Butchering Corrientes

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Pnw Farmer

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Hey all, thought I'd try to get some information about corriente carcass quality. I know it's about what you feed them but I'm curious as to how much a steer fed out to around 24-30 months old would weigh. Cracked peas and grain hay to finish them, the cracked peas have made our Jerseys taste amazing. Do they hang at 60-65% like a beef carcass or around that 55% mark like the dairy carcasses. Are they heavy boned like the dairy breeds or do they have a more petite bone structure. I know quite a few of you have eaten corriente and said the flavor was good so that part I'm not worried about, mostly just curious how much meat will end up in the freezer. We bone them out like a deer so a rough estimate on usable cuts would be great.

The thought behind this post is this, I'm starting to keep an eye out for some animals to feed out for next winter and want to keep all options for beef open. We sold a couple animals on the hoof to friends and family this winter then helped them butcher their animal. I got great deals on the animals last spring, had them on a neighbor's pasture until October then finished them out with said grain hay and cracked peas. The people that bought them got a great deal by butchering themselves, we gave them a deal on the animal itself while still making the kids a decent amount of money to stash away. With feeder prices where they are I don't know that I'll be presented the same opportunity on a couple more Angus feeders so when I saw some corriente feeders on Craigslist it started the gears turning. I know they're smaller so it may take 2 head to equal a 650-700# beef animal but if everybody still gets a deal then I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Also for those who have fed out their own animals, has anybody used white or red beans in their rations? I have no intentions of going away from the peas but a local seed processing facility has a bunch on hand of clean white and red culls so once again I'm looking to learn something new if those make a tasty steak as well. Still just a farmer who can pitch a bale of hay but I'm trying to gain knowledge where I can. I don't think my wife will be letting the cows go anywhere soon so I better get a little smarter about them. Thanks in advance.

Farmer
 
Hey all, thought I'd try to get some information about corriente carcass quality. I know it's about what you feed them but I'm curious as to how much a steer fed out to around 24-30 months old would weigh. Cracked peas and grain hay to finish them, the cracked peas have made our Jerseys taste amazing. Do they hang at 60-65% like a beef carcass or around that 55% mark like the dairy carcasses. Are they heavy boned like the dairy breeds or do they have a more petite bone structure. I know quite a few of you have eaten corriente and said the flavor was good so that part I'm not worried about, mostly just curious how much meat will end up in the freezer. We bone them out like a deer so a rough estimate on usable cuts would be great.

The thought behind this post is this, I'm starting to keep an eye out for some animals to feed out for next winter and want to keep all options for beef open. We sold a couple animals on the hoof to friends and family this winter then helped them butcher their animal. I got great deals on the animals last spring, had them on a neighbor's pasture until October then finished them out with said grain hay and cracked peas. The people that bought them got a great deal by butchering themselves, we gave them a deal on the animal itself while still making the kids a decent amount of money to stash away. With feeder prices where they are I don't know that I'll be presented the same opportunity on a couple more Angus feeders so when I saw some corriente feeders on Craigslist it started the gears turning. I know they're smaller so it may take 2 head to equal a 650-700# beef animal but if everybody still gets a deal then I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Also for those who have fed out their own animals, has anybody used white or red beans in their rations? I have no intentions of going away from the peas but a local seed processing facility has a bunch on hand of clean white and red culls so once again I'm looking to learn something new if those make a tasty steak as well. Still just a farmer who can pitch a bale of hay but I'm trying to gain knowledge where I can. I don't think my wife will be letting the cows go anywhere soon so I better get a little smarter about them. Thanks in advance.

Farmer
Where you located, Pnw Farmer? You should add your location to your profile. I have seen people feed out Corr steers that got to big to rope or wrestle. You put them up and feed them and they will get fat. They are not big boned like a Holstein, but it is going to be lean meat. They won't marble like an Angus or Simmental. In six months I will be weaning a 1/2Corr 1/4 Brahma 1/4 Chianina steer, that I will sell at a deal so I don't have to BBQ the thing whole come Labor Day.
 
I'm starting to keep an eye out for some animals to feed out for next winter and want to keep all options for beef open. We sold a couple animals on the hoof.... I got great deals on the animals last spring.... a couple Angus feeders so when I saw some corriente feeders on Craigslist it started the gears turning.
Apples to oranges comparison as to a good deal on angus vs a good deal on corriente.
ie on the face of it 1/3 discount on angus vs full price on corriente is not equal value deal.
Corrientes are always cheap.... for a reason.
Since you're open to all options, I'd suggest sticking to your local traditional options.
 
Where you located, Pnw Farmer? You should add your location to your profile. I have seen people feed out Corr steers that got to big to rope or wrestle. You put them up and feed them and they will get fat. They are not big boned like a Holstein, but it is going to be lean meat. They won't marble like an Angus or Simmental. In six months I will be weaning a 1/2Corr 1/4 Brahma 1/4 Chianina steer, that I will sell at a deal so I don't have to BBQ the thing whole come Labor Day.
That's the direction my mind was going, if you could find a couple of roping steers that had outgrown their usefulness to fatten it might be worth it.
 
Where you located, Pnw Farmer? You should add your location to your profile. I have seen people feed out Corr steers that got to big to rope or wrestle. You put them up and feed them and they will get fat. They are not big boned like a Holstein, but it is going to be lean meat. They won't marble like an Angus or Simmental. In six months I will be weaning a 1/2Corr 1/4 Brahma 1/4 Chianina steer, that I will sell at a deal so I don't have to BBQ the thing whole come Labor Day.
I appreciate the offer but unless you're vacationing on the West Coast towing a cattle trailer I think the freight cost may be prohibitive. Even without the marbling are they still pretty tender and flavorful? They wouldn't be climbing mountains, a hilly 20 acre pasture that's sub irrigated in the bottom then on to a half acre containment for the last 60 or so days.

Apples to oranges comparison as to a good deal on angus vs a good deal on corriente.
ie on the face of it 1/3 discount on angus vs full price on corriente is not equal value deal.
Corrientes are always cheap.... for a reason.
Since you're open to all options, I'd suggest sticking to your local traditional options.
Of course if I could get the 1/3 discount on the angus then that's the smart route, I'm thinking in terms of the opposite, if I could find discounted corriente in decent shape vs current feeder prices on 6-7 weights, that's the kind of deal that would appeal to me. I can run all the numbers on my inputs against income off the animal, I just need to know what that final weight is in order to see where the rest of the numbers fall. Finished live weight, Hanging weight, boned out in the freezer are the main numbers I'm looking for. I understand the guidance here is to stick with what works but if there's an unorthodox approach that could pencil out then why not consider it. I do appreciate all the input from you guys though.
 
Meat will be lean, cost of gain considerably more expensive. With high cost of feed you should want to feed animals that will have the best gain ability. That has no colour tied to it.
When you say cost of gain is considerably more expensive what kind of conversion can you put with that. I'm not using real figures here, just as an example if a beef breed takes 3-4 lbs of feed to add 1 lb of flesh then what does a corriente take, 5-6 lbs? This helps me as well when figuring out how much feed needs ground without having a bunch left over to feed the mice. I really could care less on hide color, just want to put meat in the freezer for cheap, hence the reason we've been eating Jersey the last couple years.
 
When you say cost of gain is considerably more expensive what kind of conversion can you put with that. I'm not using real figures here, just as an example if a beef breed takes 3-4 lbs of feed to add 1 lb of flesh then what does a corriente take, 5-6 lbs? This helps me as well when figuring out how much feed needs ground without having a bunch left over to feed the mice. I really could care less on hide color, just want to put meat in the freezer for cheap, hence the reason we've been eating Jersey the last couple years.
Corrientes might have a cheaper cost of gain than Jerseys at that.

I am thinking on either of those breeds your cog would be double and less carcass when finished.
 
I have eaten old over grown roping steers. Fed well for 150 days. At that time I had a house full of kids who wanted to eat. I wouldn't do it now. They never gained like a good beef steer. Maybe not as good as a Jersey. The meat was never tender. I will tell you the kids preferred deer and elk to those old roping steers. But I was roping at that time and had over grown roping steers. Eating them was better than selling them cheap. If I were butchering a Corriente now I would grind the entire steer into hamburger.
 
When you say cost of gain is considerably more expensive what kind of conversion can you put with that. I'm not using real figures here, just as an example if a beef breed takes 3-4 lbs of feed to add 1 lb of flesh then what does a corriente take, 5-6 lbs?
As Allenw said, if you can find a couple of roping steers that have outgrown their usefulness to fatten, that should work.

Feed conversion, beef cattle 5-6 lbs my guess for corrientes would be about 1/3 more at 6.75 - 8 lbs the thing is they won't eat as
many pounds of feed per day so finishing time will also take 30-40% longer.... ie 365+ days vs 240-300 days (time is money)
As for finished live weights, hanging weight, retail cutout weight (take home) and retail value of the take home, I have no knowledge.
That is something for you to track and record, IF you do it. As Dave said, I'd cut out the tenderloin for steak and grind the rest.
My guess is, Jerseys will give you a much higher retail value on the take home. I've seen some finished Jersey steers that were amazing.
So it can be done.
 
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I appreciate the offer but unless you're vacationing on the West Coast towing a cattle trailer I think the freight cost may be prohibitive. Even without the marbling are they still pretty tender and flavorful? They wouldn't be climbing mountains, a hilly 20 acre pasture that's sub irrigated in the bottom then on to a half acre containment for the last 60 or so days.
LOL. No, I see that now that you added your location! :)
Corriente are very efficient food converters. They will thrive on sparse, rough forage that other cattle would starve to death on. You get one at weaning, and feed it out til it is 2 or so, and it will do as well as any jeresy or lean-meat beef breed. Tenderness has more to do with how it is handled before cooking and how it is cooked than marbling. Best tasting, most tender ribeye I have ever eaten was from a 1800 lb, 20 yr old Cape Buffalo bull that I had killed less than 24 hours before, cooked by a Shangani safari cook on an open fire. Better than any Waygu anyone has ever had. You could cut it with a fork. He had a cooler he used to store his rubs, spices and marinades in that no one was allowed to go near!
 
As Allenw said, if you can find a couple of roping steers that have outgrown their usefulness to fatten, that should work.

Feed conversion, beef cattle 5-6 lbs my guess for corrientes would be about 1/3 more at 6.75 - 8 lbs the thing is they won't eat as
many pounds of feed per day so finishing time will also take 30-40% longer.... ie 365+ days vs 240-300 days (time is money)
As for finished live weights, hanging weight, retail cutout weight (take home) and retail value of the take home, I have no knowledge.
That is something for you to track and record, IF you do it. As Dave said, I'd cut out the tenderloin for steak and grind the rest.
My guess is, Jerseys will give you a much higher retail value on the take home. I've seen some finished Jersey steers that were amazing.
So it can be done.
I understand them not eating as much considering they're smaller framed but do you really think it'd take a year to get that last 2-300 lbs on them? Especially on good grass and all the cracked peas they can put through them? I'd be looking at animals that already had the frame, just getting that bulk in place. I'm not trying to talk you guys into it, I just want to make an informed decision best I can. Trying one just to satisfy my curiosity is probably what's going to happen.

I have eaten old over grown roping steers. Fed well for 150 days. At that time I had a house full of kids who wanted to eat. I wouldn't do it now. They never gained like a good beef steer. Maybe not as good as a Jersey. The meat was never tender. I will tell you the kids preferred deer and elk to those old roping steers. But I was roping at that time and had over grown roping steers. Eating them was better than selling them cheap. If I were butchering a Corriente now I would grind the entire steer into hamburger.
Hey Dave, when you say "old, overgrown roping steers", what do you consider old. I know depending on the application it can be a wide number, I think of old as my uncle's neighbor who just had her 15 yr old pet cow in the chute out there getting a prolapse pushed back in and doctored up. I'm actually glad you chipped in, the ad I saw is down in your country. Know any folks down there with a handful of corrientes?
 
I understand them not eating as much considering they're (corrientes) smaller framed but do you really think it'd take a year to get that last 2-300 lbs on them?

I'm no Corriente expert by any means but I've been around enough of them, seeing them in neighbor's fields, watching them go through the sale barns and seeing them languish in corrals. 2-300 pounds??? It's my impression that a large Cor weighs 800 pounds and most run around 6 or less. Trying to put an additional 200 on something that light to begin with may be difficult. Especially since they seem to be genetically predisposed to being thin. Not saying it can't be done. I've seen some Jerseys that were butterball fat and before I saw them I wouldn't have believed it could be done. Just a comment and not to be taken as advice. Your mileage may vary.
 
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What kind of bulk is actually being added-muscle or fat cover? I would think a corriente is kind of like a goat-fat distribution is internal or external (both trimmed fats) but not much imf. The muscling that is there is what you get, right? Not much opportunity to greatly increase muscling?
 
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Hey Dave, when you say "old, overgrown roping steers", what do you consider old. I know depending on the application it can be a wide number, I think of old as my uncle's neighbor who just had her 15 yr old pet cow in the chute out there getting a prolapse pushed back in and doctored up. I'm actually glad you chipped in, the ad I saw is down in your country. Know any folks down there with a handful of corrientes?
How old? They often arrive with half a dozen brands. Old enough to have a decent horn to rope. They aren't starved but they aren't fed for gain either. They get roped for a couple years, maybe 3 years if they hold up and don't get too big. I would think most are 4 or 5 years old when they get culled from the roping pen.
I know a man who puts on ropings and leases out roping steers to roping clubs. He has hundreds of steers.
 
@Pnw Farmer , how many are you wanting to buy each year to feed out and butcher? If just a few, 2-4 or something, a viable alternative for you may be to buy Corr cows.... usually $300 or so if you look for them....if you have the space for them. Steers would cost you that much or more. You could breed these to a beef bull...like Charolais, and those calves will do twice as well as a pure corr would for your purpose. Around here, those of us who raise Corr-crosses use Angus or Brangus bulls, because we raise them to sell at weaning at 6 mos, so we want black calves. From what I have read on here, though, out west they tend to use Charolais bulls. I have never seen this cross live, but it stands to reason that these calves will wean heavier than Angus cross would. The dilute in the Charolais, I am told, will clear up a lot of the spots etc in the calves. Since you are raising them to eat, a Simm would do as well, as far as raising bigger calves with more marbling than a pure Corr. You could probably find 1st calf heifers or young cows heavy bred to a Char out there. Just a thought. Like I said, dunno how many you want to feed a year or how much pasture you had.
 
I don't know that I would buy them and feed them out as a business model but I did one here awhile back and have a thread on here somewhere about it. It is pretty good eating and surprisingly tender with a nice flavor. Mine was a roped out steer that got retired to good grass for about 12 months. Was about 800# if I remember right. I would eat another one.
 
I saw some 800-900 open Jersey heifers sell for $0.75. They were in decent shape. It wouldn't take too much feed before butchering. It would be better meat for probably less dollars by the time you feed an old roping steer enough to get him into condition.
 
@Pnw Farmer , how many are you wanting to buy each year to feed out and butcher? If just a few, 2-4 or something, a viable alternative for you may be to buy Corr cows.... usually $300 or so if you look for them....if you have the space for them. Steers would cost you that much or more. You could breed these to a beef bull...like Charolais, and those calves will do twice as well as a pure corr would for your purpose. Around here, those of us who raise Corr-crosses use Angus or Brangus bulls, because we raise them to sell at weaning at 6 mos, so we want black calves. From what I have read on here, though, out west they tend to use Charolais bulls. I have never seen this cross live, but it stands to reason that these calves will wean heavier than Angus cross would. The dilute in the Charolais, I am told, will clear up a lot of the spots etc in the calves. Since you are raising them to eat, a Simm would do as well, as far as raising bigger calves with more marbling than a pure Corr. You could probably find 1st calf heifers or young cows heavy bred to a Char out there. Just a thought. Like I said, dunno how many you want to feed a year or how much pasture you had.
We had a charolais bull on corriente cows some years back.
My son called me n said we must have had a Hereford bull get in our pasture, I told him it was charolais, they did look a lot like Hereford.
 
I'm no Corriente expert by any means but I've been around enough of them, seeing them in neighbor's fields, watching them go through the sale barns and seeing them languish in corrals. 2-300 pounds??? It's my impression that a large Cor weighs 800 pounds and most run around 6 or less. Trying to put an additional 200 on something that light to begin with may be difficult. Especially since they seem to be genetically predisposed to being thin. Not saying it can't be done. I've seen some Jerseys that were butterball fat and before I saw them I wouldn't have believed it could be done. Just a comment and not to be taken as advice. Your mileage may vary.
That's why I'm here asking those who know, I know very little about cattle in general, let alone getting into the caveats of specific breeds. This is a very knowledgeable forum and as I've gotten older I've learned to ask lots of questions. I've always been fond of the saying "learn from others mistakes, you won't live long enough to make them all yourself." Common knowledge to the old timers on here is what I'm hoping to soak up.
@Pnw Farmer , how many are you wanting to buy each year to feed out and butcher? If just a few, 2-4 or something, a viable alternative for you may be to buy Corr cows.... usually $300 or so if you look for them....if you have the space for them. Steers would cost you that much or more. You could breed these to a beef bull...like Charolais, and those calves will do twice as well as a pure corr would for your purpose. Around here, those of us who raise Corr-crosses use Angus or Brangus bulls, because we raise them to sell at weaning at 6 mos, so we want black calves. From what I have read on here, though, out west they tend to use Charolais bulls. I have never seen this cross live, but it stands to reason that these calves will wean heavier than Angus cross would. The dilute in the Charolais, I am told, will clear up a lot of the spots etc in the calves. Since you are raising them to eat, a Simm would do as well, as far as raising bigger calves with more marbling than a pure Corr. You could probably find 1st calf heifers or young cows heavy bred to a Char out there. Just a thought. Like I said, dunno how many you want to feed a year or how much pasture you had.
We've got summer pasture for 6-7 head without supplementing until mid to late October depending on the first hard frost. I've got 3 animals already, our milk cow's calf from last spring that's an Angus/Jersey cross, my oldest daughter's open class Angus steer and a calf from Sept. that seems to be gaining nicely still on the cow. It'd probably be in that 3-4 range since our kids are carnivores and it'd probably take 2 just for our household and my cousin wants to try filling his freezer and likes the pea fed meat we put up this year. Do corriente cows have large pelvises? A big ol' Charolais calf just sounds like calving nightmare but then again I don't know squat. Lol.
 

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