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07/26/11, 03:05 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Alabama
Posts: 126
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First Dexter beef (pics)
Sorry, but I just havta share.
After 24 months in the making, we finally got our first Dexter beef. Hanging weight was 450 lbs, take home meat 300 lbs. Steer was raised and fattened on our grass/clover pasture. We supplemented pasture with alfalfa hay/cubes for last few months. Processor hung the steer for 14 days. We just picked up the meat yesterday and had our first steaks last night.
Steaks are well marbled. Flavor and texture were wonderful. Taste is different from corn-fed, store bought meat. Both are good in my opinion, but different. I have had some grass-fed beef that had a very strong taste, but this Dexter was not like that at all.
Here are bone-in ribeyes ready for the grill.
And here they are ready for my mouth.
Tonight we are trying some hamburger.
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07/26/11, 03:18 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Hochfeld Manitoba
Posts: 1,953
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Looks yummy. We are currently chewing through our fourth Dexter steer.
We really enjoy the beef and the portions are more managable.
__________________
Some folks are well off. I'm just a little off.
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07/26/11, 03:21 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Georgia
Posts: 1,664
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Looks great! I've been interested in getting a Dexter for milk in the future, and am glad that the beef from them is tasty, too.
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07/26/11, 03:31 PM
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Retired Coastie
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Monterey, Tennessee
Posts: 4,651
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Lookin mighty good...Topside
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TOPSIDE FARMS
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07/26/11, 03:42 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 4,624
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The strong flavor of previous beef might have had to do with the length of time it hung. DH thinks longer hanging is good. But too long and it is too strong, imo.
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07/26/11, 04:39 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Eastern Colorado
Posts: 124
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Yum, makes me want a bite!
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07/26/11, 05:08 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: VA
Posts: 1,554
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Makes my mouth water!
My oldest steer is still a year away from the butcher and we're all out of the last one. Dang!
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07/26/11, 05:47 PM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: VA
Posts: 1,706
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Your steaks look wonderful! And so does your website. Congratulations!
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07/26/11, 07:00 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NH
Posts: 49
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You know, I was fine until I saw the cooked steak.....thanks, thanks a lot. Now I am craving a nice, juicy steak! Looks like a nice, medium rare too.
LOL.
Thanks for sharing the pics, I am SO looking forward to butching my first dexter steer. He is only 18 months now, so we are thinking next spring/fall. Still got some of our hereford in the freezer, hubby wanted to try letting it hang for 20 days and I do not care for it much. So, I am not a fan of aged beef.....glad hubby and his family like it. But, you live and you learn.
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07/26/11, 10:26 PM
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Michigan
Posts: 535
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Looks about perfect to me! We have one package of steak left and I'm hoarding it for a special occasion...preferably when no one else is at home!!! Still quite a bit of burger but it has to last until Octoberish.
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07/27/11, 12:32 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: SW MO
Posts: 334
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I know this is off topic, but I love your plate!
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07/27/11, 08:02 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 777
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I just had a Dexter X Mini Jersey steer butchered. He was small and built like a Dexter. He was only 9 months old, but out here in AZ you have to buy every mouthful of feed, and hay prices are outrageous. We got 235 pounds of really nice meat. I think we'll butcher early on the next steer we raise too.
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07/28/11, 12:02 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: VA
Posts: 1,554
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I butchered my first Dexter steer at 13 months. The beef was good, but hard to cook without drying it out. It was so lean. He hadn't developed enough marbling to make the best beef.
My next one was 27 months old, and the beef was so much better. More flavor, more marbling, cooked easily and stayed tender and juicy. It was so much better that the next two stayed until they were 27 months old, too. Same excellent beef.
There are two more steers out in the pasture now. Guess how old they'll be when they go?
You're right!
Marydvm, you really got a nice yield from a 9 month old. I'll bet you fed him well. How did his steaks look? was he more like veal or like Edmond's beef? Did the 235# include bones, suet and organs?
I ask because I didn't take any of those and my first 27 month old steer, who was small, yielded 202# of freezer beef. He was no taller than 36".
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07/28/11, 12:49 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 777
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I was impressed by the amount of beef he produced. The total weight included soup bones and dog bones, and liver, along with the regular cuts. I left him on his momma, my milk cow until almost 7 months old. Since I usually only took a gallon from her a couple of times a week, he was getting 2 1/2 to 3 gallons of milk most days, along with mixed hay and a little dish of grain. After weaning,he got the best alfalfa and a few pounds of grain a day. The meat looks like beef, not veal, and is marbled as much as I like it - still fairly lean. The butcher was impressed with the amount of fat he'd put on at such a young age.
I've got a half brother of his who hasn't filled out nearly as well. He'll be beef next year, I guess.
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