Short and long tendons of abattoir cattle are collagen by-products of the meat industry. They offer no utilisation at present, being a raw material source of over 90 % protein characteristic. This contribution deals with the three-stage extraction of gelatine from short cattle tendons. The principle of treatment consists in processing degreased tendons in the first processing stage in an environment resulting in the swelling of the starting material. In the second stage, the material is treated with a proteolytic enzyme to produce such disruption of the collagen substrate that makes gelatine extraction when boiling possible in the third stage of the process. In order to study the influence of the significant parameters during the extraction process on gelatine yield, experiments were planned using a factor experiment of 2(3) types. The variables under study were the duration of the second processing stage (5-25 h), temperature in the first and second processing stages (10-40 A degrees C) and the addition of a proteolytic enzyme (1-5 %) on the quantity of the extracted gelatine. The results were processed statistically, and statistical significance of the studied factors was thus found. Contour graphs were plotted to easily survey the influence of the observed factors on gelatine yield. The process achieves up to 71 % efficiency, runs under atmospheric pressure and mild reaction conditions, and is conducive to preparing quality gelatines.