Carcass sizes are at some of the highest today than they have ever been, says Erin Beyer, assistant professor of sustainable meat and industry at Kansas State University.
“We’ve been seeing this trend for over 20 years, and progressively carcasses keep getting bigger,” she says.
When Beyer first started going into a beef plants, which was about 10 years ago, she says it was hard to find a carcass more than 1,000 lb.
“Most carcasses were 700-800 lb., with correlating ribeye sizes, and now finding something under 1,000 lb. is almost impossible in beef packing plants, and we’ve seen that shift also within our premium programs too,” she explains.
She attributes the larger sizes to economics and genetics with a lot of things happenings on the live side to make cattle bigger.
“Reduced heavy carcass weight discounts and larger premiums on higher quality carcasses has dictated decisions to market larger beef animals,” Beyer says. “The bottom line is mostly economical. However, the largest mechanism for this shift is due to improved genetics. While we have some of the largest carcasses we have ever seen, we also have the highest-quality beef, which has allowed beef demand to soar.”
Beef grid pricing has also made it more economical to market larger animals with a greater chance to grade Low Choice or better, she adds.
From the genetics side, including lineage and breed, the ability for an animal to deposit marbling contributes to the high-quality grade.
“Consequently, for the first time in history, in April of 2025, we had a greater percentage of USDA Prime versus USDA Select carcasses on the market,” Beyer says.
Larger carcasses at the plant and on the plate
When it comes to the impacts of larger carcasses, Beyer says some issues arise at the packing plants, which historically were built for smaller finish weights.
“Currently, these larger animals can create some problems in plants, especially older plants with lower rail systems or rails not designed for that much weight,” Beyer says.
She has even seen entire rails of carcasses fall due to the added weight.
“Where you visibly see issues is carcasses being longer,” she says. “As carcasses are moving to the harvest floor, there are places in which they drag and have to be cut off. That’s loss of yield.”
Beyer says each plant will know more about how to handle the increased weight and length of carcasses, and she recommends routine rail maintenance and checks.
With decreased cow herd numbers, increased carcass size has kept beef production high. With that comes more fat having to be trimmed off the bigger carcasses.
“We’ve seen an increase in yield grade, so the larger that number, usually the lower yielding the carcasses are in an increase in the fat thickness,” Beyer says.
The National Beef Quality Audit, which is measured every five years, has shown that trend with a large bump from Yield Grade 3.1 vs 3.3, she says.
“We also saw an increase in ribeye size, but more disproportionately, we were seeing an increase in that fat thickness,” Beyer says. “So not only will we see a discount on carcass size, but then we will see a double discount on those fat carcasses as well. However, even with these discounts, it is usually still more economical to market these larger animals, especially if they grade above low choice.”
A concern for consumers is if palatability would be affected by larger carcasses.
“Historically, we would say that tenderness was the most impactful trait for a really long time, probably mostly because we see the most variation — we can see huge impacts within or variation in tenderness between animal to animal, breed to breed. A lot of things impact tenderness,” Beyer says.
Now the industry recognizes juiciness and flavor are of equal or greater value and that it’s the combination of all three that make up the overall eating experience.
“As a meat scientist, that’s a lot of what my job is: making sure that we get the highest-quality beef to the consumer every time,” Beyer says. “When we think about bigger carcasses, they are depositing more external fat, however as they’re doing that, they’re also depositing more internal fat, which is a good thing. Quality grade and the amount of marbling in the middle meats correlates to a better eating experience for the consumer.”
Another way consumers could be affected is possibly in different sizes of cuts. For example, a consumer might order a ribeye at a restaurant and notice it’s a little thinner or a different shape than before.
“I think they have noticed that there is what we call portion control happening,” Beyer says. “Because as carcasses get bigger, we do have some changes to muscle size. That can be a good thing in some muscles and problematic in muscles in which we want them to be an inch thick.”
