Now just how much meat?

[Tweezy]

Hey Folks,

I am trying to get our family of 5 self sustaining on homegrown beef, how many cattle do we really need? Would slaughtering 2 cows a year fulfill our beef intake? We eat about 15 lbs of ground beef a month and would love to have some steaks as well..... How much meat do you really get from pasture cattle?

[Gravytrain]

Originally Posted by Tweezy

Hey Folks,

I am trying to get our family of 5 self sustaining on homegrown beef, how many cattle do we really need? Would slaughtering 2 cows a year fulfill our beef intake?

I also have a family of 5, and one cow feeds us for a year...granted, I also have as much pork as I can eat too. I take the least desirable for myself, maybe an injured cow, or one that just hasn't filled out as nicely as others, and save the best for my customers.

How much meat do you really get from pasture cattle?

With or without supplementation? If you have good forage, you could have about 350-400 lbs of LEAN meat per cow on pasture only in about 18 months...or 500-600 lbs of more marbled beef per cow in 26-30 months on good pasture...OR you can get perhaps more marbling by finishing on grain within 18-24 months.

A lot depends on what kind of cattle you raise as to what the finishing weight will be and how well it fleshes out on pasture alone.

[Awnry Abe]

300 lbs would be a conservative number for guesstimating. We can't eat a whole one in a year and donate quite a bit of each. Beef isn't one the plate each night of the week. We also eat pork, lamb, chicken, fish, vegetarian, high carb, low carb, beans, pizza....

[Skandi]

The cows my FiL raises are around 500lb at 2 years (boned) they're mainly grainfed. would think that one cow would be a lot more than your family would need in a year. When I looked at having a cow/calf combo for meat I realised that with only two of us we need less than half a cow a year, so we're going for pigs instead and trade FiL for beef!

[Bubbas Boys]

If I can ask... Are the meat amounts you are all saying from a finished beef breed or dairy?

[Gravytrain]

Originally Posted by Bubbas Boys

If I can ask... Are the meat amounts you are all saying from a finished beef breed or dairy?

a commercial size beef breed.

[Skandi]

Originally Posted by Bubbas Boys

If I can ask... Are the meat amounts you are all saying from a finished beef breed or dairy?

Beef, limousin in my case.

[Bubba1358]

I'd first estimate just how much beef you want in a year. Get it in the total number of pounds.

Then, figure that about 35-45% of a live weight cow will actually become beef. Usually, the hanging weight is between 45-50% of the live weight, and with bone loss during processing, you lose another 15-25% of the weight. These variances are due to age and breed. For example, my 13-mo Jersey steer weighed 515 live, and I figured I got about 190 pounds of meat - good for maybe 36% live weight.

So, if you want, say 500 pounds of meat, you'd need a 2-year old beef steer weighing 1250 pounds to supply that, assuming 40% live weight (500 lb divided by 0.4). It's not an exact science, but can get you in the ballpark of what to expect.

[Jennifer L.]

Kids or teenagers? If kids, I would think one a year. If teenagers, boys, you could probably get through two. And if they have friends over . . .

[kycrawler]

2 adults 4teenagers 1 7 yo we go through 2 dairy steers 3-4 fat hogs and 3-4 deer a year