Butcher question, getting your meat back?

I'm sure there really are some crooked processors out there who will give themselves or preferred customers the best meat and give you back something else. But those should be few and far between. They won't stay in business long if they do business that way.

I think what really happens is, people aren't thrilled with the taste/quality of their meat and try to blame the processor instead of their genetics and their own skill (or lack thereof) in properly finishing a meat animal.

I see you are in the Kansas City area. Might want to check out Paradise Meats up in Smithville. We have not used them ourselves, but have heard good things about them. We have used the Higginsville meat locker and they do a good job and we have never felt like we were short any meat or didn't get our own animal back.

ETA: Just saw the reference to the Holden meat processor and wanted to give them a thumb's up, too. That is who my mom used to use for years and they did a great job and make really good bacon and sausage if you process a hog.

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I butcher and process my own....It is a crap load of work...but in the end I know how the meat was handled. I am lucky in that we have a game processor here in town. If I call in advance at the end of her day...she will let me bring my scrap cuts and grind them for me. What would take me a couple of hours with a household grinder takes her about 5 minutes. Won't charge me but I am always sure to tip her.

ASK the buthcher. Eleminates stories.

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...............Yeah , we'uns had the same problem with the cremation bizz , we wasn't sure Iffn it was Uncle Ted.....or Preacher Fred ! , lol , fordy

One thing I have observed repeatedly that blew my mind....from different sets of people I thought were as honest as the day is long.

Make a deal for half a hog and half a beef, with others buying the other halves. Somebody insists that they are going right past the slaughter house and will pick up the meat and distribute it.

My half of the hog has 16 feet of ribs and my half of the beef has only a couple of steaks but two brains. Not really that, but you get the picture. I got, supposedly, the right weight, but all the junk. I don't know if this is some sort of tradition, but it happened with people I never would have dreamed would do such a thing....Joe

Some processor will give you your own meat back and some will not. The locals might know.

could you tell by the taste or the amount of fat? Did one taste more saintly than the other?

One way to be sure is if you have a mobile processor.

I'll do my own processing.
Lot of processors or their employees skim the meat.

Those who insist that butchers "steal" your meat are straight up silly. Butchers often have contracts with bigger institutions where they butcher and keep half of the meat instead of charging a dollar amount. I'm in a family of butchers, and not a one of them would ever have to "steal" meat from someone's cow... The state prison here closed their butcher area awhile back and now sends their cattle to butcher, but they pay in beef instead of money.

We have used three butchers one was a LARGE facility that did lots of animals every day and had a retail store front. We also used two very small so one-two animals a week places. The large one had more uniform steak thickness but we got back very funny tasting tough cuts not at all what you expect form a 20 month old steer. The meat was very off and had odd flavor. We have not had any problems before or after with the little butchers we always get out meat but sometimes the steaks are not even thickness.

A butcher near me says up front to the customers that a person does not necessarily get his meat back! He says that he will get the right amount of meat back, but it is too much work to keep one cow separated from another!

He is an honest man, and I believe I would trust him.

we swithed butcher shops a bigger one that stayed baked up you had to make an apponment 6 months in advance . would change your date or once the workers forgot ??? to put the spice in our pork sausage had a rep of having the better cuts missing ect. but now we like or butcher they do a good job being smaller they know us by name I can imagian how bad it would be after over a year raiseing a n carfully feeding a beef to prime perfection to get a tough old housteen back would be bad. remember getting any cow off pasture don't expect prime tender steaks better to get a lot of burger that is edible than a bunch of tough roast .I see it often people buying a cheep beef off pasture or the market then complaining when its tough on the grill . remember there is a reason some beef at the store cost 22 $ a pound a other is 2$

and I would definatly would not go there unless I was just getting a cull ground up for cheep hamburger . raiseing a drug free stress free animail to feed my family and enjoy gormeit tender meals is the whole idea; otherwise
why not just avoid the freezer bill and buy the plastic tube poisin at wallmart

This is like so many other things in life - If I was on planning to butcher a steer each year I would learn how to do it myself - get the necessary equipment even if I had to buy it second hand - that way I would know what I am getting to eat - after all that's the reason I raised the steer in the first place - I'd butcher it in the late fall and hang it in an insulated compartment that I would build with some means to keep the temperature at the right level - it ain't rocket science -

Raymond James, You are so right about Hetheringtons. I live about 17 miles from there and have taken our butchering there for years. I have never had a problem with anything I have ever taken. I have even asked them if some one had lard for sale or some special cuts of meat they wanted to sell and they have contacted the person while I was there. we have gotten sacks of suet for the birds from them also. I am glad to know you are close and have had dealings with all three shops. Now I can choose another if I want. (which will be very doubtful. Thanks.

So you can trust him that he will cheat you? I have a hard time with that.

I labor to produce a superior product which involves better genetics, better feed and better raising conditions than the average animal's meat he is going to be giving back. I don't want someone else's meat. It isn't even legal for me to sell someone else's meat under my label. I would never take my livestock to someone like him who says I won't get my meat back. Switch to a better butcher. It is not hard for them to do it right. They can and should give you your meat back. That's the law and what is right.

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There is a place south of Atlanta where you can be there and watch while they butcher your animal. You should ask if you can do that at the shop you choose.

If you don't want shared ground meat you can have them put all the stuff that would be ground in a separate package, and buy a small hand or motorized grinder and do your own at home.

Our butcher grinds our animals separately. He tells us if there's not enough sausage on that hog, I can't get mild _and_ hot because he has to have a certain amount for seasoning it correctly.

I think a lot of people think they get skimmed because you lose a certain amount of live weight in slaughter, then another amount in the hanging time for beef from water loss. Maybe where those tough cuts come from, people complaining so much about not getting all their meat back that the processor doesn't let it age long enough so the people will be satisfied with the amount they get?

I think you hit on the problem.
When you put lots of care into your livestock, you come to expect a superior product. You are pleased knowing your livestock are drug free, but the real truth is that commercial meat is also drug free. You work hard to have a comfortable environment for your livestock. But most livestock in the commercial food chain are low stress. Besides, I doubt you could taste the difference in eating them. From what I've seen and read on this discussion site, home-raised is often slower raised. There isn't the big push to get them to market weights. There is also some distain for corn or soybeans. Age and lack of marbling results in dry, tough meat. So, when you present your happy steer to the butcher and don't get those gourmet tender steaks you dreamt about, you might believe that this couldn't be from your animal.

.................Since most commercially raised , sold , butchered meat is produced at feed lots and pumped full of drugs to prevent infection , how can , IT be "drug free" ? Numerous tests have proven these drugs reside in the meat sold to the public ! , fordy