Cut of beef e.g., the cut described as "brisket" in the US is from a significantly different part of the carcass than British brisket. "Cut" often refers narrowly to skeletal muscle (sometimes attached to bones), but can also include other edible flesh, such as offal (organ meat) or bones without significant muscles attached. The following is a list of the American primal cuts, and cuts derived from them. Beef carcasses are split along the axis of symmetry into "halves", then across into front and back "quarters" (forequarters and hindquarters). Canada uses identical cut names (and numbering) as the U.S, with the exception of
Beef cattle Some of these feedlots grew so large they warranted a new designation, "Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation" (CAFO). Most American beef cattle spend the last half of their lives in a CAFO. A steer that weighs when alive makes a carcass weighing approximately , once the blood, head, feet, skin, offal and guts are removed. The carcass is then hung in a cold room for between one and four weeks, during which time it loses some weight as water dries from the meat. It is then deboned and cut by a butcher or packing house, the carcass would make about of