GIFSQ Tools · Module 08 — Meat, Poultry, Fish & Seafood · Tool 153 of 500
Work out the dressing percentage: enter the live weight and the hot carcass weight to get the carcass yield and the offal and trim removed.
Try sample values — fills the form with the worked example below.
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Dressing (%)
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Removed (kg)
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Carcass (kg)
Equation: Dressing (%) = hot carcass weight ÷ live weight × 100. Removed (kg) = live weight − hot carcass weight. The removed share is hide, head, feet, viscera, blood and trim.
Method: Dressing percentage (carcass yield) by weighing the live animal and the hot carcass, standard abattoir practice. Beef dressing is usually 55–65%, pork 70–75% and lamb 45–55%; the exact figure depends on breed, fatness, gut fill and how the carcass is trimmed.
Assumptions: the live weight is taken after the usual pre-slaughter fast, or the gut fill is the same for every animal compared; the hot carcass weight is taken before chilling shrink.
Limitations: dressing percentage says nothing about carcass quality — conformation, fat cover and meat yield must be graded separately; gut fill alone can shift the figure by several points.
Rounding: dressing percentage to 2 decimal places; removed and carcass weights to 2 decimal places; intermediates unrounded.
This is a calculation aid, not a laboratory report — confirm against your accredited method before citing a value.
Method: Dressing percentage (carcass yield) by weighing the live animal and the hot carcass, standard abattoir practice. Beef dressing is usually 55–65%, pork 70–75% and lamb 45–55%; the exact figure depends on breed, fatness, gut fill and how the carcass is trimmed.
Assumptions: the live weight is taken after the usual pre-slaughter fast, or the gut fill is the same for every animal compared; the hot carcass weight is taken before chilling shrink.
Limitations: dressing percentage says nothing about carcass quality — conformation, fat cover and meat yield must be graded separately; gut fill alone can shift the figure by several points.
Rounding: dressing percentage to 2 decimal places; removed and carcass weights to 2 decimal places; intermediates unrounded.
This is a calculation aid, not a laboratory report — confirm against your accredited method before citing a value.
Worked example: Live weight 500 kg, hot carcass weight 290 kg. Dressing = 290 ÷ 500 × 100 = 58.00 %; removed = 500 − 290 = 210 kg.
Enter values above to see results.
Typical dressing: beef 55–65%, pork 70–75%, lamb 45–55%. Tool 153 of 500 — GIFSQ
