Couple of butcher questions(this time in right forum!)

wolffeathers · #1 03/14/11, 08:57 PM

So we were able to locate a recommended butcher nearby to handle our calf when we're ready. We'll contact them this week, but have a couple of questions.

When they say it's .50 a lb to process, is that usually hanging weight or live weight. If it's hanging weight, is there a reliable way to estimate that? Trying to get an estimated cost.

Does anyone recommend a particular package or way to cut? It will be our first time dealer with a butcher for anything. Normally we process all our own, but didn't have the facilities(yet

) to deal with a beef.

The facility is about 45 minutes away, I would prefer him be slaughtered on the farm, but this butcher came highly recommended. Will it affect the meat quality or stress the animal too much?

I know some may be silly questions. It's just we raise our animals because we enjoy knowing the quality of life they recieve and their death is a part of that life we strive to maintain quality over. (And anything and everything homegrown blows storebought out of the water!)

genebo · #2 03/14/11, 09:18 PM

The price to process is usually hanging weight. Beef cattle run around 62% of live weight. Dairy cattle hanging weight will be less.

Most people want all the steaks. Thickness is personal preference. Some people want all the roasts, others want none of the roasts. Any that you don't want end up in the hamburger. You'll also be able to choose whether to take the organs and tongue. If you don't want them, they go to a pet food processor or scrap. Finally you can choose to take the bones and fat. They go to scrap otherwise.

Check the butcher's facilities. Ideally, you'll deliver your animal one day and he'll have a nice place to keep it, with feed and water. The kill should then take place in the morning, when the animal is calm.

A situation where the animal is slaughtered immediately after a stressful ride or is kept in a crowded pen with other frightened animals until slaughter can ruin your meat.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

gwithrow · #3 03/15/11, 07:31 AM

50 cents a pound hanging weight...here it is 60 cents a pound if you want the vacuum sealed packaging......50 for freezer paper...we have done both and slightly prefer the vac sealing so there is no freezer burn.....PLUS a 50 dollar kill fee...also ask if he has a good facility for hanging the sides? my last one was 'aged' for two weeks, but the butcher has to watch it and make sure the temperature is correct in the cooler...and to see that it doesn't dry out too much....and ask how he marks the carcass so you can be extra sure that you are getting your beef back....

DWH Farm · #4 03/15/11, 11:25 AM

Calculate the hanging weight by using 60-65% of the liveweight, then add the .50 per pound and the kill fee. Definitely get vacuum sealed if they offer it. We haul ours about 30-45 minutes and have never had a problem, we do make sure to take them up the night before..

tinknal · #5 03/15/11, 11:38 AM

To insure that the beef is hung for the allotted time do not give cutting instructions until the beef has hung at least 10 days. Besides the roasts you will want to decide what to do with the ribs and soup bones, keep them or bone for burger. I actually prefer paper to shrink wrap.

Keep the organ meat. You are paying for processing it anyway, and if you don't want it someone you know will.

DWH Farm · #6 03/15/11, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinknal

Keep the organ meat. You are paying for processing it anyway, and if you don't want it someone you know will.

I agree, If I pay for it I want it. We dont eat it but it makes great dog food.

oregon woodsmok · #7 03/15/11, 04:01 PM

If you have lots of time, you can train the cow to railer, just like you do a horse. Then there will be no stress from moving the animal.

The butcher should go over how you want the meat cut. Steaks or roasts, how thick to cut the steak, what you want done with the round. How many steaks in a package, how much burger in a package. It all depends upon how your family eats their beef.

I always have one side cut into an enormous prime rib roast, and that is for Christmas dinner. I want the bones left in, the meat not separated from the bones, and the lip left on the roast. The butcher will separate the bones and tie them back on to make carving easier if you don't tell him not to, but I always take the bones off with a slab of meat on them and then barbecue that in the next couple of days. Beef ribs with meat on them. Yeah, baby!

My family likes chicken fried steak, so I get the round tenderized. I want the short ribs. Many people don't so those might end up ground if you don't ask for them.

My butcher makes brilliant sausage, but he charges a lot extra so I don't have any made.

wolffeathers · #8 03/15/11, 08:51 PM

They cryovac, so I guess that's the vacumn packing. The friend who recommended them, sells beef and has been using them for 30+ years.

The calf plays on the trailer(he's figured out how to open the horse trailer and does so expertly, I think with his head/horns) and jumps in and out, so he's not afraid of the trailer. I would think the trailer moving and him being away from his mother would be the stressful part.

We plan on getting the organs and bones back. If we don't eat them and nobody wants them, I'm sure the dogs would love them. Not going to pay someone to throw something out.

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate it.

So take him up the night before. Make sure you get 'your' cow back. Make sure it's hung for the correct amount of time. And make sure to get all the goodies back.