What’s do you believe a “trimmed” 4 quarters weigh? I sent in an stx deer just quarters to be turned into sausage and they say it’s 20lbs including the ad ins. (Jalapeño, cheese,seasoning)

How big was the deer?

Buck or doe?

Where "in the body" was it shot?

If there was no unfit meat or damage / blood shot on any of the quarters I'd say you're getting hosed.

I always figured about 40%-45% of dressed weight would be boneless meat....that is depending on buck vs. doe, pre-rut to post rut and any trimming done for a bullet damage.

Last deer I dropped off was my FIL’s buck, it was 65# of bone in quarters, it netted over 50#’s of ground meat with 10% beef tallow added.

Like a house cat!

Seems a little light to me

This is the reason why I process my own meat. Even my own sausage. I have too many times been hosed by processors.

If you cut the shanks off each quarter above the joint and it was off a smaller doe, then that number might be close. A lot depends on the size of the deer and what you are calling a "trimmed" quarter. Is the sausage a 60/40 mix or 70/30 or ?

A 140 lb dressed buck usually will yield about 65-70 pounds of boned off meat if you really get tedious with the job and there is not a ruined shoulder being blood shot.


Sounds like your processor needed a little sausage to take home himself. lol

Still never know, a lot depends on what he took in. South texas has some big deer, it has some little ones too. A doe that dresses 80 pounds would yield 30-40 pounds of meat. Take the straps and tenders out of that.... and assume.... that the flank and ribs were not kept and probably wind up with a decent bit less. Assuming it was a body shot you could loose even more if a shoulder was hit. All of a sudden it could be a very real number.

Agreed. We typically get 28-32lbs of meat from our processor on small central TX does. If the deer was small and OP kept the straps, given some loss/trimming I could see 20 lbs. The other thing to consider is, are they charging you by the pound to produce it? I know one processor that charges $4/lb for summer sausage. They wouldn't be in a hurry to rip themselves off by selling you less product.

Ditto.

Sounds way light unless it was a very small deer with significant meat damage.

The OP's whats the case?

I'm also confused by 'It's 20lbs plus the add-ins'. What processor weighs it at that stage? Do you mean it turned out 20lbs of finished product? If they smoked/cooked it that would reduce the weight significantly.

Mature south Texas doe. Part of one front quarter was lost.
The 20lbs I’m getting back includes fat added in...

Did you keep the straps and the tenders off the doe? meaning you simply took in the hind quarters and essentially one shoulder?

No rib meat, neck meat, just the rump/leg muscles and the shoulder? Or did you take the whole carcass and let them figure out what meat to use?

So many more details are needed to make what amounts to an assumption on all our parts, but most of the assumptions are based in good experience.

My processor weighs the quarters when you drop off, calculates weight with the bones removed, and writes down the finished weight with added trimmings on my order sheet.

The pickup weight is known before I ever leave and the finished product is weighed upon pick up if desired.

nope I threw em away 😂
the op says just the 4 quarters.

If all they added was fat, and this is smoked sausage, you'd be looking at ~28lbs pre-cooked. Figure they added 5lbs of fat, so 23lbs of venison from 3.X quarters, no neck meat, etc. I don't think that's too far off.

Snack sticks and summer sausage only. Jalapeño and cheese added to both.

It has been my experience that a guy can expect about 20-25lb of trim off a rifle-shot doe, and up to 35 or so for a bigger buck (assuming a body shot).

"Part of one front quarter" being blown up could mean that whole quarter got trashed.... I've done it myself.

Call the processor and ask what happened. Do you know roughly how much everything weighed when you took it in?