Woven Stars Farm - Meat Literacy Guide - A Glossary of Butchery Terms

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by Ben

Woven Stars Farm Meat Literacy Guide introduces meat-focused vocabulary and foundational concepts for understanding animal bodies, processing, and resulting cuts. It defines key terms such as body condition, carcass, connective tissue, cuts, evisceration, formatting of cuts, hanging weights (hot vs cold), live weight, offal/off cuts, primals, value-added products, and yields. The guide supports better decision-making by linking how animals are raised and how muscles are used to cooking potential and product value.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPaper Templates

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time6 min

AccessFree to download

Table of Contents

A Glossary of Butchery Terms

From Primal to Plate

The Primals

A Glossary of Cooking Methods

Woven Stars Farm a basic guide to MEAT LITERACY Berkshire Agricultural Ventures Table of Contents A Glossary of Butchery Terms 01 From Primal to Plate 02-03 The Primals 02 Shoulder: Lots of Connective Tissue and Lots of Flavor (Forequarter) 02 Rib and Loin: The “Money Meat” 02 The Belly (and Ribs) 02 The Back Leg (Hindquarter) 03 The Fifth Quarter (Offal or Off Cuts) 03 Beef Cut Diagram 04 Common Beef Cuts 05 Pork Cut Diagram 06 Common Pork Cuts 07 Small Ruminant Cut Diagram 08 Common Lamb/Goat Cuts 09 A Glossary of Cooking Methods 10 Quick and Hot Cooking Methods 10 Slow and Low Cooking Methods 10 Cattle Body Condition Chart 11 Pig Body Condition Chart 12 Sheep Body Condition Chart 13 Yields 14 Beef 14 Pork 14 Lamb and Goat 14 Other Resources 15 Berkshire Agricultural Ventures Meat Literacy Guide A Glossary of Butchery Terms Woven Stars Farm Body Condition: The general degree of fat present in the animal's body at a given time. Body condition reflects the suitability of the animal to meet the physiological demands of the production stage the animal is in. including suitability for slaughter. Body condition is often assessed using a numerical scoring system-Body Condition Score (BCS) . Carcass: The slaughtered and dressed (eviscerated, skinned or dehaired) body of the animal that is prepared for human consumption. Can be whole, halved, or quartered. Connective Tissue: The tissue-mainly collagen but also the tissue that connects muscle to bone-, found throughout the carcass that contributes to a muscle’s toughness. Most connective tissue, especially collagen, breaks down when the muscle is cooked at a low temperature over a longer period of time. Connective tissue is affected by the muscle activity, age, diet, and breed of the animal. Cuts: The piece of muscle (which may include skin and bone) that is cut from the carcass to be consumed. Eviscerated: The removal of the interior organs from the carcass of the animal. Format: The size and orientation of the cut. For steaks and chops that might mean how thick it is and whether it is bone-in or not. For roasts it can refer to the weight of the roast and whether or not it has bone or skin on it. For cubed meat (like stew or kabob) it refers to the size of the cube. For ground meat it can refer to the coarseness of the grind and the fat-tolean ratio. Hanging Weight: The weight of the carcass after the animal has been killed, bled out, skinned/or scalded, and eviscerated. There are two hanging weights: a hot hanging weight and a cold hanging weight. Hot hanging weight refers to the weight of the carcass immediately after the slaughter/skinning and evisceration when the carcass is still “hot”. Cold hanging weight refers to the weight of the carcass after it has been chilled below 42℉ and is ready for further processing. Usually there is about a 2% loss from hot to cold mostly due to moisture evaporation. Live Weight: The weight of the animal before slaughter. Offal or Off cuts: This is a broad category that includes organ meat (liver, kidney, hearts), bones, skin, fat, tails, feet/trotters, and cuts from the head (cheeks, jowl, tongue, ears) . These are traditionally harder to market cuts but often have great potential as value added products. Primals: the four major sections that a carcass gets broken down into before further processing. Value Added Products: This is any product that goes through a process which increases the value of the said product. In the case of meat production the process usually involves some form of physical transformation like making sausage, bacon, broth, or rendered lard. Yields: The percentage of product left after it’s been processed. There are two yields, the yield from live animal to hanging carcass, and then the yield once the carcass has been further processed into cuts, grind, etc. The yield is calculated dividing the weight post processing by the weight bef

FAQs

What does Body Condition (BCS) indicate in livestock?

Body condition describes the general degree of fat present at a given time and reflects suitability for the animal’s production stage, including readiness for slaughter.

What is the difference between hot hanging weight and cold hanging weight?

Hot hanging weight is the carcass weight immediately after slaughter/skinning and evisceration while still “hot.” Cold hanging weight is measured after chilling below 42°F and is typically about 2% lower due to moisture loss.

What does “primals” mean in butchery?

Primals are the four major sections a carcass is broken down into before further processing. The specific names vary by species (beef/small ruminants vs pork).

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by Ben