Beef pet food, hot standard carcase weight {AU}| cattle processing | AusLCI, U
Unit process Australia v00.00.000
Include all activities taking place at the abattoir, as well as the rendering process to result in the production of meat and co-products of offals, raw hides, pet food and rendered products (meat and bone meal, blood meal and tallow). Management of by-products (gut content) is also included. Representative of an average Australian abattoir, the source data is representative of 68% of national red meat production (bovine and ovine). All activities is expressed per kilogram of Hot Carcase Standard Weight (HCSW), a common industry measure. The dressing rate can be used to convert the HCSW into liveweight (LW). At the abattoir, the hot carcase is allowed to cool down, a process during which it will shrink through moisture loss, reported as chilling loss by the industry. The cold carcase is then processed into retail cuts. The proportion of retail cut produced from a cold carcase is referred to as the retail yield. It was developed as part of the LCAgMetrics project, a partnership between Agrifutures Australia and Lifecycles, funded by the Australian Government's Sustainability Reporting Uplift Grant as part of the National Agriculture Traceability Grants Program. Documentation for this dataset can be found in the 'LCAgMetrics Methodology for developing Life Cycle Inventory' report, available at https://agrifutures.com.au/ Reference flow: 1 kilogram of hot carcase standard weight Production volume: 1868988 tonnes/yr Activities included: The activity starts with the delivery of cattle to the abattoir and ends ends once end products are ready to be delivered (abattoir gate). Energy values: Undefined Nutritional values: Undefined Geography: Australia Technology level: Current Time period: 2020-2025 Record: Paul-Antoine Bontinck; Tel: +61(0)3 9417 1190; email: office@lifecycles.com.au; company: Life Cycle Strategies; Country: AU Generator: Paul-Antoine Bontinck; Tel: +61(0)3 9417 1190; email: office@lifecycles.com.au; company: Life Cycle Strategies; Country: AU
- Sector
- Material
- Contributor
- —
- Last updated
- 10 Jun 2025
- Reference ID
86ebf13e-179c-33a6-946f-5609ea7e73c8
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Documentation
- Quantitative reference
- Beef pet food, hot standard carcase weight {AU}| cattle processing | AusLCI, U
- Sampling procedure
- Data collected from secondary sources, including industry reports and statistics
- Creation date
- 10 Jun 2025
- Is copyright protected
- No
- Is infrastructure process
- No
- Tags
- material
- Sources
-
Australian Food Composition Database/2025/Food Standards AU NZ
Co-product market reports/2024/MLA
Edible offal as a valuable source of nutrients/2024/Latoch A.
Environmental Performance Review/2025/AMPC
Meat retail price/2024/MLA
Supply chain transport and logistics dashboard/2025/CSIRO
Beef co-product compendium/2009/MLA
Product outputs
| Flow | Amount | Unit | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef pet food, hot standard carcase weight {AU}| cattle processing | AusLCI, U | 0.011289313061200214 | kg | Carbon content, fossil: 0.0 kg C/kg dry mass. Carbon content, non-fossil: 0.438 kg C/kg dry mass. Dry mass: 0.29 kg/kg wet mass. Wet mass: 1 kg/kg wet mass. |
Technical inputs
| Flow | Amount | Unit | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef pet food, hot standard carcase weight , biogenic C not balanced {AU}| cattle processing | AusLCI, U | 0.011289313061200214 | kg | mass of liveweight animal required to produce one kilogram of hot carcase weight, calculated using the dressing rate. |
| Carbon correction factor {AU}| | AusLCI, U | 0.001677947982385452 | kg | Allocation correction for retail cuts - which is the only product for which biogenic carbon has been rebalanced in this inventory. For the other coproducts a subsequent balancing process is used. |
Parameters
| Name | Value | Formula | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FR_RenderFeedstock | 0.39846174 | — | (2,1,1,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated as ratio of all material going to rendering (inedible offals, whole blood, etc) and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2024) |
| dressing_rate | 0.580645161 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[kg HCSW/kg LW] Calculated as the ratio between the hot carcase weight and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2009) |
| All_Pro_retailCut | 36.6922363112965 | FR_retailCut*protein_retailCut/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to retail cuts |
| value_petFood | 4.2060053 | — | (3,1,1,1,4,na)[AU$/kg] Assumed to be equal to offal value |
| FR_moistureLoss | 0.013110169 | — | (2,1,5,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated as ratio of moisture loss and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2009) |
| All_petFood | 0.26484551444187293 | iff(All_SWITCH=0;All_Eco_petFood;iff(All_SWITCH=1;All_Mass_petFood;iff(All_SWITCH=2;All_En_petFood;All_Pro_petFood))) | Selected allocation to pet food based on allocation switch - default is economic |
| water_total | 7.3 | water_ground+water_tap+water_surface | [L/t HCSW] Total water consumption |
| protein_petFood | 0.1649 | — | (3,na,1,1,4,na)[kg protein/kg] Assumed equal to offal |
| value_offal | 4.2060053 | — | (2,1,1,1,na,na)[AU$/kg] Reported value for CY24, in MLA's Monthly co-product market reports for a range of edible offals |
| BioC_all_retailcut | 0.2914512097807419 | LW*DM_Livecattle*CC_Livecattle*All_retailCut/100 | Biogenic carbon allocated to retail cuts in kg C. |
| biomass | 0.150015 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| CC_retailcut | 0.541 | — | — |
| All_Eco_offal | 1.527275712408163 | (FR_offal*value_offal)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| LPG | 0.06987 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| BioC_Curr_All_petfood | 0.0002703503764034202 | (BioC_Products+BioC_all_Corr_retailcut)*all_petfood/100 | Biogenic carbon currently being allocated to pet food before correct is applied - in kg C |
| All_Pro_RenderFeedstock | 44.900880524011235 | FR_RenderFeedstock*protein_RenderFeedstock/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to render feedstock |
| DM_gutfill | 0.1 | — | Estimate |
| total_cattle_heads | 2105313455.7 | total_prime_cattle+total_culled_breeders+total_spent_dairy | — |
| P | 0.023 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[g/L] Phosphorous release to rivers after treatment, from AMPC (2025) |
| FR_hide | 0.061180789 | — | (2,1,5,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated as ratio of hide and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2009) |
| All_Mass_retailCut | 44.10410505337866 | FR_retailCut/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| WW_landapp | 0.5 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[-] Fraction of wastewater applied to agricultural land from AMPC (2025) |
| energy_offal | 19.36635 | — | (3,na,1,1,na,na)[MJ/kg] Calculated based on the fat and protein content, as reported in Latoch, A. et al. (2024) Edible offal as a valuable source of nutrients in the diet - a review, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16111609 |
| energy_RenderFeedstock | 15.80743365 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[MJ/kg] Calculated based on the energy content of tallow, meat meal and blood meal, and yield of those materials from processing waste, as reported in Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| All_Mass_hide | 4.192313323374047 | FR_offal/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| DM_RenderFeedstock | 0.319 | — | Dry matter fraction |
| BioC_Actual_retailcut | 0.11819675917400785 | FR_retailCut*CC_retailcut*DM_retailcut*LW | The actual amount of biogenic carbon which should be allocated to retail cuts in kg C. |
| protein_RenderFeedstock | 0.147777342 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[kg protein/kg] Calculated based on the protein content of tallow, meat meal and blood meal, and yield of those materials from processing waste, as reported in Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| FR_petfood | 0.006555085 | — | (2,1,5,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated as ratio of pet food and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2009) |
| natural_gas | 0.75213 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| total_culled_breeders | 572847406.7 | — | [kg LW] Total mass of culled breeders, as calculated in the relevant market process |
| WW_sewer | 0.41 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[-] Fraction of wastewater released to sewer from AMPC (2025) |
| total_spent_dairy | 2374981.0 | — | [kg LW] Total mass of spent dairy cattle, as calculated in the relevant market process |
| water_surface | 0.584 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[L/kg HCW] Water consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| All_Mass_RenderFeedstock | 44.191343926164194 | FR_RenderFeedstock/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| All_RenderFeedstock | — | iff(All_SWITCH=0;All_Eco_RenderFeedstock;iff(All_SWITCH=1;All_Mass_RenderFeedstock;iff(All_SWITCH=2;All_En_RenderFeedstock;All_Pro_RenderFeedstock))) | Selected allocation to render feedstock based on allocation switch - default is economic |
| BioC_Products | 0.27533296870931473 | (FR_retailCut*CC_retailcut*DM_retailcut+FR_offal*CC_offal*DM_Offal+FR_hide*CC_hide*DM_hide+FR_petfood*CC_Petfood*DM_petfood+FR_RenderFeedstock*CC_RenderFeedstock*DM_RenderFeedstock+FR_gutFill*CC_gutfill*DM_gutfill)*LW | kg biogenic carbon in outputs of all products in the inventory before applying allocation |
| CC_Petfood | 0.541 | — | (2,3,3,1,1,na) Carbon content of 0.4 as DM, NIR 2023 (DCCEEW 2025) |
| biogas | 0.15207 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kgHCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| electricity | 0.175817 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[kWh/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| All_Eco_retailCut | 98.05928567599975 | (FR_retailCut*value_retailCut)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| All_hide | 0.14859309715022329 | iff(All_SWITCH=0;All_Eco_hide;iff(All_SWITCH=1;All_Mass_hide;iff(All_SWITCH=2;All_En_hide;All_Pro_hide))) | Selected allocation to hides based on allocation switch - default is economic |
| CC_RenderFeedstock | 0.541 | — | (2,3,3,1,1,na) Carbon content of 0.5 as DM |
| DM_offal | 0.319 | — | Dry matter fraction |
| N | 0.013 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[g/L] Nitrogen release to rivers after treatment, from AMPC (2025) |
| BioC_Actual_petfood | 0.001948298358788872 | FR_petfood*CC_petfood*DM_petfood*LW | Biogenic carbon which should actually be allocated through to pet food in kg C |
| protein_retailCut | 0.121 | — | (3,na,1,1,na,na)[kg protein/kg] Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2025) Australian Food Composition Database, F000473: Beef, all cuts, separable fat, raw |
| All_En_offal | 4.226540137079347 | FR_offal*energy_offal/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| All_Pro_hide | 12.829453207306365 | FR_hide*protein_hide/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to hide |
| All_Pro_offal | 4.753179184505008 | FR_offal*protein_offal/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to offal |
| CC_gutfill | 0.5 | — | Estimate |
| spent_dairy_FR | 0.0011280890233090434 | total_spent_dairy/total_cattle_heads | — |
| prime_cattle_FR | 0.7267758935646269 | total_prime_cattle/total_cattle_heads | — |
| water_ground | 1.095 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[L/kg HCW] Water consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| renewable | 0.001713 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[kWh/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| All_Pro_petFood | 0.8242507728808838 | FR_petFood*protein_petFood/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to pet food |
| total_value | 10.410114858864866 | FR_retailCut*value_retailCut+FR_offal*value_offal+FR_hide*value_hide+FR_petFood*value_petFood+FR_RenderFeedstock*value_RenderFeedstock | [$/kg] Calculated based on value of each output and fraction of live weight |
| culled_breeders_FR | 0.2720960174120641 | total_culled_breeders/total_cattle_heads | — |
| FR_gutFill | 0.085216099 | — | (2,1,5,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated as ratio of gut fill and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2009) |
| All_Eco_hide | 0.14859309715022329 | (FR_hide*value_hide)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| wastewater_generation | 6.497 | water_total*wastewater_FR | [L/t HCSW] Total wastewater generation |
| water_tap | 5.621 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[L/kg HCW] Water consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| protein_hide | 0.275 | — | [kg protein/kg] as reported by Sarker M.I. (2018) Preservation of bovine hide using less salt with low concentration of antiseptic, Part I: Effectiveness of developed formulation |
| HCW | 1.0 | — | [kg] Mass of hot carcase standard weight (HCSW) |
| All_SWITCH | — | — | 0: economic; 1: mass; 2: energy; 3: protein |
| road | 332.4602665 | — | (3,1,1,1,na,na)[km] Weighted average of distance between property/feedlot/saleyard and the abattoir. As reported in CSIRO's TraNSIT model (https://benchmark.transit.csiro.au/) |
| value_hide | 0.2528361 | — | (2,1,1,1,na,na)[AU$/kg] Average value per hide for CY24 calculated based on monthly reported value in MLA Co-product market reports, https://www.mla.com.au/prices-markets/Trends-analysis/co-product-market-reports/. The weight of one hide was estimated as 28 kg, based on data reported in Figure 4.1 of ACCC (2017) |
| CC_livecattle | 0.541 | — | (2,3,3,1,1,na) Carbon content 0.541 of animal as DM. (Average carbon content of 0.175 C/kg liveweight assuming dressing of 63%, carcase composition of 70% meat, 20% fat and 10% bone; dry matter content of 15% by-product (blood, rumen, heads and hooves), 25% meat, 85% fat and 74% bone; and carbon content of 53% by-product, 53% meat, 76% fat and 7.5% bone.) |
| DM_retailcut | 0.319 | — | — |
| All_En_retailCut | 56.8936509308424 | FR_retailCut*energy_retailCut/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| total_protein | 0.1311413409685951 | FR_retailCut*protein_retailCut+FR_offal*protein_offal+FR_hide*protein_hide+FR_petFood*protein_petFood+FR_RenderFeedstock*protein_RenderFeedstock | — |
| fuelOil | 0.047265 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kgHCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| BioC_all_corr_petfood | 0.001677947982385452 | BioC_Actual_petfood-BioC_Curr_All_petfood | Biogenic carbon correction to adjust the effects of allocation in kg C |
| total_mass | 0.901673732 | FR_retailCut+FR_offal+FR_hide+FR_petFood+FR_RenderFeedstock | — |
| All_En_petFood | 0.7329260773413324 | FR_petFood*energy_petFood/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| value_RenderFeedstock | — | — | [AU$/kg] Assumed to be nill |
| All_offal | 1.527275712408163 | iff(All_SWITCH=0;All_Eco_offal;iff(All_SWITCH=1;All_Mass_offal;iff(All_SWITCH=2;All_En_offal;All_Pro_offal))) | Selected allocation to offal based on allocation switch - default is economic |
| retailCut_rate | 0.674074074 | — | (2,1,5,1,1,na)[kg retail cut/kg HCSW] Calculated as the ratio between the mass of retail cut and the hot carcase weight, based on information reported in MLA (2009) |
| All_Eco_RenderFeedstock | — | (FR_RenderFeedstock*value_RenderFeedstock)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| FR_offal | 0.037800988 | — | (2,1,5,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated as ratio of edible offal and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2009) |
| WW_river | 0.09 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[-] Fraction of wastewater released to river from AMPC (2025) |
| DM_hide | 0.319 | — | Dry matter fraction |
| protein_offal | 0.1649 | — | (3,na,1,1,na,na)[kg protein/kg] Latoch, A. et al. (2024) Edible offal as a valuable source of nutrients in the diet - a review, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16111609 |
| diesel | 0.018495 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| total_energy | 17.320719553362103 | FR_retailCut*energy_retailCut+FR_offal*energy_offal+FR_hide*energy_hide+FR_petFood*energy_petFood+FR_RenderFeedstock*energy_RenderFeedstock | — |
| All_Mass_offal | 4.192313323374047 | FR_offal/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| FR_retailCut | 0.39767513 | — | (2,1,5,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated as ratio between saleable boneless meat and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2009) |
| coal | 0.223995 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| All_Mass_petFood | 0.7269907913874993 | FR_petFood/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| wastewater_FR | 0.89 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[-] Fraction of raw water which is released as wastewater, sourced from AMPC (2025) |
| BioC_Inputs | 0.29721938903749867 | LW*DM_Livecattle*CC_Livecattle | kg biogenic carbon imported in with input animals |
| DM_petfood | 0.319 | — | Dry matter fraction |
| All_retailCut | 98.05928567599975 | iff(All_SWITCH=0;All_Eco_retailCut;iff(All_SWITCH=1;All_Mass_retailCut;iff(All_SWITCH=2;All_En_retailCut;All_Pro_retailCut))) | Selected allocation to retail cuts |
| LW | 1.7222222230833335 | HCW/dressing_rate | [kg LW/kg HCSW] Mass of live weight animal required to product 1000 kg of hot carcase |
| All_Eco_petFood | 0.26484551444187293 | (FR_petFood*value_petFood)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| CH4_WWT | 0.001991786 | — | (2,2,1,1,na,na)[kg/kg HSCW] Calculated from direct emissions from wastewater reported in AMPC (2025) |
| CC_hide | 0.541 | — | Carbon content 0.0 of wet season mix |
| energy_hide | 5.045 | — | [MJ/kg] Calculated based on the protein and fat content |
| DM_Livecattle | 0.319 | — | Dry matter fraction of cattle |
| All_En_RenderFeedstock | 36.364872127329875 | FR_RenderFeedstock*energy_RenderFeedstock/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| waste_undefined | 0.0215 | — | (2,2,1,1,na,na)[kg/kg HSCW] Average waste production from AMPC (2025) |
| energy_retailCut | 24.78 | — | (3,na,1,1,na,na)[MJ/kg] Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2025) Australian Food Composition Database, F000473: Beef, all cuts, separable fat, raw |
| value_retailCut | 25.66940575 | — | (2,1,1,1,na,na)[AU$/kg] Reported value for CY24, MLA (2024) Australian retail meat prices, https://www.mla.com.au/prices-markets/statistics/ |
| BioC_all_corr_retailcut | -0.17325445060673406 | BioC_Actual_Retailcut-BioC_all_retailcut | This is the correction to the biogenic carbon required to balance the biogenic carbon for retail cuts rs in kg C. |
| All_En_hide | 1.782010727407032 | FR_hide*energy_hide/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| waste_misc | 0.0215 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[kg/kg HCW] Waste production from AMPC (2025) |
| gasoline | 0.002055 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| total_prime_cattle | 1530091068.0 | — | [kg LW] Total mass of prime cattle, as calculated in the relevant market process |
| energy_petFood | 19.36635 | — | (3,na,1,1,4,na)[MJ/kg] Assumed equal to offal |
| CC_offal | 0.541 | — | Carbon content 0.0 of dry season mix |