veal

[chloe]

Has anyone raised a calf for veal?

[pointer_hunter]

Not yet, but I plan on it in the near future. I may either get a milk cow or goats, depending on the quantity I'll need. I will then get a few jersey bull calfs and finish them out on the excess milk. They are the cheapest things around at about 15-20 bucks normally. I would think that at about 6-12 months old, there should be some tender meat on them.

[mpillow]

We raised a holstien calf last year to 6 months on goats milk....160# of boneless meat. For true veal I think slaughter at 4 months is best. The calf cost $65 weighed about 90# at 5 day old. The Jersey calfs are cheaper but the holstiens grow much faster. My guy weighed about 450 live compared to about 200# on my friends Jersey. The meat is very lean and good flavor. And doesnt taste like goat...some of our friends kept saying he drank so much milk he would taste goaty!

[chloe]

Thanks for the imput. I think this could be a do-able project!

[pointer_hunter]

As long as you knew it was going to be a veal calf. It's easier to slaughter an older cow because the don't look at "cute" as when they are little.

[cloverfarm]

ONe of our bottle calves seemed to have some kind of birth defects affecting its feet and legs (hard to describe) DH felt it was not going to make it to slaughter size so teh next time we butchered we shipped it early. It could not get up and down and get grain so DH kept feeding it out of a bucket. It was about three months old but very small for its age. It passed inspection and we got about 55 pounds of meat. We had most of it ground and kept a few chops.

It's very low fat and there is almost no muscle fiber development. Pink meat when raw, almost white when cooked. VERY low fat

It's kind of like tofu -- no real flavor of its own but will absorb whatever it's mixed with (sort of like tofu). We've used it in spaghetti sauce and meat loat.

Personally I prefer the taste of beef adn would not seek out more veal. But we had this calf and hated to lose all the money for all its feed.

Your mileage may vary.

Ann

[mpillow]

I agree...it has a very mild flavor. I too like the flavor of an older animal.

However, we marinate the steaks, use in Spag. Chili etc. and it works nicely.

My goal was to use up my excess goats milk which I have no market for and provide some hormone free, vaccination free, lean meat for my family. And, I wanted an animal my children would be able to feed. We home butchered to save money. All together we had about $225 into the calf (hay and grain). A little pricey but a good learning experiment for us. And meat in the freezer to boot. And, yes, I may do it again and didnt require any other equipment than what I already had for my goats...except a bigger nipple on the feed jug....$1.79

[cloverfarm]

You know how you see recipes all over calling for boneless skinless chicken breast -- I think I will use some of the veal in those.

DH was underwhelmed and does not want to do this again unless another calf has a problem.

Ann

[mpillow]

One thing that I did do was make a huge batch of meatballs and freeze them for spag. sauce and meatball sandwiches....these are a big hit!

Just heat up meatballs in a can of tomato sauce, toast hot dog rolls under broiler and sprinkle with shredded mozzerella.

My hubby is skeptical as well but we are just trying to raise meat for the family on a very small scale and this compliments the goats we already have...and is a short season meat crop that is doable over our short summers in Maine. This year we are doing broilers and hens. And we still have a lot left from the calf.

Incidently I was at the grocery store and a package of ground veal on "manager's special" was $3.99 a pound. With a market, our 160lbs of meat would have gotten $640 minimum from the $225 investment. Time to find a market!!!