Beef/Steak Review

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Aero":xx6c43gp said:
brianna":xx6c43gp said:
"These days, most calves are born on ranches, suckled by their mothers, and then sent out to pasture. When they reach 6 months, they're sent to a feedlot."

Is this really how everyone does it?
When's the last time you sent a 6 month old calf to a feedlot?
B.

one industry leader in feeding out calves told me this is more often the smart way to do it if land or resources are an issue; that the feeders will more than likely be able to feed your calves cheaper than you can on your farm unless you have plenty of pasture.

he is not a feedlot owner, he is a seedstock and commercial producer who owns part of a huge packing company and knows the business inside and out.


Agreed Aero,
When the COG is way down like it was the past few years (cheap corn) more money was made by shipping young calves to feeders.

Feeding prices are sometimes cheaper than pasturing.
 
Interesting review but sadly way....... off base. Niman Ranch (http://www.nimanranch.com) has it as close to perfect as a large finisher can do!

MickC who were the tasters on this study??

Grass finished beef sucks PERIOD!!!!!!!!! WHY??? because just as your artical said one steak is great and the next is crap!!!!

Do not risk your loss of costumers, Finish your beef on corn.

I might add that I realize some folks do enjoy grass finished beef based solely on principle. I sell a few head a year that are grass finished but it is risky to do so to a new costumer that has not had it before. I learned the hard way over the years that folks like the sound of a grass finished steak but often not the actual eating experience.
 
grass fed is best....i figured that out cuz i grew it...know what it ate...what kind of chemicals it ingested...troubles in its past...what kinda steer it was...how old it was and how much it cost me exactly....less than 300$ for 400 lbs dressed(rough figures here kids)...and i tasted it without any inerferences
 
Corn futures as of yesterdays Agri-View paper. July was $3.965
per bushel. Grassfed looks a whole lot more profitable.

As for weaning at 6 months....That's OK if you sell the calf to a feedlot. We do natural weaning. A cows lacation is 305 days.
We have a few calves 8 months old still sucking. Some are 2/3
the weight of thier mother. We take the bulls out and band the steers at 4 months so there are no problems.
 
Shorthornguy":3tjyya9g said:
Corn futures as of yesterdays Agri-View paper. July was $3.965
per bushel. Grassfed looks a whole lot more profitable.

As for weaning at 6 months....That's OK if you sell the calf to a feedlot. We do natural weaning. A cows lacation is 305 days.
We have a few calves 8 months old still sucking. Some are 2/3
the weight of thier mother. We take the bulls out and band the steers at 4 months so there are no problems.

What is your calving intervale on the mothers of the "natural weaned" calves

dun
 
Shorthornguy":35l4c7m9 said:
Corn futures as of yesterdays Agri-View paper. July was $3.965
per bushel. Grassfed looks a whole lot more profitable.

did land get cheaper when corn went down?
 
Not on your life Aero. Fact is cash rents have gone up. :eek: :eek: There was a farm rented a few weeks ago by auction That went for $330/a for 5 years. If corn goes below $3 it wont cash flow.


On another note with land prices (purchase or rent) at the levels they are at how can anybody justify finishing cattle on grass? This presuming that the finisher is also the cow/calf operator.
 
dieselbeef":3grm9ejk said:
grass fed is best....i figured that out cuz i grew it...know what it ate...what kind of chemicals it ingested...troubles in its past...what kinda steer it was...how old it was and how much it cost me exactly....less than 300$ for 400 lbs dressed(rough figures here kids)...and i tasted it without any inerferences

dieselbeef - I don't disagree with your logic and reasoning at all! That said, I am just wondering (for the purposes of discussion of mercantilism and commercialism) if the modern household provider and consumer, as he/she reaches into the frozen meatcase at the supermarket and reads the label that shows this cut of meat is "$12.00 per lb.", and that "color is added", is really concerned with... what Breed the source was...what it was fed (maybe!)...it's age... marbling amount...rib eye size...dressing percentage...specific chemicals it ingested...all the seemingly important factors with which we as producers are focusing.

He/she is thinking about getting through the crowded check-out line, hoping that the coupons will save a few bucks today, whether the kids will even decide to eat what was just chosen ("it LOOKS good!) and whether the gas which he/she is going to buy at the pump next door is going to be another five cents higher than it was last week.

We, as those who are HIGHLY involved with the factors you mentioned, are prioritizing our production skills with those factors. I am in full accord with those details - BUT - from the point of view of a volume producer directing my products to a vast number of consumers, my BU$INE$$ decisions must be predicated on what I can produce for the least amount of outlay in expense and the MOST desirable QUALITY to motivate the consumer to buy my production.

It is a very narrow window in which to fit ALL that one would desire in order to hit that necessary target! That is why Breeder's, Feeder's, and Forage Producers must work together to achieve the optimal results.

Hopefully, the odds will improve in our favor!

Grass Fed? - - - or Corn Fed? The ideal would be to have an animal which would maximize BOTH world's for ALL environments!

DOC HARRIS
 
Yeah, was listening to the radio today and they were talking about 260, 300. 350 an acre rents if prices stay up here.. The logic is this.

If farmer bob ws paying 190 per acre for 190 bushel corn ground and corn has gone up 1.50-2 bucks a bushel, hey they should be able to afford a 250 buck an acre increase in rent :shock: I'm waiting to hear the stories start soon... There are only X amount of days until the contracts are renewed around here so I would imagine the stories will be starting soon. Yikes.
 
IL Rancher":t8mlaeji said:
Yeah, was listening to the radio today and they were talking about 260, 300. 350 an acre rents if prices stay up here.. The logic is this.

If farmer bob ws paying 190 per acre for 190 bushel corn ground and corn has gone up 1.50-2 bucks a bushel, hey they should be able to afford a 250 buck an acre increase in rent :shock: I'm waiting to hear the stories start soon... There are only X amount of days until the contracts are renewed around here so I would imagine the stories will be starting soon. Yikes.
It never Ends! It is a WAR between the "HAVES" and the "HAVE NOTS"! It is our business to figure out a way to have MORE - and less NOTS!

DOC HARRIS
 
Sure does make expansion hard now doesn't it :lol: That is okay, we will just have to get the pencil out and figure out a way to make things work. Spent yesterday delivering lamb and chicken to direct sales customers and while I was at it sold some steers too for a heck of a lot more than what I would get at the barn. Just got to get creative and use the resources you do have to their fullest..If that is cheap land or feed, great. If is selling to the show market because you are good at, good for you, if it is direct maketing into a large urban area where folks are seeing added value in locally grown products than so be it. Keep looking and working and with a little luck everything will be just fine.
 
DOC HARRIS":23lauvjq said:
dieselbeef":23lauvjq said:
grass fed is best....i figured that out cuz i grew it...know what it ate...what kind of chemicals it ingested...troubles in its past...what kinda steer it was...how old it was and how much it cost me exactly....less than 300$ for 400 lbs dressed(rough figures here kids)...and i tasted it without any inerferences

dieselbeef - I don't disagree with your logic and reasoning at all! That said, I am just wondering (for the purposes of discussion of mercantilism and commercialism) if the modern household provider and consumer, as he/she reaches into the frozen meatcase at the supermarket and reads the label that shows this cut of meat is "$12.00 per lb.", and that "color is added", is really concerned with... what Breed the source was...what it was fed (maybe!)...it's age... marbling amount...rib eye size...dressing percentage...specific chemicals it ingested...all the seemingly important factors with which we as producers are focusing.

He/she is thinking about getting through the crowded check-out line, hoping that the coupons will save a few bucks today, whether the kids will even decide to eat what was just chosen ("it LOOKS good!) and whether the gas which he/she is going to buy at the pump next door is going to be another five cents higher than it was last week.

We, as those who are HIGHLY involved with the factors you mentioned, are prioritizing our production skills with those factors. I am in full accord with those details - BUT - from the point of view of a volume producer directing my products to a vast number of consumers, my BU$INE$$ decisions must be predicated on what I can produce for the least amount of outlay in expense and the MOST desirable QUALITY to motivate the consumer to buy my production.

It is a very narrow window in which to fit ALL that one would desire in order to hit that necessary target! That is why Breeder's, Feeder's, and Forage Producers must work together to achieve the optimal results.

Hopefully, the odds will improve in our favor!

Grass Fed? - - - or Corn Fed? The ideal would be to have an animal which would maximize BOTH world's for ALL environments!

DOC HARRIS

hey doc...i thought this was ''BEST TASTE REVIEW"" not a marketing class. no offense meant though. i totally agree with your logic for large operations. as for me selling only a dozen or so calves an yr to either the barn or to locals or people i work with so far ive had both the reactions you relate to. my brother wont eat the grass fed. no matter if its free. and i have good white marbled steaks that ''look'' just like the one in publix. other people prefer it. i do both the barn or the butcher.
i think alot of what we do goes unnoticed or unknown by the consumers because if you go to the local school (not a rural school now) and ask a 3rd grader (most adults as well i reckon) where food comes from...we all know what he'll say. publix supermarket.
im no expert and im sure not an advocate for either way of growing your product but i thought we were talking about what we liked to eat...not what our customers like to eat. although that is a concern to stay in business. more of a bending to the wills of the market. nature of the beast.
either way..the beef will be sold because we all hafta eat...dont we?
 
If it is true that many consumers prefer the taste of grassfed but are critical of the inconsistent tenderness it seems that it would provide an opportunity for the big processors to market grassfed beef that has been High Pressure Processed (HPP).
 
For the life of me, I can't figure out why in the world anyone
would want to start a breeding herd for the purpose of
direct-marketing beef and NOT check their animals for
the DNA test for tenderness genes....why start out behind???
The presently known genes have been verified by
shear force tests. There's likely more to be discovered
but why ignore the ones available now???? I'm telling
you - tenderness is the key to repeat customers
without any more selling effort on your part.....you'll
have a waiting list.
 
BAGTIC":1k6f9q2e said:
If it is true that many consumers prefer the taste of grassfed but are critical of the inconsistent tenderness it seems that it would provide an opportunity for the big processors to market grassfed beef that has been High Pressure Processed (HPP).

It is not true. There is plenty of scientific research backed up by blind taste test that was done using a proper scietific design with a large enough sample size to refute this research , (MF-2464 Beef Marketing, Kansas State). In the research I have it shows that in these studies 80% of people prefer grain fed beef over the taste of grass fed and that more avid beef eaters are alot more likely to eat corn fed beef. The state of Wyoming tried to do a grass fed beef (Bastian et. al. 1997) marketing system for their producers but is was too hard to raise a consistent product. Also, it is far cheaper to buy corn and feed out cattle (H. Ritchie, 1997, Michigan State University) than to buy land and fence enough of it for a grass fed business. There is no way I could buy land in my area and even think I could pay for it by grazing cattle.

For grass finishing you can come out ahead by getting paid a premium for your cattle but you would already need existing access to the property, either family already owns it or you can convert hay ground to pasture and also lease some existing land cheap. I would guess that is why grass finisihing is a lot more popular out West, because of cheap property.
 
S,R.R said:
[/quote]I might add that I realize some folks do enjoy grass finished beef based solely on principle. I sell a few head a year that are grass finished but it is risky to do so to a new costumer that has not had it before. I learned the hard way over the years that folks like the sound of a grass finished steak but often not the actual eating experience.
WELL SAID!!!

Hayray - good post - I totally agree.
My bother-in-law is into the "healthy" food. He decided to raise grass fed beef & sell it by the pound. He got unbelievable prices per pound - but he ended up keeping all the STEAKS for himself, because they were way toooo tough to sell to anyone. His big sales were hamburg & pot roasts.
He quit raising beef a few years ago & still has some steaks in his freezer :shock: :p
 
steersfence1-thumb.jpg



steersoct2-thumb.jpg


Here's a couple of photos of purebred and crossbred
murray grey steers finishing on forage....I can tell you
the beef was excellent & tender. IMO first you have to
have bloodlines that are genetically predisposed for
tenderness---and then the forage chain to allow
continuous growth w/o set-backs.....but that's just
my opinion.
 
Angus/Brangus":36bx3ivk said:
How about testing for the tenderness gene as OK Jeanne mentioned and putting them on grass?

I also read the article that Hay Ray quoted and indeed, most preferred the grain fed beef. Most of those that purchase the grass fed beef do so to avoid growth hormones, antibiotioc etc. Personally, I prefer a very tender steak with a good bit of marbleing, or "glutten' as Dad called it.

Tenderness is not the real problem with grass finished beef it is taste! That is were the corn finishing and marbling come in to play.
 

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