grass fed beef tasetd AWFUL and TOUGH>>> any ideas why?

wildacrefarms · #1 08/27/11, 12:24 AM

I'm new to the forum Hello!!

BEEN RUNNING A SMALL ORGANIC FARM FOR FAMILY and A Little to sell.
had great luck with chickens, gardens, guineas, and horses and one little bottle calf now about 450lbs.

MY question is about a 1/2 of a supposedly grass fed beef cow that we bought from our vet. that meat was SO TOUGH that my husband can't even eat it. EVEN the HAMBURGER is tough! I didn't know that was even possible.
the cow was supposed to be young weighing 800lb live weight i believe. my question is how in the heck could a cow that small be that dern tough? and the taste was not that great either. not that you could tell cause it was Honestly TOO TOUGH TO CHEW. EVEN the steaks everything tough tough tough.

I've been too embarrassed to say something to the vet about it as I'm a little afraid that it might lead to an argument that might prevent me from using his VET services again and I don't want that. He did tell me that a few years back he sold every beef he could raise then last year no one wanted them from him and he didn't sell hardly any. Also He shared the beef with us and put part of it in his own freezer so he HAD to realize that it was uneatable right??
MY questions were a. could the slaughter house have gives us someone elses cow by mistake or on purpose? (very small place) how often does that happen and how can you tell for sure?
b. could the cow have been SO stressed with capture and killing to make the meat THAT tough (un-edible)
c. can a calf that young have meat that tough?
d. I have always heard that grass fed beef is a little tougher but i didn't expect what I got AT ALL. is that normal for grass only hormone free grass finished beef?

thanks for helping a newbie with the cattle questions.
Wild Acre Farms

Ed Norman · #2 08/27/11, 12:29 AM

If it was slaughtered at 800 lbs, the retail cuts will be much smaller than normal. That should tell you if there was a switch, because most animals go to slaughter at 300 lb heavier or so.

Grass fed doesn't have the marbling of fat that lubricates the chewing.

It could have been stressed.

Get a tenderizer or pressure cooker.

J.T.M. · #3 08/27/11, 01:05 AM

Add me to the list of people who was bummed out about grass fed beef............. I was told you had to cook it slowly. YUCKKKKKKKK

mamagoose · #4 08/27/11, 01:07 AM

Stress is an amazing factor just prior to butchering.

Our grass-fed beef are penned up and fed 1 quart grain 2X/day (and hay) for 2 weeks before taking them to butcher. That way, they aren't walking up and down the hills.

Ours have little fat and we usually cook it slow and even the toughest cuts melt in your mouth and are delicious. We prefer the rich taste of Highland beef - no additives necessary.

wildacrefarms · #5 08/27/11, 02:19 AM

thanks for all the tips and info.
the meet didn't seem smaller than i expected and funny that is what my mom said too.
at that young weight the steaks would be very small but should be good.
and I knew that grass fed beef was supposed to be a little more tough but buddy i tell you the stuff we got was un-edible. i could buy a pressure cooker and try that but I'd need to flavor too... I was just thinking that some folks must not be having this problem or no body would be buying the dern stuff no matter HOW much better is is supposed to be for ya. LOL
how can you make sure that the butcher is not damaging YOUR cows that you spend over a year babying bottle feeding and getting ready with stress, how much DOes IT AFFECT THEM? ? and how do you guys know if the meat you get back is the meat you came with? is there any way to know for sure other than watch it every step of the way?? also how long should it age before cutting? I don't think this aged but maybe a week.

wildacrefarms · #6 08/27/11, 02:23 AM

mama-goose,
I've heard and read great things about the Scottish highland cattle, I'm assuming that is what you are speaking of. being of Scottish and Irish decent you see LOL
are the doable in the lower gulf coast states of Mississippi and Louisiana or would that be too hot for the above mentioned breed?

SCRancher · #7 08/27/11, 08:11 AM

I thought I read somewhere that young animals (not the super young veal) were going to have much less fat anyway because they are growing and gaining muscle and bone - it's not till they are more mature that they start to put the fat deposits into the muscle and such.

I'll make the analogy - how "tough" do you think an 20 year old's muscles are going to be compared to someone who's 30 and slowed down and has nice fat deposits?

Anyway that may also be a factor, most beef cattle are slaughtered what around 20-26 months old?

Ed Norman · #8 08/27/11, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildacrefarms

and how do you guys know if the meat you get back is the meat you came with? is there any way to know for sure other than watch it every step of the way??

We butcher all our own meat, it is the same stuff we came with, guaranteed.

If you really, really wanted to try and catch the butcher in a switch, you could pay to DNA test the animal and the meat to see if they are the same. A quick search turned up this place: http://www.biogeneticservices.com/animalgenotyping.htm and they will test any species from antelope to zebrafish. They even have your concern listed.

Quote:

Trace animal commodities and products from source (e.g. farm, packing plant, butcher shop, etc.) to packaged food product (e.g. steaks, roasts, etc.) on the shelf.

You might try going to some fancy all natural store and get a few grass fed steaks from someone else. See if the taste is as good as everyone says for their steaks, or see if you still prefer a grain diet for finishing.

springvalley · #9 08/27/11, 08:30 AM

We grass feeeed our Jersey steers on the most part, and have never had a problem with them. There sure is a differance with the cuts, they are smaller and not much of any fat on them. But they sure do taste mighty good, and you might try putting them in the slow cooker with some tomato juice poured over top. Turn it on low and leave it all day, should be able to eat shoe leather after this method. Sorry you got a bumm steer so to speak, I have no idea what went wrong, I doubt they switched your beef at the locker, but I don`t know them. > Thanks Marc

Cindy in KY · #10 08/27/11, 08:32 AM

What breed of beef was it? I can not imagine any beef that young being tough to eat. We have put older cows into the freezer that were not tough. Only way to know you get your own beef back is to do it yourself.

We did our 1000 lb Holstein steer in February, ourselves. He was only fed grass pasture, plain grass hay, lots of bread and a tiny bit of ground corn. We got the ground corn from a neighbor farmer. The meat is very, very good, very tender. He was very fat, but we cut all the fat off.

Maybe you got a very old bull back from the butchers?

Karin L · #11 08/27/11, 08:43 AM

Calves that are going to be slaughtered via grass should be on EXCELLENT quality grass, grass that will put not only muscle, but also a bit of fat too. If they're on poorer quality grass with no supplementation, then it's no surprise that the meat will be very lean and tough.

One time we butchered a calf that was around 9 months of age, been only on hay (alfalfa-brome-timothy mix) and had maybe 1/2 lb of chopped barley every day (I say maybe because he had to compete with his fellow herd-mates for the same grain piles put out), and the meat was just great to eat, hardly any of it went to waste.

Stress prior to slaughter (rough handling both before and after getting to the slaughter house) will also contribute to tough meat.

Just my $0.02.

Cindy in KY · #12 08/27/11, 08:48 AM

Forgot, we didn't age ours at all. Hung overnight, then quartered and kept covered with snow and ice on the porch, and cut up and put in the freezer as fast as we could. My hands were frozen for 3 days.

Our beef isn't organic due to the truck loads of bread, but it is good. No hormones or chemicals of any kind. No insecticides either. We do not buy any grain at the feed store, only salt. Our milk cow gives 3 gallons a day on just pasture and 8 loaves of wheat bread a day. And she is fat too. Our biggest problem is our critters get too fat.

Allen W · #13 08/27/11, 09:08 AM

Sounds like your vet doesn't have many repeat customers for his beef. I don't think I would be blaming the butcher.

Steve L. · #14 08/27/11, 09:09 AM

From - http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/...old-shortening

Quote:

Cold shortening

Cold shortening is the result of the rapid chilling of carcasses immediately after slaughter, before the glycogen in the muscle has been converted to lactic acid. With glycogen still present as an energy source, the cold temperature induces an irreversible contraction of the muscle (i.e., the actin and myosin filaments shorten). Cold shortening causes meat to be as much as five times tougher than normal. This condition occurs in lean beef and lamb carcasses that have higher proportions of red muscle fibres and very little exterior fat covering. Without the fat covering as insulation, the muscles can cool too rapidly before onset of rigor mortis. The process of electrical stimulation (the application of high-voltage electrical current to carcasses immediately postmortem) reduces or eliminates this condition by forcing muscle contractions and using up muscle glycogen. Thaw rigor is a similar condition that results when meat is frozen before it enters rigor mortis. When this meat is thawed, the leftover glycogen allows for muscle contraction and the meat becomes extremely tough.

wildacrefarms · #15 08/27/11, 10:36 AM

again everyone thanks so much. I was really mystified by what was going on. steve L I really think you may have hit the nail on the head there!!

like 5 times tougher than normal THAT is what I'm talking about. the slaughter house we used was a real real small operation and i always thought that steps in the cutting process might have been missed?? or that the cow was handles SO roughly that it ruined the meat. both when it was rounded up and at the butcher plant. I know places like that have a hard time keeping help. it's not the greatest job probably....
Allen Yes i HAD thought about that too and I"ll never buy another one from him LOL.
My mother said I should ask him if he noticed anything "funny" about that meat we shared and invite him to say that it was tough but i just imagine us getting into an argument and don't want to go there with him. he is the only "real world" priced vet around and i don't want to jeperdise that for a few pounds of tough meat.

JHinCA · #16 08/27/11, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cindy in KY

..........

Maybe you got a very old bull back from the butchers?

We have in our freezer meat from a 4.5 year old 100% grassfed shorthorn bull that is tender and delicious. So grass fed plus bull does not necessarily equal tough meat.

wildacrefarms · #17 08/27/11, 10:43 AM

as far as the age and breed I don't know. he wanted to do a 500lb calf and my mother said NO that was just too young and the calf had not had a chance to live and she didn't think that was right(for Her no judgment on others that want veal shes just a softie). so he said OK and did this 800lber (which is not much bigger)
we have a bottle calf heifer calf 1/2 Jersey and 1/2 Holstein that we started on the bottle in January and shes prolly 500lbs. but hopefully shes for milking and not eating.

wildacrefarms · #18 08/27/11, 11:06 AM

I'm very intrigued about the "home butcher" My hubby is a former chef that I think could do the cut up (but he's a big sofite too) if he didn't have to kill the animal. I don't know what the chances of the "big switch" are but I do know that if I've done my part in raising chemical free animals and going out of my way to do everything right for both me and the animal i sure as heck want to reap the benefits of that. raising this little Jersey/Holstein Heifer has really let me understand exactly what it takes to raise a bottle calf and it's a lot of work. we had quite a few health problems with ours at first and when she finally settled down and really started growing it was SUCH a relief. having been to the vets 3 times in the back of our suv. ha ha. I'm sure that we caused alot of out own problems in the beginning and there is a learning curve for sure. i read all about raising them on the sticky you all have posted too VERY enlightening.

thanks again hopefully well just do our own from now on and we wont have this problem ever again. and i'm totally gonna try putting the meat in a pressure cooker. that is a great idea and may actually work

mary,tx · #19 08/27/11, 11:41 AM

We have ours hung 2-3 weeks. Only one week is not going to be long enough hanging time to tenderize.

Cindy in KY · #20 08/27/11, 05:00 PM

We have never hung ours like that, beef or deer. They hang 1 day and then we start on them. I would think the meat would get nasty after 1-3 weeks not frozen. Plus you would have to have somewhere to hang it. The last 4 we started to cut up the next day, and the meat was great, deer too. We did the same with the hogs, and had no problems with toughness.