight..so 400 #. Out of a 1000# steer...few cuts had a few bones left in.

[@sleeperyjeemtoybox]

Enjoyed this one, done something similar 20 years ago when we would get famers cattle in for their own use (rare these days), and render down 1 beast in a day on my todd. Was interested in the costing to, we average about £1,200-£1,400 ($1,538-$1.796) on the hoof. with kill and transport on top adding on dry loss of course. Slimmer margins every year i'm afraid.

[@alvaroneto9214]

2 out of the 3 things I enjoy the most are in this video: meat and numbers.

[@michaelkaster5058]

Had to pause and cook up some of my homemade sausage cause y'all made me hungry with all that meat.

[@UR1956]

Very educational great video guys.