Your own beef-how'd it taste? UPDATE post 139

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

[QUOTE=wireweiners;7702502]
Frankly I think the whole “grass fed” thing is a marketing ploy and the people who claim they prefer grass fed beef either haven’t eaten good grain finished beef in a while so don’t know what they are missing or just don’t want to admit grain fed does taste better because of the supposed “benefits” of grass fed.[/QUOTE]

I’ve eaten plenty of quality meat in my 45 years and feel I’m perfectly competent to have the opinion I do. You may not share it and that’s okay. Doesn’t make me brainless or whatever you were trying to say, though.

[cowboymom]

The hell there is no corn fed beef; the one I referenced in my post above was fed CORN to finish. We bought him from a friend, the rancher that raised, fed and butchered it. I know every pasture and source of the corn that he got-he got dryland grass/alfalfa and a bunch of corn and then he was butchered. And the fat was yellow and sour tasting and the meat was tough.

The steer we finished ourselves we fed a feeder ration.

[mp]

@wireweiners;7702502

Don’t judge grass fed vs grain finished by just a couple of burgers. Ground beef isn’t the best way to judge. Get steaks or a roast instead if you want to do a comparison.

We got SO much hamburger from the last one because that bull weighed over 2,000#. Because there was so little marbling, our processor recommended that we put more than the usual number of cuts into hamburger. But the steaks — sirloin, strips and tenderloins – were very good, too. Just have to be careful not to overcook them.

We ended up donating 400# of hamburger to local social welfare agencies. They were thrilled.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=TBROCKS;7702454]
Thank you for saying this and thanks for the link. I have gotten away from wanting to eat meat from animals forced to live in cruelty.

We’ve decided to go with corn and molasses to flavor the meat. No arguments from the cows, they seem to love it. C & M is what the meat processor suggested and his company is very well-respected. He said there’s lots of different formulations to finish beef, none of them are wrong, but the corn and molasses was the simplest thing for us to do, since we know pretty much nil about it.

I’m glad our cows will not need to go and be stressed out in a feed lot somewhere. They’ll stay on our farm until he comes out to slaughter them on the property. Hopefully it will be pretty peaceful for them. I haven’t decided if I want to be there or not.[/QUOTE]

What do you mean by that comment?

Anyone may raise any animal cruelly, if grass or grain finished.
Most producers don’t, because if they do, not only is that very wrong, the animals don’t do well for them, of course.

You may want to explain that comment a bit?
It is a little insulting to all those of us that try so hard to do the best for our animals, no matter what species they may be.

[TBROCKS]

I don’t know why YOU chose to find my comment insulting. It wasn’t aimed at YOU or what YOU do with your animals. I lived across from a slaughter house for 3 years and the way those animals were slaughtered was ANYTHING but humane. Ever seen a pig hung upside down alive, ride along some sort of belt contraption like that, squealing in terror, and then take a bolt to the head? Yep, real compassionate. Not how I want my meat treated. I don’t know what “you” or your “all of us” for that matter do as far as slaughter goes, nor do I know how the meat I might by in the grocery store died, but MY cows will be treated humanely until the end. If you take care to ensure a humane death for your animals then good for you, but I assure you from my first hand eye witness experience that’s not always the case.

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=mp;7702679]
We got SO much hamburger from the last one because that bull weighed over 2,000#. <snip> We ended up donating 400# of hamburger to local social welfare agencies. They were thrilled.[/QUOTE]

That is the biggest challenge to getting a side of beef. The last time we got a side I told the processor I wanted about 75# of ground and to use anything else for stew beef if possible. I got a little over 120# of ground! I think Stepdad sent 4 steers that time so I’m sure I had to get part of someone else’s ground! We gave it away. We had meat ball parties with the neighbors where we brought the beef and they brought the onions etc and we all processed meat balls for the freezer. After that I got REAL tired of using everything but the Moo.

[TBROCKS]

We’re splitting our cow with someone. There’s just no way I can use that much beef within the freezer life.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=TBROCKS;7702229]
I’ve perused a few cattle magazines since getting these cows. The antibiotics and hormones being sold to pump into commercial beef is what horrifies me. I don’t have any beef (heh, heh) with corn fed vs. grass, but I had heard that the flavor of the grass fed was better. It’s good to see the differing opinions. There was nothing altruistic about grass feeding these- we have 12 acres of grass that the horses aren’t turned out on, so we thought- why not cows?[/QUOTE]

Here is more on hormones, to put that in the proper perspective.
You can find the same in antibiotic use.

If you have any meat with antibiotics on it, that is illegal.
If any residue is found, the sky just fell on the producer, from hefty fines to time in jail.
Most of the rare instances of a positive result, for the millions of samples tested, have been in dairy cows treated for mastitis and the withdrawal period was not enough, so traces were detected and yes, dairies/producers fined and even closed because of it, as they should.

Here is one good article explaining hormone uses:

http://beefcattle101.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/worried-about-hormones-in-your-beef/

—There are a lot of concerns and mixed messages about hormones in beef. There are a few things to keep in mind the next time you hear that beef contains too many hormones.

All multi-cellular organisms contain hormones. That’s true for animals and vegetables, but some meat production systems use hormone implants which cause the meat to have slightly more hormones than the non-implanted. True in beef, but not in pork or chicken as federal law does not permit the use of hormones in raising hogs or chickens. Implants are used to increase efficiency (i.e. feed conversion to muscle more quickly) or more muscle from less feed more quickly, which keeps prices down and reduces the environmental impact of production.

In beef, the implanted animals will produce meat that contains slightly more of the hormone estrogen (1.9 versus 1.3 nanograms per 3 ounce serving – which is about the size of a deck of cards). Is that extra estrogen going to cause problems? Consider the facts. When hormones are eaten, they are digested, broken down and largely neutralized, so they don’t act as hormones anymore. Even if they did, the 1.9 nanograms of estrogen in implanted beef seems miniscule when we consider that a child’s body produces around 50,000 nanograms of estrogen per day. An adult female (non-pregnant) will produce 480,000 nanograms of estrogen per day on its own.

The 1.9 nanograms of estrogen in implanted beef is also miniscule compared to 225 nanograms of estrogen in potatoes, 340 nanograms of estrogen in peas, 520 nanograms of estrogen in ice cream, 2,000 nanograms of estrogen in cabbage, 11,250 nanograms of estrogen in soy milk, and 170,000 nanograms of estrogen in soybean oil… all based on a 3 ounce serving size. One birth control pill contains 35,000 nanograms of estrogen. It may be surprising to learn that there are more hormones in commonly eaten food products than there are in beef (http://go.unl.edu/uhg4 orhttp://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p2767.pdf)!"—

[moving_to_dc]

[QUOTE=TBROCKS;7702818]
We’re splitting our cow with someone. There’s just no way I can use that much beef within the freezer life.[/QUOTE]

Have it vacuum sealed vs. paper wrapped, and it will last A LOT longer. We are still eating salmon that we caught in Alaska back in 2010… And it tastes fresh because we vacuum sealed all of it within hours of catching it.

I have paper-wrapped venison in my freezer right now from ~October 2013, and it is already looking and tasting freezer burnt.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=TBROCKS;7702765]
I don’t know why YOU chose to find my comment insulting. It wasn’t aimed at YOU or what YOU do with your animals. I lived across from a slaughter house for 3 years and the way those animals were slaughtered was ANYTHING but humane. Ever seen a pig hung upside down alive, ride along some sort of belt contraption like that, squealing in terror, and then take a bolt to the head? Yep, real compassionate. Not how I want my meat treated. I don’t know what “you” or your “all of us” for that matter do as far as slaughter goes, nor do I know how the meat I might by in the grocery store died, but MY cows will be treated humanely until the end. If you take care to ensure a humane death for your animals then good for you, but I assure you from my first hand eye witness experience that’s not always the case.[/QUOTE]

What kind of slaughter plant was that?
Where were the inspectors?

That is why people should always be sure they use properly run and inspected facilities, so they use proper standard procedures and have someone seeing that it is done right.

Blaming all because someone is not doing things right there is like saying all horse trainers abuse their horses because, see, this one did.

[wireweiners]

[QUOTE=cowboymom;7702667]
The hell there is no corn fed beef; the one I referenced in my post above was fed CORN to finish. We bought him from a friend, the rancher that raised, fed and butchered it. I know every pasture and source of the corn that he got-he got dryland grass/alfalfa and a bunch of corn and then he was butchered. And the fat was yellow and sour tasting and the meat was tough.

The steer we finished ourselves we fed a feeder ration.[/QUOTE]

I never said that corn wasn’t used in cattle feed but I’ve never heard of a finishing ration that was comprised of corn onlyor just corn and molasses. That would not be a balanced ration. For cattle to feed out properly, they need a balanced ration with a carbohydrate source like corn or milo, a protien source like soybean or cottonseed meal and a fiber source like cotton seed hulls. Now if like the OP’s cattle, they are on pasture while being finished, then they may be fed a sweet feed type mixture but seldom if ever are fed straight corn.

[TBROCKS]

Ours are still on grass. As it was explained to me the corn and molasses is just to flavor the meat, not to build them up. These cows are enormous.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=wireweiners;7702975]
I never said that corn wasn’t used in cattle feed but I’ve never heard of a finishing ration that was comprised of corn onlyor just corn and molasses. That would not be a balanced ration. For cattle to feed out properly, they need a balanced ration with a carbohydrate source like corn or milo, a protien source like soybean or cottonseed meal and a fiber source like cotton seed hulls. Now if like the OP’s cattle, they are on pasture while being finished, then they may be fed a sweet feed type mixture but seldom if ever are fed straight corn.[/QUOTE]

Finishing on straight corn may produce blindness in your cattle.
Some farmer feeders in the Midwest learned that in the 1920’s.
Hard lesson that one.
That is why rations need to be balanced for all the proper nutrients, as explained above.

[LauraKY]

I won’t buy meat or poultry that has been given hormones or antibiotics. Not ever. You can try to rationalize it all you want (it’s just a little bit), but 70% of the antibiotics used in this country are given to livestock.

[mp]

[QUOTE=SmartAlex;7702792]
After that I got REAL tired of using everything but the Moo.[/QUOTE]

:lol:

Normally, we would have NEVER processed an animal that size or at least lined up several other parties to split the meat with. But in this circumstance, it was either process or just bury him in the pasture.

But I kinda enjoy figuring out what to do with the different cuts of meat. Shortribs were fun … and very tasty. :yes:

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=LauraKY;7703001]
I won’t buy meat or poultry that has been given hormones or antibiotics. Not ever. You can try to rationalize it all you want (it’s just a little bit), but 70% of the antibiotics used in this country are given to livestock.[/QUOTE]

If you or your kids are sick, do you take an antibiotic if necessary?
Do you then consider yourself or your kids “contaminated”, or realize that it will be excreted and be out of your system in a few days, how long depending on the antibiotic.
Works the same in animals, that is why the withdrawal requirements and once those are considered, any one human or other, will be completely “clean” again, of whatever bugs the antibiotic was supposed to kill and any residues.

[sascha]

[QUOTE=moving to dc;7702623]
I’ve never paid attention to the seed bags or receipts, I just know we call it “sorghum” and it looks a lot like the milo we harvest with the combine. DH knows the brand/variety - I’ll have to ask him when he gets home.

We don’t do haylage. Hay is in round bales of prairie, alfalfa, or brome, which are placed out for the cattle to eat. No unrolling or chopping, either.

Location is central KS. We operate pretty much the same way as all our neighbors - no one I know does haylage there, and all corn is harvested as dent corn, and some local feedlots/producers do keep it all for feed.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I’m in Ontario and work on a dairy farm so I’m not familiar with stuff that isn’t fed to dairy cows. We do masses of corn silage and haylage and then feed everything TMR so there’s virtually no sorting, no picking and choosing. Interesting to know other crops are being put up for beef.

[LauraKY]

[QUOTE=Bluey;7703011]
If you or your kids are sick, do you take an antibiotic if necessary?
Do you then consider yourself or your kids “contaminated”, or realize that it will be excreted and be out of your system in a few days, how long depending on the antibiotic.
Works the same in animals, that is why the withdrawal requirements and once those are considered, any one human or other, will be completely “clean” again, of whatever bugs the antibiotic was supposed to kill and any residues.[/QUOTE]

I don’t take an antibiotic at sub therapeutic levels to put on weight. It’s dangerous and one day that use will be banned.

And just like in animals, over use of antibiotics can cause the person/animal to be colonized with antibiotic resistant bacteria.

There is no good reason to be giving antibiotics to animals that aren’t sick, except for greed.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=LauraKY;7703026]
I don’t take an antibiotic at sub therapeutic levels to put on weight. It’s dangerous and one day that use will be banned.

And just like in animals, over use of antibiotics can cause the person/animal to be colonized with antibiotic resistant bacteria.

There is no good reason to be giving antibiotics to animals that aren’t sick, except for greed.[/QUOTE]

Antibiotics is a class of chemicals, not all are used to treat disease, some are used as supplements, just as any mineral or vitamin are.
Those are used by some producers at certain times because they promote more muscle, less fat and better use of what food the animal eats, by a good 10%.
So, you add that supplement for a certain period to the ration and it benefits all, giving everyone, including the consumer, more, leaner and cheaper beef than if it was not used.

All that has been studied over decades now and is regulated.
All that goes in rations is something that nutritionists balance carefully, has been extensively tested and they are responsible for it’s proper use.

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

[QUOTE=Bluey;7702997]
Finishing on straight corn may produce blindness in your cattle.
Some farmer feeders in the Midwest learned that in the 1920’s.
Hard lesson that one.
That is why rations need to be balanced for all the proper nutrients, as explained above.[/QUOTE]

I doubt these 2 cows will go blind on 12 acres of grass and a little corn in the last few weeks of their life. I’m not usually one to say WHO CARES?, but seriously, this doesn’t even register for me. :lol: