Roe Carcase yield

[Norfolk Horn]

The old rule of thumb was always a third on the floor, a third in the bin and a third to eat from a live animal.

 

[Chris Richardson]

Boned out an 18 kg roe buck( head shot ) last week I took the loins off and all the rest of the meat went to butcher for sausages 8.3 kg if I remember correctly but I did strip the ribs bone out the neck etc

 

[homer]

I did a case study for a hind that I butchered for the estate I do the venison processing on:
50kg hind, neck shot.

12kg dice
8.5kg mince
2.5kg loin
.5kg fillet
=23.5kg all told

This wasn't me being anal about stripping all the meat off - just going as I normally would, working away but without spending over long to recover more trim for mince. I also trim all of my dicing cuts to remove as much silverskin as possible.

We did the maths and a carcass that would have sold for £100 to the game dealer we would have been able to sell in the shop for £400 or near enough. Which makes the £90/red that I charge quite reasonable.
Let alone the money we could make from selling ready meals made with the dice or mince - the margins on those were amazing. I estimated from a good hind, processing the mince/dice further for sale (curries, stews etc) would net £800 total in retail value, though of course added ingredient, labour and packaging costs must be taken into account.

Your starting weight of 50kg, is that head/feet off skin on?

 

[Sanjay]

Your starting weight of 50kg, is that head/feet off skin on?

head, feet and skin off ie how we'd send to the dealer.

 

[Sanjay]

The old rule of thumb was always a third on the floor, a third in the bin and a third to eat from a live animal.

interesting, I like that.

 

[homer]

head, feet and skin off ie how we'd send to the dealer.

Skin off? Is that how your dealer takes them?

 

[Sanjay]

Skin off? Is that how your dealer takes them?

*on - bit of a typo!

 

[Freeforester]

Boned out an 18 kg roe buck( head shot ) last week I took the loins off and all the rest of the meat went to butcher for sausages 8.3 kg if I remember correctly but I did strip the ribs bone out the neck etc

From an 18kg carcass expect around 18lb in venison.

 

[wytonpjs]

Adding @Cranhill ’s post into this thread

Thread 'Venison %'

Sep 19, 2025

Is Your Wild-Game Processor Shorting You on Venison?

Here’s how to know how much meat you should be getting from a harvested deer.

www.outdoorlife.com

• Cranhill
• Replies: 7
• Forum: Deer Stalking General

The US report on larger Whitetail deer reports 48% yield.

 

[wytonpjs]

To compliment by roe example at post 8, this is the equivalent for my last fallow pricket. Carcass larder weight 33.6 kg, yield 15.146kg, ie 45% with a potential sale revenue of £220.44

Spookily, the yield percentage is exactly the same as for my last roe Both were chest shots - must be the way I butcher them

View attachment 436469

And another fallow:

66kg (larder) buck yielded only 26.67kg of packed product (40.4%) with a retail price of £405.52 for the packaged products.

 

[VSS]

And another fallow:

66kg (larder) buck yielded only 26.67kg of packed product (40.4%) with a retail price of £405.52 for the packaged products.

That's very poor.
Was the animal carrying a lot of fat?
(ie, was there a lot of waste from the carcass?)
I would have expected a (lean) fallow of that weight to have generated retail sales somewhere between £650 and £700

 

[wytonpjs]

That's very poor.
Was the animal carrying a lot of fat?
(ie, was there a lot of waste from the carcass?)
I would have expected a (lean) fallow of that weight to have generated retail sales somewhere between £650 and £700

As per the other thread:

Fat was over an inch thick on the rump and widespread both inside and out I didn't weigh the fat, skin or bones but I was staggered by the fat quantity - slabs of it! Animal was pre-rut in remarkable condition IMHO.