How do I analyze for beef bones in my stock/broth?

Q.  I am trying to analyze a recipe for beef stock.  The recipe calls for 3 pounds of beef bones.  In the ingredient database I am not finding an entry for beef bones.  There are many cuts of beef that include a bone in them and an entry for bone marrow but nothing for plain bones.  Can you make a suggestion for me?

A.  Nutritional software is a valuable tool in working with many recipe formulations, but it has limitations in working with recipes where some ingredients are removed before the final product is complete.  For example, a recipe for vegetable broth is difficult if various vegetables are called for in the recipe but are discarded before the final product. Similar with the beef broth and removing the bones.  There is no way for software to determine the nutrients that leached from the vegetables into the water during the boiling process.

Lab analysis can be obtained to determine the needed nutritional values.

Or, a ballpark analysis of beef broth can be obtained by using a salt free beef broth from the database and adding the salt and spices that the recipe calls for.