Lamb skin {AU}| lamb processing | AusLCI, U
Unit process Australia v00.00.001
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 lamb 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
- Other Materials
- Contributor
- —
- Last updated
- 12 Oct 2026
- Reference ID
79967ee3-9f52-39d1-8809-794a8141e1c6
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Documentation
- Quantitative reference
- Lamb skin {AU}| lamb 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
Lamb co-products compendium/2025/MLA
Meat retail price/2024/MLA
Supply chain transport and logistics dashboard/2025/CSIRO
Product outputs
| Flow | Amount | Unit | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamb skin {AU}| lamb processing | AusLCI, U | 0.15945652765957447 | kg | Carbon content, fossil: 0.0 kg C/kg dry mass. Carbon content, non-fossil: 0.153 kg C/kg dry mass. Dry mass: 0.33 kg/kg wet mass. Wet mass: 1 kg/kg wet mass. |
Technical inputs
| Flow | Amount | Unit | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon correction factor {AU}| | AusLCI, U | 0.007577407091460634 | 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. |
| Lamb skin , biogenic C not balanced {AU}| lamb processing | AusLCI, U | 0.15945652765957447 | kg | mass of liveweight animal required to produce one kilogram of hot carcase weight, calculated using the dressing rate. |
Parameters
| Name | Value | Formula | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| All_SWITCH | — | — | 0: economic; 1: mass; 2: energy; 3: protein |
| natural_gas | 0.75213 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| value_skin | 0.376531 | — | (2,1,1,1,na,na)[AU$/kg] Average value per lamb skin 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 skin was estimated as 4.9 kg, based on data reported in MLA (2024) |
| prime_lamb_FR | 0.6283335153941318 | total_primeLamb/(total_primeLamb+total_culledBreeders) | — |
| All_En_skin | 2.9956005045338814 | FR_skin*energy_skin/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| protein_petFood | 0.13705 | — | (3,na,1,1,4,na)[kg protein/kg] Assumed equal to offal |
| dressing_rate | 0.47 | — | (2,1,1,1,na,na)[kg HCSW/kg LW] Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| 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 |
| All_skin | 0.3880011335153086 | iff(All_SWITCH=0;All_Eco_skin;iff(All_SWITCH=1;All_Mass_skin;iff(All_SWITCH=2;All_En_skin;All_Pro_skin))) | Selected allocation to sheep skin |
| DM_petfood | 0.29 | — | Dry matter fraction |
| biomass | 0.150015 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| FR_moistureLoss | 0.019068736 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated based on information reported by Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| All_offal | 1.9878582472488966 | 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 |
| CC_livesheep | 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.) |
| All_Pro_offal | 6.820563818516669 | FR_offal*protein_offal/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to offal |
| water_tap | 5.621 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[L/kg HCW] Water consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| N | 0.013 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[g/L] Nitrogen release to rivers after treatment, from AMPC (2025) |
| water_ground | 1.095 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[L/kg HCW] Water consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| protein_retailCut | 0.108 | — | (3,na,1,1,na,na)[kg protein/kg] Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2025) Australian Food Composition Database, F004831: Lamb, all cuts, separable fat, raw |
| All_Eco_skin | 0.3880011335153086 | (FR_skin*value_skin)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| CC_retailcut | 0.438 | — | — |
| All_Pro_skin | 1.5514694988943807 | FR_skin*protein_skin/total_protein*100 | — |
| BioC_all_corr_skin | 0.007577407091460634 | BioC_Actual_skin-BioC_Curr_All_skin | This is the correction to the biogenic carbon required to balance the biogenic carbon for retail cuts rs in kg C. |
| retailCut_rate | 0.88 | — | (2,na,4,1,na,na)[kg retail cut/kg HCSW] Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| All_Mass_retailCut | 44.682975522418566 | FR_retailCut/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| FR_RenderFeedstock | 0.354767184 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated based on information reported by Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| CC_offal | 0.438 | — | Carbon content 0.0 of dry season mix |
| BioC_Inputs | 0.3671893617021277 | LW*DM_Livesheep*CC_Livesheep | kg biogenic carbon imported in with input animals |
| All_retailCut | 96.98045320183701 | 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 |
| FR_offal | 0.046563193 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated based on information reported by Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| total_value | 7.27290481807178 | FR_retailCut*value_retailCut+FR_skin*value_skin+FR_petFood*value_petFood+FR_offal*value_offal+FR_RenderFeedstock*value_RenderFeedstock | [$/kg] Calculated based on value of each output and fraction of live weight |
| gasoline | 0.002055 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| FR_skin | 0.074944568 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated based on information reported by Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| waste_misc | 0.0215 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[kg/kg HCW] Waste production from AMPC (2025) |
| FR_retailCut | 0.396895787 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated based on information reported by Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| BioC_all_retailcut | 0.35610190708765593 | LW*DM_Livesheep*CC_Livesheep*All_retailCut/100 | Biogenic carbon allocated to retail cuts in kg C. |
| CC_RenderFeedstock | 0.345 | — | (2,3,3,1,1,na) Carbon content of 0.5 as DM |
| DM_Livesheep | 0.319 | — | Dry matter fraction of lamb |
| energy_skin | 6.02847382 | — | [MJ/kg] Calculated based on the protein and fat content, using the nutritional content of lamb skin pet food, JR Pet Product (2025) Braided lamb 30cm, https://www.jrpetproducts.com/products/braided-lambs-skin-chew-30cm-pack-of-4, consulted 14/07/2025 |
| BioC_Actual_retailcut | 0.11096192853574469 | FR_retailCut*CC_retailcut*DM_retailcut*LW | The actual amount of biogenic carbon which should be allocated to retail cuts in kg C. |
| total_energy | 15.082163507964509 | FR_retailCut*energy_retailCut+FR_offal*energy_offal+FR_skin*energy_skin+FR_petFood*energy_petFood+FR_RenderFeedstock*energy_RenderFeedstock | — |
| bioC_Outputs | 0.28615520115165954 | (FR_retailCut*CC_retailcut*DM_retailcut+FR_offal*CC_offal*DM_offal+FR_skin*CC_skin*DM_skin+FR_petfood*CC_petfood*DM_petfood+FR_RenderFeedstock*CC_RenderFeedstock*DM_RenderFeedstock+Fr_gutfill*DM_gutfill*CC_gutfill)*LW | Total biogenic material exported from the process in kg C |
| protein_RenderFeedstock | 0.115 | — | (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) |
| energy_offal | 23.51235 | — | (3,na,1,1,na,na)[MJ/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, calculated based on the fat and protein content |
| All_Mass_petFood | 1.6974537831304715 | FR_petFood/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| All_Eco_offal | 1.9878582472488966 | (FR_offal*value_offal)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| WW_landapp | 0.5 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[-] Fraction of wastewater applied to agricultural land from AMPC (2025) |
| BioC_balance | 0.08103416055046814 | BioC_inputs-BioC_outputs | Current balance between biogenic carbon inputs less biogenic carbon outputs in kg C. |
| wastewater_generation | 6.716 | water_total*wastewater_FR | [L/t HCW] |
| WW_sewer | 0.41 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[-] Fraction of wastewater released to sewer from AMPC (2025) |
| wastewater_FR | 0.92 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[-] Fraction of raw water which is released as wastewater, sourced from AMPC (2025) |
| DM_gutfill | 0.1 | — | Estimate |
| energy_RenderFeedstock | 11.255 | — | (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) |
| protein_offal | 0.13705 | — | (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 |
| CH4_WWT | 0.001991786 | — | (2,2,1,1,na,na)[kg/kg HCSW] Calculated from direct emissions from wastewater reported in AMPC (2025) |
| water_total | 7.3 | water_ground+water_tap+water_surface | [L/t HCW] |
| All_Eco_RenderFeedstock | — | (FR_RenderFeedstock*value_RenderFeedstock)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| diesel | 0.018495 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| CC_Petfood | 0.438 | — | (2,3,3,1,1,na) Carbon content of 0.4 as DM, NIR 2023 (DCCEEW 2025) |
| energy_retailCut | 23.15 | — | (3,na,1,1,na,na)[MJ/kg] Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2025) Australian Food Composition Database, F004831: Lamb, all cuts, separable fat, raw |
| DM_offal | 0.29 | — | Dry matter fraction |
| All_petFood | 0.6436874173987852 | 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 |
| FR_petfood | 0.015077605 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated based on information reported by Wiedemann and Yan (2014) |
| P | 0.023 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[g/L] Phosphorous release to rivers after treatment, from AMPC (2025) |
| road | 223.8312129 | — | (3,1,1,1,na,na)[km] Weighted average of distance between property/saleyard and the abattoir. As reported in CSIRO's TraNSIT model (https://benchmark.transit.csiro.au/) |
| All_En_petFood | 2.350524351062381 | FR_petFood*energy_petFood/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| All_Pro_RenderFeedstock | 43.60534875738226 | FR_RenderFeedstock*protein_RenderFeedstock/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to render feedstock |
| FR_gutFill | 0.092682927 | — | (3,na,4,1,na,na)[kg/kg LW] Calculated as ratio of gut fill and live weight, based on information reported in MLA (2024) |
| CC_skin | 0.153 | — | Carbon content 0.0 of wet season mix |
| All_En_retailCut | 60.92055336887163 | FR_retailCut*energy_retailCut/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| BioC_Curr_All_skin | 0.0004735529900712818 | (BioC_inputs+BioC_all_Corr_retailcut)*all_skin/100 | Biogenic carbon currently being allocated to hide before correct is applied - in kg C |
| energy_petFood | 23.51235 | — | (3,na,1,1,4,na)[MJ/kg] Assumed equal to offal |
| water_surface | 0.584 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[L/kg HCW] Water consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| WW_river | 0.09 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[-] Fraction of wastewater released to river from AMPC (2025) |
| All_Mass_RenderFeedstock | 39.940089862504294 | FR_RenderFeedstock/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| BioC_all_corr_retailcut | -0.24513997855191125 | 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. |
| value_retailCut | 17.77115375 | — | (2,1,1,1,na,na)[AU$/kg] Reported value for CY24, MLA (2024) Australian retail meat prices, https://www.mla.com.au/prices-markets/statistics/ |
| total_mass | 0.888248337 | FR_retailCut+FR_offal+FR_skin+FR_petFood+FR_RenderFeedstock | — |
| protein_skin | 0.019368884 | — | [kg protein/kg] Calculated from the nutritional content of pet food based on data from a supplier, JR Pet Product (2025) Braided lamb 30cm, https://www.jrpetproducts.com/products/braided-lambs-skin-chew-30cm-pack-of-4, consulted 14/07/2025 |
| All_Eco_petFood | 0.6436874173987852 | (FR_petFood*value_petFood)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| All_Pro_retailCut | 45.814054454637 | FR_retailCut*protein_retailCut/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to retail cuts |
| All_En_RenderFeedstock | 26.474349345247774 | FR_RenderFeedstock*energy_RenderFeedstock/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| value_RenderFeedstock | — | — | [AU$/kg] Assumed to be nill. |
| All_Mass_offal | 5.242136805711802 | FR_offal/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| BioC_Actual_skin | 0.008050960081531916 | FR_skin*CC_skin*DM_skin*LW | Biogenic carbon which should actually be allocated through to hides in kg C |
| HCW | 1.0 | — | [kg HCSW] Mass of hot carcase standard weight (HCSW) |
| total_protein | 0.09356243516592212 | FR_retailCut*protein_retailCut+FR_offal*protein_offal+FR_skin*protein_skin+FR_petFood*protein_petFood+FR_RenderFeedstock*protein_RenderFeedstock | — |
| coal | 0.223995 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| All_Eco_retailCut | 96.98045320183701 | (FR_retailCut*value_retailCut)/total_value*100 | Economic allocation used as default in AusLCI |
| total_culledBreeders | 192306178.7 | — | — |
| LPG | 0.06987 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| value_petFood | 3.104921053 | — | (3,1,1,1,4,na)[AU$/kg] Assumed to be equal to offal value |
| DM_skin | 0.33 | — | Dry matter fraction |
| DM_RenderFeedstock | 0.54 | — | Dry matter fraction |
| biogas | 0.15207 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kgHCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| total_primeLamb | 325109802.2 | — | — |
| All_En_offal | 7.258972430284345 | FR_offal*energy_offal/total_energy*100 | Energy based allocation |
| All_Mass_skin | 8.437344026234861 | FR_skin/total_mass*100 | Mass based allocation |
| value_offal | 3.104921053 | — | (2,1,1,1,na,na)[AU$/kg] Average value per lamb skin 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 skin was estimated as 4.9 kg, based on data reported in MLA (2024) |
| All_Pro_petFood | 2.208563470569684 | FR_petFood*protein_petFood/total_protein*100 | Protein based allocation to pet food |
| DM_retailcut | 0.3 | — | — |
| renewable | 0.001713 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[kWh/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| waste_undefined | 0.0215 | — | (2,2,1,1,na,na)[kg/kg HSCW] Average waste production from AMPC (2025) |
| electricity | 0.175817 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[kWh/kg HCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| LW | 2.127659574468085 | HCW/dressing_rate | [kg LW/kg HCSW] Mass of live weight animal required to produce 1 kg of hot carcase |
| fuelOil | 0.047265 | — | (2,2,1,1,1,na)[MJ/kgHCW] Energy consumption from AMPC (2025) |
| CC_gutfill | 0.5 | — | Estimate |