It's gotta fit the box

Meat packing is a mass-produced, factory operation. As such, all the automated equipment and processing lines are set up to fit an 1100-pound carcass. Carcasses significantly smaller or larger than this have to be hand-processed, costing the packer a great deal more--costs which are discounted off the price received by the cattle owner.

That's why all breeds of cattle, and cross breeders of commercial cattle, stress uniformity in breeding and seek the optimal sized animal. In the biz, it's called "fitting the box."

Primal cuts of beef are shipped from the packing plant to wholesalers or meat purveyors in uniform-sized cardboard boxes that stack together well on pallets and on trucks, hence the term.

Breeds or breeders who consistently vary their animals from these size standards pay for it in the end. So-called miniature breeds, which are promoted on the basis that they are easier to handle on small farms, easier for 4-H kids to handle or because they're cute--ultimately don't work, both because their carcasses are too small to fit the box, and the feed savings in feeding a smaller animal don't compensate for the discounted price on fewer pounds of beef.

People with lots of feed, frequently that they've raised it themselves, feed cattle to heavier weights because they have the feed, but ultimately receive less from packers, who must hand-process their carcasses. It's a poor return on their grain.

Freedom of choice is one of the vaunted rights cattlemen trumpet, but its limited by the size of the box, as in "boxed beef." It's a lesson some learn the hard, costly way.