Our freezer steer

[Laura]

[SIZE=12pt]Steve dropped our first home raised butcher steer (Hamburger) off yesterday at the processing plant. He was a 23 month old black angus, grass raised, fed grain during weaning only and finished up in a pen on about 18 lbs of grain a day and our grass hay for 30 days. He finished out at 750 lbs!!! [/SIZE]

We should get about 640-650 lbs of meat out of that. We can pick it up in a few weeks! I am really excited! We knew he was a big healthy steer, but 1100 plus lbs live weight was even more than we thought!

We did sell 1/2 of the meat to very good friend for his family. We are trying very hard to produce top quality, hormone and chemical free (except for standard vaccinations and 2 x yearly deworming) beef and are thrilled with our first boy! I just had to share it with you guys

We have 2 steers from 2008 that we will process early next year.

 

[Miniv]

We have a "Hamburger" too! Was it hard to see him go? We've been raising our first one -- with the same name -- and now I'm dreading having him hauled off....... I'm such a schmuck.

 

[wc minis]

Wow! We are considering getting a steer and doing this also. I have ordered Black Angus before from the butcher and that was the best meat that we ever had. I have to research more about how to raise and feed them. Besides feeding grain at weaning time and the last 30 days you didnt have to grain him other wise?

 

[ruffian]

The better you feed your steer or heifer, the better the meat will taste, and the faster they will get to butcher weight.

Here's an interesting fact, and proof that marketing works: "Certified Black Angus" meat is certified AFTER butchering, which means after the coat comes off. Any breed or mixed breed can be CBA as long as they have the marbleing required.

The Angus breed registry has done a heck of a job marketing CBA as the top grade product to buy.

I agree that home raised beef is the best, plus you know what is or is not in the meat.

 

[Laura]

[SIZE=12pt]We are grass raising our cattle and they are FAT!! Too fat, actually, so we're working on that. We lost a BIG bull calf last fall, due to Mama being slow to calve since she was overweight

[/SIZE]

I do throw out a few scoops of cubes daily, so I can check everyone out, check for illness or injury, calving signs, etc. Otherwise they are on great grass most of the year and free choice hay during the winter months. We brought Hamburger, Pansy and Daisy (heifers born at the same time) up for about 3 months last year for weaning. They got free choice hay, grain and some pasture and then were put back out when they were about 15 months old. Daisy was bred immediately (due any second!), Pansy didn't settle for about 3 more months.

I dewormed Hamburger about 5 weeks ago and made the call to schedule his "date with destiny"...Steve kept "forgetting"

Mia and I put him up and we started graining him, gradually increasing the amount until he was up to 3 scoops of sweet feed 2 x day with free choice hay. After reading and talking with a lot of folks, we decided to try this route for healthier, flavorful and tender beef. If we like the meat as much as we hope, we will do the same with T-Bone and Chuck next winter and will have more meat to market. T-bone was an escape artist baby, so having him up should be interesting!

The ONLY time I felt bad was after the butcher called to tell us how much he butchered out and I knew the deed was done. I still feel a little guilty, but that was his purpose

We are thrilled that he was such a BIG, healthy steer with no hormones or nasty stuff and are very excited about the meat that will be provided for our family. We did thank him before he went, for what he was giving back to us.

 

[TinyMiteVillage]

I remember several years back we put a half a steer in the freezer and it was the best meat. I hope we can do it again this year when we get our taxes back. That would be so awesome.

 

[Brandi*]

Our meat has been in at the meat company for about 2-3 weeks now and they are cutting and wrapping it today. The actual decision was one of the hardest decisions of my life believe it or not. Over these last few weeks I have had mixed feelings. I get excited about all the meat we will be getting and how good it will be but then I remember where the meat came from and my mouth promptly stops watering

His hanging weight was 550 and we sold half to a friend. He was probably just under a year and a half. He was on pasture all spring and summer long and I also gave him grain. Once the grass died out I started him on alfalfa and upped his grain. The meat company said the meat looked awesome and that we had done a nice job. I wanted to be happy about that too but couldn't be lol

I think it was hard for me because I did originally think I might keep him as a pet. If we do it again I will stay away from them and it will be hubbys job to take care of it.

You guys are gonna have A LOT of meat

 

[Brandi*]

We did thank him before he went, for what he was giving back to us.

I did too! I even made him a huge bowl of chopped up carrots, apples and apple sauce a few days before for him to enjoy.

 

[Laura]

Our meat has been in at the meat company for about 2-3 weeks now and they are cutting and wrapping it today. The actual decision was one of the hardest decisions of my life believe it or not. Over these last few weeks I have had mixed feelings. I get excited about all the meat we will be getting and how good it will be but then I remember where the meat came from and my mouth promptly stops watering

His hanging weight was 550 and we sold half to a friend. He was probably just under a year and a half. He was on pasture all spring and summer long and I also gave him grain. Once the grass died out I started him on alfalfa and upped his grain. The meat company said the meat looked awesome and that we had done a nice job. I wanted to be happy about that too but couldn't be lol

I think it was hard for me because I did originally think I might keep him as a pet. If we do it again I will stay away from them and it will be hubbys job to take care of it.
You guys are gonna have A LOT of meat

We sold half to a friend too, so we should each end up with about 325 lbs of meat.

 

[sfmini]

This should give you a good laugh.

When I saw the subject line, I immediately thought your freezer beef was happy, so he must have somehow avoided the grim reaper. :stupid

 

[Brandi*]

I picked the meat up this afternoon. Hubby wanted to BBQ this evening of course. I guess it's better to get it over with sooner than later. I must admit that it felt EXTREMELY tender! When I was picking it up the meat guy gave me one last compliment on how nice the meat was. I must admit that I might be able to do this again. I will just have to go about it differently. No bottle feeding or bonding for me

I just hope I won't cry for two days next time

Have you done this before Laura??? Does it get easier?

 

[maplegum]

Ohhh that would be so hard for me to do. In fact, I know that I couldn't do it. I would imagine the meat would be so tender, so tasty though.

My meat comes in plastic wrap, from the butcher or supermarket.

 

[Brandi*]

Leonie,

This meat is in plastic wrap as well as a white paper wrapping. Each piece is labeled as to which cut it is. Once we opened the package I felt much better. It is really hard to connect Buddy to this piece of meat sitting on the counter. It's wierd but seeing it made me feel better. Its free of hormones and other crappy things too! Plus it's much healthier due to the fact that I didnt' stuff him full of grain the last 30-60 days. It's not something I ever thought I could do either but once I went to a cattle auction and saw what those poor cows go through I made up my mind. Every beef cow has to face it someday and I'm just thankful that I was able to give Buddy a happy life up until that point. He didn't have to go through the horrible auction or enter the slaughter house. Both offer horrible treatment. He only knew a happy environment with great food and great friends. I have made piece with it but like I said before, if I ever do it again I will go about it much differently.

 

[dgrminis]

We raise our own cattle for eating as well... Well I guess I shouldnt say it that way -- we have cattle and we normally pick one each year that will be the one we eat and it gets fattened up more so than the others on pasture

I LOVE our own beef -- it is so much better than anything I can get at the store... And I NEVER have to buy beef at the store... Inside we have a upright freezer and a small chest freezer and they are packed full of meat... We occasionally do a pig as well but have found it is cheaper to buy one from the place that processes our meat and just as good as raising our own piggie...

I cant name mine though -- notr even hamburger or T-bone -- cant name them at all and I try to not have any contact with them other than feeding/shots/deworming and even then my husband tries to do all of that so I dont get attached... If I was to interact with them I wouldnt want to eat them... My husband learned that the hard way -- he had an orphan Heifer calf 5 years ago so he thought he would bring her home and we would feed her and then eventually eat her -- well by the time she should have been butchered her name was J.R. and she was so tame you could even sit on her back and she would carry you around -- haha -- she was relocated to the herd and another was picked for the dinner table -- haha

 

[wc minis]

Funny stories. I guess I dont know how I would feel about it yet. Thinking of trying it though

 

[Crabby-Chicken]

Yes it is nice that you have the meat. But I JUST can not look at a living animal and think of food. My husband I have talked about getting some calves. But the minute I feed it, I will be responsible for it. Sad but true. I wish I could find a way to get over seeing them shoot them.

Uhg,, I neighbor shot their steer in front of us when we were in the yard. the cow would follow them around and bounce and play with them. I couldn't do it. I really wish I could.Then my husband said we could take and sell it then. But how can you have an animal that trusts you and take some where when they don't care what happens to them.

 

[Laura]

I picked the meat up this afternoon. Hubby wanted to BBQ this evening of course. I guess it's better to get it over with sooner than later. I must admit that it felt EXTREMELY tender! When I was picking it up the meat guy gave me one last compliment on how nice the meat was. I must admit that I might be able to do this again. I will just have to go about it differently. No bottle feeding or bonding for me

I just hope I won't cry for two days next time

Have you done this before Laura??? Does it get easier?

This is our first time, but tonight we were even discussing butchering some of the heifers eventually, if they were more profitable that way...so I think we'll be OK with the "harvesting" side of things