butcher: cow or steer?

[cotton]

Hi everyone. My husband and i usually put a steer in our freezer every year. This year there isn't very much hay and people are dumping cows off everywhere, yet the steers are still high. We have a young cow, she has calved once ( about 4 months ago ) and we were considering putting her in the freezer instead of a steer. I'v never eaten a cow..is there any reason she wouldn't be as good as a steer?
thanks,
Susan

[ozark_jewels]

No reason at all if she is young. Just seems like a waste...but hey, you do what you gotta do.

[Gin64]

No there should not be to much of a difference between the two. I would though try and feed her a little bit of corn before you process her. It will add a little bit of fat to her. And the fat is were the flavor comes from on beef.

[cotton]

yes i agree it is a waste of a young healthy cow. But right now the steer is worth much more than her at the market and cows are selling for about 50 cents per lb. We had already decided that some of the cows are going to have to be sold as here in Indiana, our hayfields are producing less than 50%. She is getting grain every night along with the other cows, and is still quite fat and sassy despite nursing.

[agmantoo]

My thoughts would be to process the cow and sell the feeder animal. I would have only the best cuts made into steaks and roasts and put the rest into burger. Hardly no one does not eat burger and it can be prepared in many ways. This way you will have less waste and usable end products.

[susieM]

McDonald's uses 90% cow and 10% steer for it's burgers. No bull.