Processing beef

[PrettyPaisley]

Could someone walk me through the process? Or-would it be out of line for me to go to the plant and ask the folks who own it to walk me through? This will be the first time taking a steer to be processed and while I'm trying to get over my emotions (not of eating the steer but of how he will feel the hours before his death) I am also interested in making sure I understand the logistics.

For example, truth be known, I don't really like much other than ground beef and steaks. BUT I want the fat off the cow to make tallow - so is the fat on the cow like that of a pig? Will there be enough for me to have the majority of the cow ground up and still have fat left over to render?

How much of the bones can I expect back? I've bought beef bones from other farmers for soup but I expected many more bones, much bigger bones from them. Does the butcher assume you don't want the big bones, the long leg bones and the spine and ribs ... ? How does that work?

This is a reputable processor who's been around 41 years and I don't want to offend him by asking questions. He was quite patient with me when I called for the particulars of when and where but I know I am not normal in many ways - and I won't bother him with asking how my cow will be handled before he is put down. I do, though, want as much of him back as I can possibly get! This processor does package up the liver and heart but that is more normal than asking for every piece of bone in his body, I'm sure.

Sometimes I wish I could just accept things without question. I wonder what star I was born under to make me so inquisitive !!! It's good and bad, I guess.

Thanks.

[jwal10]

If you have them take the large fat deposits off first, your ground beef will be leaner. Not a bad thing, just different than your normal 70/30 mix. How do you like your ground beef, 80/20? have it made that way. You want the rest of the fat. Take the steaks and anything you want, the rest is boned for ground beef. Tell them you want the bones.
Most slaughter houses have pens so your animal is by itsself, you put yours in the pen. The person opens the gate and walks the animal to the kill floor. They dispatch the animal with what ever means they use, some have modern ways, others not so modern. Quick dispatch and then bled out quickly. I would suggest you talk to the owner, he will go through the steps. Do not ask questions, just listen. When he is done you can ask questions. You do need to trust this person, if you don't, go somewhere else, but some things are best not seen at this point. Do not be there, not a pretty sight and since you have formed a closeness to this animal, it may make it hard to eat.
Ask questions here so you get used to the idea, ever seen an animal killed and dressed? It is not an easy thing, to take a life, it should be respected but is a necessity if we want meat....James

[BobbyB]

Simply put, he will not feel a thing. He will chew his cud and just be a steer until the time comes. People think. Animals just do what they do and do not think about past, present or the future.

A good processor should have no problems explaining procedures to you, if you really want to know. And they should be more than helpful talking to you about cutting and wrapping to suit you. Our is very good at this.

When I took a steer to the slaughter house , they told me I could watch the whole process from kill to freezer if I wanted to . I had an appointment to have my steer slaughtered & he was killed within minutes of arrival . The truck ride there might have upset him a little but he didn't seem excited .
The slaughter house I used would give you back anything you asked for , teeth , hair & eyeballs if you wanted . They did charge extra if you wanted the hide .
My biggest problem was , there was two slaughter houses in my area , I called them both for information before deciding which to use .
I had access to scales & knew what he weighed . I told both slaughter houses his breed . They both told me I could expect back in meat 50% of his live weight . He weighed 800 lbs. at slaughter & I received back 236 lbs. of meat & some of the cuts were bone in cuts .

[WoolyBear]

Don't forget about the heart, liver and tongue. Most times the butcher will slice up the liver for you but you will have to skin it. I found it was easier to just put the liver into small packs and freeze. Then skin it after I thawed it out. If I recall I think the livers weighed around 10 pounds. Tongue will also need to be skinned, but after it's cooked. First time I ever made tongue I didn't know you had to skin it (both my mother and MIL never explained that little tidbit) I sent DH a tongue sandwich in his lunch....unskinned. Poor guy said he bit into the sandwich and couldn't tear it apart, lol.

[MO_cows]

If you don't get some roasts and stew meat, you are going to have a LOT of hamburger. That is going to use up more of the fat you want, because burger has to have some fat in it. A good processor will walk you thru the cut list so you can make your choices. For example if you want the beef tenderloin cut out, you will get strip steaks instead of t-bones. Congrats on finishing your first beef.

[DaleK]

While you're there ask him if he has any extra fat. With people wanting leaner beef I'd be surprised if he doesn't have extra on a regular basis.

[Awnry Abe]

Most of our processors have on-farm kill services. It's the best thing for the animal, IMO. The extra charge should be offset in missing offal disposal charge. Plus you get that big ol nasty pile of guts for your compost and don't have to pay the .45 per pound (ymmv) for the liver, heart, etc. (hmmm. Actually, I think they charge on hanging weight, not weight of packages. So nevermind on the .45 part)

Make sure you have the empty freezer space ready. Do you have a guess on the live weight?

Don't turn the best parts into burger. The very best tasting beef are the cuts you rarely find in the grocery store. I just had short ribs last weekend. Heaven on a plate. That said, I get a little overwhelmed in the amount of round steaks. I love them, but there never seems to be an end to them.

Don't treat your processor like he is the Soup Nazi. I am sure that in 41 years he has dealt with an enormous number of first time freezer peeps. He probably appreciates the up front questions way more than the after delivery complaints.

[farmerDale]

Every year I take some of our lambs for slaughter. Thing is, I hunt and kill animals all the dang time. I butcher all kinds of stuff, all the time!!! But my lambies, I have issues with... I inherited this from my dad, who was not exactly a cushy guy.

Having emotional, and attachment issues is not abnormal. As far as what he will go through the few hours before: No worries, he will have no clue about what is going to transpire. His last few hours will be not much different than his previous thousand or so. In fact, I would theorize they may be more interesting, new gates, new buildings, new scents and sights.

[Rustaholic]

Originally Posted by farmerDale

Every year I take some of our lambs for slaughter. Thing is, I hunt and kill animals all the dang time. I butcher all kinds of stuff, all the time!!! But my lambies, I have issues with... I inherited this from my dad, who was not exactly a cushy guy.

Having emotional, and attachment issues is not abnormal. As far as what he will go through the few hours before: No worries, he will have no clue about what is going to transpire. His last few hours will be not much different than his previous thousand or so. In fact, I would theorize they may be more interesting, new gates, new buildings, new scents and sights.

WOW, Dale, I grew up doing all of our butchering.
Yes all summer long I gave the steer love.
That is all it knew from me.
Bang, slit, skin and gut then all that wonderful meat.
steer, hog, chicken or rabbit we treated them great, they had happy lives then we killed them quick and ate them.
We had names for all of them except the chickens.

[elkhound]

one thing many are shocked by on first time butchering in a process plant is the ratio between live weight and what they actually get back in wrapped packages in weight.

different breeds of cattle slaughter out different but as a rule.....1000# live weight=600-700 gutted hanging weight ...take off the hide,head,and all the bone weight it drops to 400-500.

some cattle cut out higher some are lower it depends on muscling and genetics and your fat will depend on how much grain you fed them and so forth. if a critter is covered in fat too the weight ration changes on meat you get back to but you might get a huge box of fat for tallow because of excess marbling on and in carcass.you just wont know till ya cut into carcass and see it.

might check around and see if extension office might have a cattle judging class coming up and get with a grader and show you what to look for and as time goes on you can get an eye for them on my putting ya hands on live body tell what kind of flesh they have on and adjust daily food rations to get type of flesh on a critter you are looking for.

i harvest 99% of my red meat from the wilds....150# deer..drops to 100#gutted...then i get 50# of boneless meat. so they cut out about 1/3rd live weight.

sorry for rambling on so.

[elkhound]

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

Sometimes I wish I could just accept things without question. I wonder what star I was born under to make me so inquisitive !!! It's good and bad, I guess.

Thanks.

you keep on the path...you and family are doing and learning ...its how we all get experience by doing and talking with others and their knowledge.

[elkhound]

http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/CustomM...ercentage.aspx

[karenp]

Do you all recommend having the processor hang the meat and if so how long?

[Wanda]

Originally Posted by karenp

Do you all recommend having the processor hang the meat and if so how long?

Beef needs to hang in my opinion. As far as time 7-? days depending on fat cover. Your processor should advise if you want to age 14-21+.

[geo in mi]

I think a person should get a high percentage of hamburger, but at least try some steaks and roasts and some rib cuts... then you'll get bones in the cuts rather than in an unfrozen box that you have to deal with right away. Maybe it will involve learning some new ways of cooking(as in a dutch oven or slow cooker, or grilled over wood coals in a backyard grill/oven, etc, etc.) I remember coming home from school and smelling the wonderful simmering beef getting ready for a beef & noodle(homemade) dinner complete with canned green beans or tomatoes. Hog heaven!

Fat for tallow? Hmmm, that will depend on how you fed your beef. Pastured only won't yield much excess, and you'll need it for the hamburger.

geo

[PrettyPaisley]

I've bought 1/8 and 1/4 of grass fed cows before and got WAYYYYY too much stew meat. I've tried just about all cuts except the oxtail (my Paleo sister would fight me for it and win-as I swear she would eat the cow in the pasture if given the chance) and I do NOT want all that stew meat. Other than the watermelon roast I don't like the roasts. My girls don't care for it much either. Now I will take the steaks; nothing like frying them up in butter with eggs for breakfast. But honestly, it takes too long to cook and being grass fed, is just not good to me. BUT-I will happily try some ribs and I can't wait for the brisket and PRIME RIB! Almost forgot about those! They are NEVER in the box when I got a 1/4 of a cow.

The fat thing might be hard. I expect these long boney guys (they were dairy bulls when I brought them home) to not be too fatty. As usual with ground beef I will just add fat when I cook it. And I won't lie. I LOVE corn fed beef. Love love love it. And we still go out to eat steak that we know is good ... as a treat. But on an every day basis I really want the grass fed. Maybe I can live without tallow since I've got a couple of hogs that I'm letting get huge but I can't live with all that stew meat. Yuck. SO likes it okay but not well enough for me to take lots of it. Plus-I've got several friends and my momma who live the ground beef so if I can sell it at $5lb I can make back a little money. Lord knows I don't have the freezer space for both! I don't have access to a scale so I can only estimate their weight at about 750-800# each.

Other than a chicken that I did myself, the only other thing I've seen processed is the brim daddy used to catch with us at the lake. I don't want to watch. I know I should; he's my animal and if I was worth my salt I'd do him here at the house. But I can't right now. I've had about the crappiest past couple months of my life as farm as farm steading goes and I just need a little peace. We had to have our buck put down a couple weeks ago and the girls and I sat on the milk stand in the barn while the man shot him outside. We huddled together and cried like a baby. It was so pathetic. Saturday I took the girls pet goats to the sale while they slept. I simply cannot process Brisket or Chuck Roast out there right now. Piper, DD2 will do just what she says when she gets older; "Move to the city and eat chemicals." LOL

He must also operate a sale barn because he told me to bring the steers there, they would be weighed and tagged then taken to be processed after the sale. That extra step made me think that the steer would be extra stressed. He told me to tell him how I wanted the meat cut. I guess I need to list a few things out. I expect I'll do better as I have more processed. The first couple will be a learning curve I reckon.

Thanks for the feedback!

[PrettyPaisley]

Originally Posted by farmerDale

Every year I take some of our lambs for slaughter. Thing is, I hunt and kill animals all the dang time. I butcher all kinds of stuff, all the time!!! But my lambies, I have issues with... I inherited this from my dad, who was not exactly a cushy guy.

Having emotional, and attachment issues is not abnormal. As far as what he will go through the few hours before: No worries, he will have no clue about what is going to transpire. His last few hours will be not much different than his previous thousand or so. In fact, I would theorize they may be more interesting, new gates, new buildings, new scents and sights.

Thank you. <3

[TripleD]

PP if you dont mind can you pm me where you are carrying him..... Thanks..

[jwal10]

Me, I would keep the cuts you want/like, then later you can always grind the extra for hamburger if you want/need....James