Way back when during my college years, I worked a couple of summers at a packing house.
On the beef line, we usually saw 300 lb or so beef halves come swinging down the line. There were a few huge bulls that would come down almost dragging on the floor.
By watching the inspectors (my job was to help move the carcasses into the cold room immediately after the inspection station), I learned what is and isn't prime. It's pretty simple, but the fine scale marbling that is prime doesn't show up in the retail stores - nor is it apparent after the meat has been cooked. What you see in the best of the retail isn't really prime (using the 1970 standards), but a reasonable approximation to 1970 choice - which has been elevated to prime in the ensuing years.
But on a couple of occasions the carcasses were from milk cows - extremely skinny & bony & lightweight. I was told they were destined for the school lunch program. If so, it was a real rip-off, as the meat to bone ratio was miniscule. There seemde to be more tendon and gristle than muscle on those scrawny things. I think (but may be wrong) that the inspectors that checked the usual run of beef didn't have to bother with these.
Do y’all have any idea what goes on at the stockyard auctions?Those skinny cows are canners, thats what ya eat in campbells soup.When a known producer of fine beef bring his cattle to market, the large volume buyers know who he is and bid accordingly, bringing higher prices.That producer might bring a hundred head at a time for auction, the little guy can not compete in buying that.Now, you have also smalll but exquisite producers, fine grain fed cattle, but maybe only ten to fifteen head at a time, small butcher shops can buy those cuz the big guys can’t be bothered with such small purchase. Then you got the giants, the food chains, that have to buy thousands of head a day to keep their stores stocked. Out of the thousand they buy they may have gotten several small lots of prime cattle but they market it all as select or choice.