No, you’re right, the animal is Rind but on the plate it’s Rindfleisch (牛肉). To me this seems to convey that it’s not the whole thing but just some part that was used to prepare the dish.
E.g. for half a grilled chicken we just say “half a chicken” without adding “fleisch” but if it’s just a chicken breast then we would say “chicken meat”. Or when people grill a whole piglet, that’s also just “Spanferkel” without the “fleisch” bit. (Or even if it’s a whole ox…)
I think it’s sooo interesting that each language has its own weirdnesses and surprises
I’d like to add that I mostly say Hähnchen to the food and Huhn when I’m talking about a living bird. Same with Spanferkel, I would only use this word when speaking about food and not when referring to the actual living animal, which can be called Spanferkel as well.
So even if we don’t have a clear distinction like in English, there seems to be a tendency to use different words for the food and the living animal.
And with Rind, I think it can be seen on the menu as well as used for the living animal. But it’s a rather technical term to me, maybe used by a farmer or a biologist.
And I wouldn’t be upset about it either…