Grass fed beef on the cheap?

As a big rig driver the feed lot/slaughter house were my least favorite places to go. They paid really good tho. I think it is a good thing for the industry that the public do not know what goes on there. Does not make me real fond of buying meat.

I was in a hurry earlier and left out the antibiotics issue for feedlot beef. As much as possible I get totally grass fed beef from folks I know.

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Alice
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Once again, cows (either dairy or beef) are never regularly fed antibiotics.

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Flaming Xtian
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Libertarindependent

All beef is grass fed... till it goes to finishing school. I know of no one and have never read or heard of anyone, ever taking a baby calf from it's momma and raising it on grain alone. It simply isn't economical. There's an old saying, with a lot of truth in it... a rancher doesn't raise cows... he's raising grass. Without grass (and hay... and that has to be raised on the place also) your not going to raise any cattle... it's just not economical.

Want grass fed beef? Go to any local livestock auction... all of the cattle running through them are going to be grass fed... some going to other ranchers, but a lot going to finishing school, then packer camp.

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Why would you buy any food fron wally world when you can buy better from the farmer

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most of the high grade beef produced here goes for export and most of the beef in the wally world case comes from south america and Australia, they don't grade as well so they sell cheaper. this is why country of origin labeling is a hot topic. like you guys have said the dairy steers and beef bulls mostly go for hamburger as well as whatever trimmings they save from the good stuff. every time japan or some other Asian country stops buying beef the local processor here has layoffs.

There are a lot of good reasons to buy from a grocer, even Walmart, rather than a farmer: price, convenience, location, selection. No tomato from a grocer was ever as good as a fresh picked one from a local farm, but sometimes I just need a tomato fast and now. As much as i want to support the local farmer, I don't let ideology trump sensible economics.

My experience is based on having a stepdad who was a butcher in a slaughter house,
another different stepdad who was a dairy farmer ( if you want),
being married to a grocery store meat market butcher,
and milking many types of dairy critters all these years.

Those 'chubs' and what is in them depend entirely on where they are packed and which day of the week.
Haypoint is correct that all the scrap from highend cutter cows go into burger.
Also the scrap from lesser quality cows goes into it.
Then they DO (in lots of places) use what they call "dark cutter" meat (very lean and RED),
which is from bulls (either domestic or Australian-grown depends on the market, cost, availability, etc).


Those chubs are based on a formula for fat rather than any exact type of meat that goes into it.
If you run a bunch of lean cows through, then you add fat from another source.
If there is a big glut of fat cows through, you add cutter bull meat to get your 80/20 (or whatever).

It isn't ever exactly the same even from the beginning of one batch to the end of the same batch,
and it all depends on what cattle are at the market that week.

So my official answer is "it varies".

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Cows may not be smarter than People, but some cows are smarter than some people.

There is the picture according to Omnivore's Dilemma then there is the truth.

If you buy ground beef from a grocery store with an in-store meat shop and that meat is on a TRAY,
it may be composed of chubs that have been re-run through the grinder.
Maybe mixed with roasts that are getting close to date too, and
also had some dark cutter shoulder or something added to it to give it a bright color.

One of my personal peeves is people who buy beef based on the COLOR of it.
Generally, you really cannot tell much by that.
Nobody adds DYE to it either, just oxidation from the air will change the color of meat.

However, I have eaten plenty of weirdly irridescent green looking sirloin steaks (that didn't sell) and I am still alive.
I consider it a bit of extra aging and prefer to go by the SMELL of meat to gauge if it is still good.

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Cows may not be smarter than People, but some cows are smarter than some people.

Some of the finest restaurants that charge am arm and a leg for a choice steak and they have aged it up to 28 Days.

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Yep, under normal conditions they will turn green in a day. The grocers pump CO2 into the packaging to keep them red. If you want cheap steaks go through the meat department with a pin then come back the next day......

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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi


Libertarindependent

The big steers we raised when I was younger were grain fed ( we ground it on the ranch pre GMO days and no additives ) and fed for 2 years because the ranch owners wanted it that way. They were hung 28 days and Im here to say that was the best beef I have ever eaten and we ate a lot of it.

We dont buy chubs. I have never trusted the meat in them figuring there has to be a reason its so much cheaper.

We buy our ground beef from a meat market that is family run and the calves come from their cows, thru their feedlot and then thru their butcher shop.

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" Do or do not, there is no try. " - Yoda

I personally find the preference for grass fed beef totally opposite of my own tastes but that is what a lot of customers want so we provide it for them in our small operation. For our own consumption, we feed a little grain and we like a fatter cow and in fact, the higher the marbling (think Wagyu) the better.

A well marbled piece of beef full of flavor that you can cut with a butter knife is what I want. Along with that, I want an ear of our freshly picked and grilled organic heirloom corn slathered in real butter with lots of salt and a big old salad from our organic garden with a large blob of high caloric Blue Cheese dressing all accompanied by an ice cold Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Some grass fed and finished beef tastes good no doubt about it but in general I find at my age I am more interested in flavor and nothing beats a well marbled piece of tender beef.

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Yes!!

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" Do or do not, there is no try. " - Yoda

We don't buy hamburger. Ground meat is usually goat meat. We buy a few beef roasts and grind some ourselves right before use. No steaks. We freeze meat if we have to, to keep it from going to waste but prefere fresh. We don't use a lot of beef, most of our red meat is goat, venison and elk. Some raccoon, pork, maybe once a week. Most of our meat is goat, then rabbit, chicken, pigeon and turkey that we raise or hunt. Oats are the only grain we feed here. We eat grass and grain fed meat as long as we know what it was fed, the beef we buy comes from a small pastured operation but they get grain as needed, all grown right on the farm, same place we get our oats, right from the combine....James

Exactly! That is why I have to laugh when I shop at a high end grocery store that markets its costly beef as " Pasture Raised". All beef is pasture raised. Even cull dairy cows were raised on pasture.

LOL I think your right "Grass fed" is sorta like the big deal people make about "Angus"
Its simply taking what we have the most of (Chevy) and putting a premium name on it (Cadillac)

I raise Angus and Angus cross for sale, but for our use it's Jersey all the way.

Those black hide owner did a fine job of marketing...LOL

I will agree 100% on raising a Jersey or two and put them in the freezer. I have been doing that for the last 25 years. That meat is so tender and sweet and a real good beef to eat. And as a side note I really pack the grain into them the last few months~!

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