Venison Value Charts
Very often Ruth and I are asked, "what will I get off my deer" or "what's a deer worth"?
In order to answer questions like these, meat cutters use what's called a "cutting test." Basically a cutting test tells you how many pounds of each type of cut you can expect from a given piece of meat. In order to standardize the tests the beginning weight of the piece you cut is based on one hundred pounds. (CWT. = hundred weight) By converting into hundred weight, you can think of the weight of each cut not only as pounds but also as a percentage.
As an example if you look at the chart below you will see that the weight of the Tenderloin is 1.08# out of a 100# carcass. This means that out of a 100# carcass only 1.08% is Tenderloin! (Along with palatability that is the reason that tenderloin is so highly valued.)
The following chart is a cutting test of a skinned deer carcass processed into boneless cuts the way we do it at D & R Processing. This not only shows the cuts that we make but also how many pounds you can expect of each cut if you start with a 100# carcass. You will notice that the yield of edible meat was 75.43% and the fat and bone 24.57% per hundred pounds. This is a high yield of edible meat due to the fact that this animal was harvested under a crop damage permit in late summer and had not started to add any winter fat cover on it's back and hindquarter. The same animal could reflect up to a 6% - 8% lower edible meat yield if harvested in late fall due to the added fat cover.
Note : If comparing the yield of edible meat to the hide-on dressed weight the difference in yield is even more remarkable because of the weight difference in the summer and winter coats.
In order to assign a value to each cut, we averaged the retail price of venison from five different companies that sell domestic venison of the Internet. This gives us the way to assign a total value to a venison carcass. While this may be open to discussion it is my opinion that if anything, wild venison would be worth even more than domestic. As an example of this you can compare farm raised Salmon to wild Salmon or pond raised Shrimp to wild. In both cases the wild are higher priced.
If you want to use this chart to determine what you can expect from your deer just multiply the dressed weight of your deer by 82% to get carcass weight. Then to determine how much of each cut you may expect, just multiply the carcass weight by the yield percent (CWT) listed below in the chart.
Example:
Dressed weight: 150#
Carcass weight: 123# [150# X 82% = 123#]
Loin Chops would equal 5.17# [123# X 4.20% = 5.17#]
Venison Carcass Yield Per 100# |
|||
| Dressed Weight | 122 |
. | |
| - | - |
. | |
| Carcass Weight (82% ) | 100 |
. | . |
| - | |||
| Description | Pounds per CWT (Yield %) |
Avg. Price per Pound |
Total Retail Value |
| Front Shoulder & Neck Cuts | |||
| Mock Tenders | 0.96 |
8.83 |
8.48 |
| Top Blade Steaks | 0.92 |
8.83 |
8.14 |
| Shoulder (Arm) Steaks | 2.04 |
8.83 |
18.01 |
| Bnls Neck Roast | 2.76 |
8.83 |
24.41 |
| Bnls Chuck Roast | 2.53 |
8.83 |
22.33 |
| Loin Cuts | |||
| Bnls Rib Roast | 1.67 |
12.52 |
20.87 |
| Loin Chops | 4.20 |
15.81 |
66.34 |
| Top Sirloin Steaks | 1.45 |
12.46 |
18.08 |
| Tenderloin | 1.08 |
22.80 |
24.59 |
| Round Cuts | |||
| Sirloin Tip Steak | 4.73 |
11.67 |
55.15 |
| Top Round Steak | 3.84 |
11.88 |
45.66 |
| Eye of Round Steak | 1.29 |
11.48 |
14.86 |
| Bottom Round Steak | 2.53 |
11.48 |
29.04 |
| Miscellaneous Cuts | |||
| Stew Meat | 2.25 |
5.55 |
12.51 |
| Ground Venison | 43.18 |
4.95 |
213.72 |
| . | |||
| Total Boneless Edible Yield | 75.43 |
. |
. |
| Bones & Waste | 24.57 |
. |
. |
| . | |||
| Total: | 100 |
. |
$ 582.18 |
Retail Price Farm Raised Venison |
|||||||
| Front Shoulder & Neck Cuts | Average price per pound |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
| Mock Tenders | 8.83 |
13.00 |
9.00 |
8.00 |
6.65 |
7.50 |
|
| Top Blade Steaks | 8.83 |
13.00 |
9.00 |
8.00 |
6.65 |
7.50 |
|
| Shoulder (Arm) Steaks | 8.83 |
13.00 |
9.00 |
8.00 |
6.65 |
7.50 |
|
| Bnls Neck Roast | 8.83 |
13.00 |
9.00 |
8.00 |
6.65 |
7.50 |
|
| Bnls Chuck Roast | 8.83 |
13.00 |
9.00 |
8.00 |
6.65 |
7.50 |
|
| Loin Cuts | |||||||
| Bnls Rib Roast | 12.52 |
14.00 |
9.60 |
8.00 |
20.00 |
11.00 |
|
| Bnls Loin Chops | 15.81 |
14.00 |
10.50 |
15.00 |
20.57 |
19.00 |
|
| Bnls Top Sirloin Steaks | 12.46 |
14.00 |
9.50 |
13.00 |
13.30 |
12.50 |
|
| Tenderloin | 22.80 |
19.00 |
20.00 |
15.00 |
40.00 |
20.00 |
|
| Round Cuts | |||||||
| Sirloin Tip Steak | 11.67 |
13.00 |
9.50 |
13.00 |
11.88 |
10.95 |
|
| Top Round Steak | 11.88 |
13.00 |
9.50 |
13.00 |
11.88 |
12.00 |
|
| Eye of Round Steak | 11.48 |
13.00 |
9.50 |
13.00 |
11.88 |
10.00 |
|
| Bottom Round Steak | 11.48 |
13.00 |
9.50 |
13.00 |
11.88 |
10.00 |
|
| Miscellaneous Cuts | |||||||
| Stew Meat | 5.55 |
4.50 |
4.00 |
6.00 |
6.75 |
6.50 |
|
| Ground Venison | 4.95 |
4.50 |
3.00 |
5.50 |
6.75 |
5.00 |
|
|
|||||||
| Average price per pound: | 10.98 | ||||||
