Meat recovery rate from the Michigan Unicorn

37 pounds boned meat, pressure canned

8 pounds back-straps to neighbor

5 pounds heart, liver and kidneys (dog kettle)

5 pounds meat-scraps, blood-shot meat (dog kettle)     Total recovered 55 pounds    

7 pounds meat (approximately) discarded before starting dog kettle

10 pounds Shanks and meat with much connective tissue, between ribs, etc  that was not recovered     Potentially usable but not recovered 17

10 pounds hide

10 pounds head

remainder Skeleton, hooves etc

The 45 pounds that went to human consumption was far below the 65-to-70 pounds I would have expected from taking it to a commercial processor.

One of the big differences is that the commercial processor would have taken many of the scraps that went to the dog kettle and were tossed and used it to make ground meat. The ground meat would have picked up another 4 pounds of suet in the process.

That is, about 35% of the total amount of "recoverable" meat on the carcass.

Good to know if food because as precious as  WWII Britain, the Siege of Leningrad or the Siege of Sarajevo.