By Dr. Jessica Lancaster
The 2021-2025 Beef Industry Long Range Plan uniquely calls out the need to use innovative methods and technologies to more accurately measure red meat yield. The Product Quality Research Program at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, is coordinating the Red Meat Yield Round Table with the aim to raise awareness of current carcass yield assessments and make advancements more accessible to producers to receive accurate recognition for true carcass yield.
Historical Context of Carcass Yield
Grading systems in the beef industry help differentiate carcass quality and yield, serving as key indicators of value. Since 1927, the U.S. beef industry has utilized a voluntary grading service to support transactions between producers and processors. Initially, grading focused on quality to assess “how good” a carcass was, serving as a predictor of eating satisfaction. In 1965, lean meat yield grading was introduced to determine “how much” of a carcass would result in boneless, closely trimmed cuts from the round, loin, rib and chuck.
While beef quality grading is well understood, yield grading and its connection to red meat yield (RMY) outcomes remain less clear. The yield grade (YG) system was developed from research conducted in the 1950s and early 1960s, using cattle data from that era. Four key factors—12th rib fat depth, ribeye area, hot carcass weight, and percentage kidney-pelvic-heart fat—were used to estimate the percentage of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts, also called cutability.
Click here to see more...