Ribeye compare

[Travlr]

Take one of yours to the butcher and I will trade you a pure longhorn even up. Should be a fair trade since breed does not matter.:cool:

That's not what he said...

And his point is valid.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

That's not what he said...

And his point is valid.

Travlr , you beat me to it! and much more succinctly than I. !

 

[mwj]

Take one of yours to the butcher and I will trade you a pure longhorn even up. Should be a fair trade since breed does not matter.:cool:

Please explain what you mean in the 3rd line about breed.

 

[Silver]

Take one of yours to the butcher and I will trade you a pure longhorn even up. Should be a fair trade since breed does not matter.:cool:

If the longhorn steaks look like A or B above I would happily eat the longhorn and not ever question the breeding.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I am not so sure age is the enemy for tenderness so much as lack of adequate protein required to ensure a rapid rate of gain.
Weight rapidly acquired has a propensity for tenderness. Naturally there comes a point beyond any salvation of quality. jmpov

Lee, I'm not sure about this statement. In all my years of raising/feeding cattle, I have always been taught that a young calf needs higher protein (14-15%) - dairy calves even higher. But, once they reach 700-800#, 9 - 10% protein is all they need. Protein grows bones. If you keep them on a high protein ration, you grow frame and they do not put on FAT. Maybe that's your goal. I raise and recommend different cattle than that. You do not want to start with a dink that you are trying to grow frame to put muscle on. I think people should be raising 4.5 to 6 frame cattle. Anything smaller, I don't think feedlots want to mess with them.
To be finished, cattle need carbs (like meat (protein) and potatoes (carb). The potatoes is what puts on the fat - not the meat.

 

[mwj]

Silver I agree whole heartily . I responded when ''hair color'' morphed into breed. Your cattle prove to me that breeding and breed does matter.

As an aside, have you ever looked at the British Longhorn?

 

[Silver]

Silver I agree whole heartily . I responded when ''hair color'' morphed into breed. Your cattle prove to me that breeding and breed does matter.

As an aside, have you ever looked at the British Longhorn?

I had heard of the English Longhorn but had not looked at the until your post. Interesting history, and a rare breed.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Please explain what you mean in the 3rd line about breed.

Just for you mwj: Certain breeds of cattle have color traits peculiar to the specific breed. That an animal would not fall within
the color parameters of a particular breed does not indicate the meat of that animal could be identified by the taste.
I would not expect you to come on line and tell us you can tell the color of your longhorns by the horniness of the meat!
In short the 'black cattle are better craze' is without merit or logic. God bless your works of good will. LVR

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Lee, I'm not sure about this statement. In all my years of raising/feeding cattle, I have always been taught that a young calf needs higher protein (14-15%) - dairy calves even higher. But, once they reach 700-800#, 9 - 10% protein is all they need. Protein grows bones. If you keep them on a high protein ration, you grow frame and they do not put on FAT. Maybe that's your goal. I raise and recommend different cattle than that. You do not want to start with a dink that you are trying to grow frame to put muscle on. I think people should be raising 4.5 to 6 frame cattle. Anything smaller, I don't think feedlots want to mess with them.
To be finished, cattle need carbs (like meat (protein) and potatoes (carb). The potatoes is what puts on the fat - not the meat.

I won't debate the potatoes (carb) and beans (protein) issue as you are heads up with what you say in that regard.
I will stand on the statement that gain rapidly acquired is more tender than flesh that has endured at a maintenance level
over a period of time. Old bulls and old roosters would probably not be good candidates for my position! A six year cow, possibly.
A blessed New Year to you,,

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Here's a sirloin we had for dinner. Extremely tender. I was quite amazed at how tender it was. No, I don't feed my steers to be this big. No, I don't feed my steers to be this FAT.
This was a 6 yr old cow that came up open - slipped her pregnancy. Hung 1260#. Was about 5.5 frame.
Sent her to butcher for hamburg. Told butcher to pull loins. He cut her up like one of my young steers.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I won't debate the potatoes (carb) and beans (protein) issue as you are heads up with what you say in that regard.
I will stand on the statement that gain rapidly acquired is more tender than flesh that has endured at a maintenance level
over a period of time. Old bulls and old roosters would probably not be good candidates for my position! A six year cow, possibly.
A blessed New Year to you,,

Yes. I totally agree with this. Push hard to finish quickly.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Here's a sirloin we had for dinner. Extremely tender. I was quite amazed at how tender it was. No, I don't feed my steers to be this big. No, I don't feed my steers to be this FAT.
This was a 6 yr old cow that came up open - slipped her pregnancy. Hung 1260#. Was about 5.5 frame.
Sent her to butcher for hamburg. Told butcher to pull loins. He cut her up like one of my young steers.

Pass the bleu cheese!

 

[sstterry]

How would you ensure that fat deposits are intramuscular as opposed to external such as B v C? Is this all genetic or does the long-term excess energy convert more into intramuscular fat?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

A lot of that is genetics. Herefords and Shorthorns "were" known for their excessive external fat before they would set any marbling. Times have changes and they may not have that reputation now. Simmental are easy marbling with very lean external fat. Charolais have a hard time putting marbling in and external fat. Again, this may be different with the "modern" Charolais of today. Have not seen any recent research.

 

[Travlr]

A lot of that is genetics. Herefords and Shorthorns "were" known for their excessive external fat before they would set any marbling. Times have changes and they may not have that reputation now. Simmental are easy marbling with very lean external fat. Charolais have a hard time putting marbling in and external fat. Again, this may be different with the "modern" Charolais of today. Have not seen any recent research.

And we are still stuck with the necessity for a good cover of fat if we are aging the carcass, especially for long terms, 21 days, which most of the industry no longer does.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I don't know anyone hanging that long. I'm guessing our packers only hang a few days. 7 days is great - 14 days is even better - but, if you don't have a good fat cover, you will be losing meat from trimming. 21 days is over-kill unless you are hanging grass fed beef. Then, yes, they recommend a longer hanging time because they will be older and tougher. The longer they are hung, the more tender they will be.
@Travlr you might know. They used to "shroud" the carcasses for aged beef. Is that such a thing any longer? I would guess that's what you are referring to.

 

[faster horses]

We have gotten tainted meat from hanging for 21 days. Conditions in the cooler have to be just right to hang that long and...many times it isn't. I won't ever hang a carcass for 21 days again.
14 day hang, we've never had a problem.

 

[Travlr]

I don't know anyone hanging that long. I'm guessing our packers only hang a few days. 7 days is great - 14 days is even better - but, if you don't have a good fat cover, you will be losing meat from trimming. 21 days is over-kill unless you are hanging grass fed beef. Then, yes, they recommend a longer hanging time because they will be older and tougher. The longer they are hung, the more tender they will be.
@Travlr you might know. They used to "shroud" the carcasses for aged beef. Is that such a thing any longer? I would guess that's what you are referring to.

I don't know enough about aging beef to be reliable. Bits and pieces. I've been told aging beef requires a good cover of fat. There is a local processor here that seems to ignore that and I suspect he sells some pretty questionable product. From what I've been told aging creates a layer of mold/fungus that has roots running down into the carcass. The fat, from what I've been told, is supposed to be a thick layer so it can be trimmed closely to get the mold off. I know people used to hang beef longer than they do now, at least in custom processing. I also know that aging is about more than tenderness. Some people prefer the taste of aged beef. That's about everything I know about it.

 

[sstterry]

I don't know enough about aging beef to be reliable. Bits and pieces. I've been told aging beef requires a good cover of fat. There is a local processor here that seems to ignore that and I suspect he sells some pretty questionable product. From what I've been told aging creates a layer of mold/fungus that has roots running down into the carcass. The fat, from what I've been told, is supposed to be a thick layer so it can be trimmed closely to get the mold off. I know people used to hang beef longer than they do now, at least in custom processing. I also know that aging is about more than tenderness. Some people prefer the taste of aged beef. That's about everything I know about it.

It was always my understanding that, under the right conditions (temperature and humidity), the mold does not start to grow until after 21 days. The first 14 days causes the collagen to break down and make the meat more tender, after that the additional time makes the flavor more intense. My processor hangs for 14 days.

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on aging a carcass.

 

[CowboyRam]

We had our beef hung for 21 days, and it turned out excellent. Our beef from last year was the worse beef we have ever had. I am not sure we got our beef back, dad always thought the steaks we to big for a young steer. The packer we used last year would only hang it for 14 days. After talking with a friend that took a steer to them, I am not sure it was slaughtered on the day it was supposed to be. They took one down to them, and 5 days later it still had not be slaughtered; they were needing the hanging weight so they could bill their customer. Oh and the packer told them they were feeding it, and that it probably gained 10 pounds. If that is what happened to ours, I seriously doubt that it was slaughtered on the gain.