Cost and finding a processor

[GBov]

I keep seeing cheap cows on Craigs List - year old steer $400.00 for instance - but being in rental at the moment I cant really bring one home and knock it on the head lol so I was wondering how much a processor costs and how to go about finding one?

I did find a nice cheap rooster on C.L. that I could have killed and cleaned in the back yard but being up front I told the lady I was going to eat it so it lived and we still dont have chicken lol Its such a pest, before the move we had 2 unusable acres and access to great meat but now that we have moved we dont have land and are finding it hard to find any meat that is worth the bother of cooking

Life does seem to work like that, doesnt it lol

[G. Seddon]

You might check with your county extension agent, a large animal vet, feed store or co-op, beef farmers in your area, etc., and see if they can recommend a processor near you.

[frazzlehead]

You might also check localharvest.com and see if there are local farmers near you selling freezer-ready meat - they may sell you a whole animal and deliver it to the butcher and you just pick up the finished product. Many here do that, anyway.

[kscowboy]

In our area processing runs from 38-45 cents a pound , based on hanging weight plus a kill fee 30-40 dollars , google your state plus meat processors and you should pull up alist of all the custom processors in your state.

[copperhead46]

I think I paid 30 dollars for the kill and 48 cents a pound hanging weight for my last one.
He was cut and shrink wrapped.
P.J.

[greenhome]

I live in Tallahassee. Our butcher charges $40 to slaughter and 65 cents processed, not hanging. Thats 65 cents per pound of meat taken out the door. Hope this helps. Be careful buying off craigslist. Fresh is best!

[Oakshire_Farm]

WOW you are all so lucky!! Up here in Canada, the Government has changed the laws and put such rediculous new rules on slaughter houses. The prices are now up to $120 for a kill and .50 for cutting, wrapping and freezing!! We are not allowed to bring a carcass into the processor to be cut either we are stuck either paying the price or doing it all at home

[SpaceCadet12364]

I'm not for sure if its enforced now, or is something coming down the pike here.....but heard that they will not let you process an animal 30 or more months of age.

What the heck will the feedlots do? Most of that stuff in those plastic pacs are worn out dairy cows (who I would wager are older than 30 months).

I'm hoping its just a rumor or something....we culled a 7 yo cow, and she was TASTY and tender, even at her age. Only thing is, couldn't have the cuts that would contain the backbone because of her age. Even without that, she hot carcassed at 726 lbs.

[SpaceCadet12364]

As far as costs here, last time it was like $25 kill bill and 25 cents/lb per hanging weight. A little extra to have them do up some of the burger into patties.

[jil101ca]

WOW you are all so lucky!! Up here in Canada, the Government has changed the laws and put such ridiculous new rules on slaughter houses. The prices are now up to $120 for a kill and .50 for cutting, wrapping and freezing!!

The price and rules vary from province to province, in northern Ont you pay $45 to kill and .45/lb cut and wrap, hanging weight. I heard that there are 2 weeks in the year that you may slaughter on the farm and take the carcass in to cut and wrap but can't find any info on that rumor.

[picklespickles]

i've gotten quite a few edible roos on c'list. if you look in the farm and garden section or also the free section is where they tend to show up. i always laugh at the people who want a GOOD HOME for their rooster. lol. if you think he's so great, why are you getting rid of him. lol

[Ken Scharabok]

30 month limit sounds about right. Has to do with controlling Mad Cow Disease. After the limit the spinal column and, I believe, the entire head, cannot enter the food supply. Mostly affects cuts such as T-bones.

If you have one processed I recommend asking it to be hung at least three weeks.

Correction: Apparently it is the brain, and not the entire head.

[tailwagging]

Ours do it for $45.00 kill and .60 per lbs hanging weight for cow and hog. $30.00 kill ($25.00 if you do 3 at one time) and $25.00 cut and wrap for sheep and goats.
I like them and will go back.They were very gentle unloading last years calf. Tripled ground the the meat for my hubby and cut up the bones into chihuahua size.

[SpaceCadet12364]

Ken, from what we have heard that 30 month age thing means you CANNOT process that age of animal whatsoever. It doesnt make much sense....I mean, the 7 yo we had done, they did remove the spinal column, those bones were not present in any of the cuts that would normally have them (just got the boneless steak parts).

I hope that we have heard wrong.....could be interesting if all those otherwise healthy 30 month and older cows have to be buried or rendered somewhere, instead of being able to be eaten.

What will walmart do for their beef then? I thought thats where worn out dairy cows ended up at.

[Ken Scharabok]

Think it through! A cow typically cannot have a calf before 24 months of age. A cow/calf producer doesn't really even start to make money on a home-grown until likely their 3rd or 4th calf. If a 30-month old rule for slaughter for human consumption were enacted then essentially every cow/calf operation would go out of business as they would be limited to first calving heifer, which they have to dispose of even before her first calf is weined.

Call your local country Ag Agent and ask them what the skinny is.

[SpaceCadet12364]

Oh yeah, thats what made it sound so crazy!! I mean, I guess you could just use the cow to keep producing calves, but that isnt always the most feasible thing to do with some of them.

Been meaning to call the ag agent since we heard that here.... but I keep forgetting to until its too late in the day to try.

[francismilker]

Just dug through my receipts from last year's show calf processing. The steer's live weight was 1479#. The total bill for killing and dressing was $479.35. That included standard cutting with the exception of getting some pre-made hamburger patties with 40# of the hamburger. Boy was that freezer full to the brim!!!!!!
This year's calf is scheduled to go on March 23rd. I'm ever so excited about it because we're down to the only having beef heart left in the freezer. None of my family has a taste for it.

[themamahen]

Hi everyone,
Cant understand the 30 mo old thing and mad cow disease, please anyone fel free to enlighten me

When I buy my cows I pay 500 live weight 900 to 1000 lbs. Usually end up with 400 or so lbs of meat mostly boneless. butcher and wrap 140.00

cost me 640.00 total for 400 lbs of meat.

The people i buy my cow from always kill and quarter for me

They all recieve gify baskets of garden extras fresh breads and jams.

[Ken Scharabok]

First off, be aware no one is absolutely sure what even causes MCD:

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/...uments/bse.pdf

This article is more balanced than most in admitting it might come from scrappie prion-infested cattle feed, but that is just the prevailing theory. However, using meat and bone meal as a cattle feed supplement likely was going on for a least 100 years before the outbreak in England and surely scrappie-infested sheep carcasses ended up in it. Why the sudden outbreak? There is another theory it is spontaneous, much like CJD in humans, which runs about 1/1M deaths.

I have my own theory. In England likely a significant portion of the population was exposed to BSE-tainted beef, yet only some 130 younger people came down with vCJD. It may be they were going to contract CJD in their late life and exposure to MCD just triggered it early. (England has a population of roughtly 60M. Say just 25% of it was exposed to MCD-tainted beef. 130 out of 15M is an extremely small percentage. I suspect far more died from food poisoning during the same period.)

And, for a theory to be valid it has to apply to all cases. In England a long-time vegetarian came down with vCJD. Researchers tried to be explained it through their possibily using bone meal in their garden and they inhaled some of it. In France, one case of MCD was found in a dairy herd which had been closed for a number of years and all of their feed was farm-grown. I don't recall that one ever having been explained away.

Another theory is MCD may have originated in India where paritially fire consumed human bodies were placed in the Gandies River. They would wash up on sandbars downstream and be harvested by locals who sold their crushed bones to buyers who made bone meal out of them. If a CJD-infected human became part of that mix, and the bone meal was sold to England ... Not a theory which has much support, but ...

From my understand, cattle meat and bone meal (including the brains and spinal columns) can still be feed to non-ruminants, such as hogs and poultry. However, doing so resulted in the ban on feeding composted broiler house litter to cattle.

IMHO, MCD is much to do about extremely very little.

Apparently in research on MCD it was determine it is something which happens to mature cattle. Some criteria is needed and if indeed 30-months-of-age is it, it is likely just a best guess. Cattle predominately are slaughtered before that age. Something like 95% of bulls never service a cow. They go from farm to being steers in a feedlot. Same for most heifers going from farm to feedlot.

I can only speak locally. When a mature bull is sold I'm told there is a very high probability it will end up in a processed meat, such as salomi (sp?). Cull cows likely end up mostly as on-sale roasts and burger. Both represent a fairly small percentage of the market.

(I don't buy meats at Wal-Mart, We still have a M&P supermarket with a butcher section. They grind all of their own burger.)

You might ask who in the world would eat cattle brains in the first place. Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe, gives 15 recipes: batter-fried, cakes, with calf liver, in coconut cream, creamed, creamed with spinach, croquettes, with dumplings, with eggs, fried Roman style, fritters, with kidneys, in lemon sauce, soup and with tomatoes.

I remember my father, every so often, cooking up hog brains and eggs. On Gordon Ramsay's The f-Word, when his lambs were slaughtered he insisted on keeping their brains.

Just as an aside, how do they age cattle? Cattle are not born with a full set of teeth. For the first six years an additional tooth in each row comes in. By 'mouthing' a cow an experienced person can fairly accurately estimate the age. Locally after six years they are considered to me full-mouthed (F's). When they start to show some tooth wear they are called full/slashes (on the stick-on label the F is underlined). With a good bit of tooth wear they are called peggers (P's). When the teeth are worn down to the gums they become - wa-laa - gummers (G's). Such cattle can do OK on green pasture but have a problem in chewing up hay.

[Cotton Picker]

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

First off, be aware no one is absolutely sure what even causes MCD:

Aye.... there's the rub.....

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

This article is more balanced than most in admitting it might come from scrappie prion-infested cattle feed, but that is just the prevailing theory. However, using meat and bone meal as a cattle feed supplement likely was going on for a least 100 years before the outbreak in England and surely scrappie-infested sheep carcasses ended up in it. Why the sudden outbreak? There is another theory it is spontaneous, much like CJD in humans, which runs about 1/1M deaths.

I have my own theory.

As do I..... IMHO, the Scrapie, to BSE, to Cruzfelt-Jackobs Disease theory of chain of infection, is tenuous at best and political at heart........ Here's why I feel that way.....

When the BSE/Cruzfelt-Jackobs tie was first "Discovered" it was widely touted that cattle were infected by ingesting contaminated meat and bone meal from Scrapie infected sheep.

OK....... If cattle got BSE from Scrapie infested sheep and sheep have been known to have Scrapie for a very long time...

In this setting, a discussion took place in the British Parliament in 1755 about the economic effects of a fatal and spreading disease in sheep, and the need for government to do something about it. Thus begins the recorded history of scrapie.

http://www.cjdinsight.org/history.html

Why isn't the consumption of lamb and mutton at the center of debate surrounding the Scrapie, to BSE, to Cruzfelt-Jackobs Disease?....

So glad you asked.... Because Lamb and mutton are not lynchpins of economy like beef is....... Lamb and mutton are specialty items in meat departments..... Beef is the foundation..... The human appetite for beef is like their desire to drive automobiles... They'll continue to eat beef and drive cars.... even if it kills them..... Lamb..... Not so much.... Don't believe me?.... Ask the Canadians.......


http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-621-...003005-eng.htm

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

And, for a theory to be valid it has to apply to all cases. In England a long-time vegetarian came down with vCJD. Researchers tried to be explained it through their possibily using bone meal in their garden and they inhaled some of it. In France, one case of MCD was found in a dairy herd which had been closed for a number of years and all of their feed was farm-grown. I don't recall that one ever having been explained away.

Here's another one that I have a problem explaining away..... I have about six years experience as a meat cutter......
Working in cattle gore...... With open cuts on my hands (It's the bane of working around sharp knives and sharp bone fragments.) So my question is this..... Why isn't the incidence of Cruzfelt-Jackobs rampant among those who work in the meat industry? Hmmmmmm.........

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

Apparently in research on MCD it was determine it is something which happens to mature cattle. Some criteria is needed and if indeed 30-months-of-age is it, it is likely just a best guess.

Here's a little info about the 30 month thing........

What Has the US Done to Prevent the Spread of Mad Cow Disease?

Since December 2003, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has taken several precautions to help prevent the spread of Mad Cow disease in the US. These include:

A ban prohibiting “downer” cattle (cattle too sick to walk, signaling a possible BSE infection) from entering the food chain.
A ban on the cattle parts most likely to be infected (the skull, brain, eyes, and spinal cord of cattle over 30 months of age as well as the small intestines of cattle of all ages) from entering the food chain.
A ban on the practice of air-injection stunning. This technique humanely stuns cattle before slaughtering, but may cause portions of infected brain tissue to enter other nearby, edible tissue.
A change in BSE-testing procedures, requiring final test results before meat can be certified as USDA-inspected.
Restrictions on techniques to mechanically remove meat from bones (advanced meat recovery).

https://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetC...chunkiid=74481

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

I can only speak locally. When a mature bull is sold I'm told there is a very high probability it will end up in a processed meat, such as salomi (sp?). Cull cows likely end up mostly as on-sale roasts and burger. Both represent a fairly small percentage of the market.

Slaughter cows are Lean... Boner.... Or Breaker..... Depending on the amount of "Kill" on them.....

http://www.agr.state.nc.us/markets/mktnews/SltrCow.pdf

Cow and Bull meat is generally darker in color than the flesh of younger cattle. It is also tougher..... Mature cattle are generally made into ground beef..... Hence the sending him/her to McDonald's reference...... The steak cuts and top or inside rounds are sometimes sold as well... It is highly unlikely that you will find them in your average meat market. However, the tenderloins do find their way into the local markets. Cow or Bull, no matter the age... The tenderloin will be tender..... There is a market locally that sells them whole...... The way that an inexperienced eye can ascertain if it is cow tenders is that if sold in the packer vac wrap, you will find the Establishment number and no grade i.e. Select, Choice Prime.

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

I don't buy meats at Wal-Mart,

Wal-Mart sells pre-packaged meat, from the packing house. Like you mentioned before, Ken, much of it contains nearly 10% "solution" i.e. high priced salt water. Read the label on any pre-packaged fresh or processed meat, in order to determine weather or not it has been "Enhanced."

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

We still have a M&P supermarket with a butcher section. They grind all of their own burger.

I don't want that I should scare ya, but more than a few, grocery store meat departments are less than stellar with sanitation with their grinders and tenderizers.... E coli is a normal flora bacterium, in cattle as well as, human gastrointestinal tracts... It's just that when it is ingested by those with weak immune systems that it can wreak havoc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli

E coli is usually limited to contact surfaces, because muscle tissue is sterile, contamination usually occurs only on the surfaces of cut muscle..... Due to the fact that it is destroyed by heat, one can usually eat a seared rare steak and suffer no ill effects...... Ground beef differs in that it is entirely a contact surface product..... If not cooked thoroughly it is very capable of harboring viable e coli bacteria.

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

You might ask who in the world would eat cattle brains in the first place.

A little bit of trivia.......

A popular treat in St. Louis and Chicago at the height of the stockyard era wa the "brain sandwich," deep-fried slices of cow brains served with onions between two slices of bread.

http://www.tv.com/modern-marvels/the...4/summary.html