Cull cow to burger ?

[willow bottom]

Hey yall first post here and I need advice.

I plan on buying an older cull cow to be made completely into burger. The whole thing in burger. My question is should i bother feeding it any corn at all or just take it straight to the slaughterhouse?

I thought about feeding it straight corn for about 45 days. You think i'd benefit from that at all or not?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

No, not really. If she is super thin, the butcher can add some fat if the hamburg needs it, but the leaner the hamburg, the more expensive it it. You can still have him strip out the tenderloins and make into steaks. You can have cube steaks made also. Ask the butcher what other cuts you may want to salvage before grinder her completely.
BTW - welcome to the board

 

[Dave]

I have bought cull cows that were in reasonable condition, sent straight to slaughter, and had people rave about how good the burger was. Just don't buy a real thin or really fat cow and it will be fine.

 

[ga.prime]

Hey yall first post here and I need advice.

I plan on buying an older cull cow to be made completely into burger. The whole thing in burger. My question is should i bother feeding it any corn at all or just take it straight to the slaughterhouse?

I thought about feeding it straight corn for about 45 days. You think i'd benefit from that at all or not?

Forgive me for asking, but why not (especially if you're not going to feed it some sort of magical elixir) just go to Kroger and buy hamburger whenever and in whatever amount you need?

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Best to do some homework on em before you buy..their Culls, of course,and could have been from a illness.. And had several injections..ruining the meat ""cut area"""

 

[callmefence]

We don't hesitate to grind up a downer that can't be sold through the sale. They can have quite a bit of yellow fat on them. I've read feeding corn for 60 days will create more white fat. I've never actually done it. Although as simvalley mentioned on hamburger you want it pretty lean.

Fwiw. If I was gonna BUY a animal for the freezer. Heiferetts have been about 30 cents over slaughter cows. You can feed them a little bit probably get a better yield and some decent steaks.

 

[Bullitt]

My brother worked as a butcher. He told me about this time a guy came in with a steer and asked that all the meat be ground into hamburger. My brother said they cut the steer up normally with some hamburger, but also roasts, steaks, and other normal cuts of meat. They then took hamburger from another steer and gave all hamburger to the man. The butcher shop sold the steaks and roasts from his steer, and the man got all hamburger, and everyone was happy.

I do not understand why someone would want all hamburger rather than getting some other cuts, such as steaks, roasts, briskets, ribs, and others that cost more than hamburger. It seems you would be throwing away money, or at least value.

By the way, if you are willing to buy a cull cow and feed it for a month or two, you would be better off buying a steer and feeding it for a month or two before butchering it. I think you would be happier with the meat.

 

[dun]

My brother worked as a butcher. He told me about this time a guy came in with a steer and asked that all the meat be ground into hamburger. My brother said they cut the steer up normally with some hamburger, but also roasts, steaks, and other normal cuts of meat. They then took hamburger from another steer and gave all hamburger to the man. The butcher shop sold the steaks and roasts from his steer, and the man got all hamburger, and everyone was happy.

I do not understand why someone would want all hamburger rather than getting some other cuts, such as steaks, roasts, briskets, ribs, and others that cost more than hamburger. It seems you would be throwing away money, or at least value.

By the way, if you are willing to buy a cull cow and feed it for a month or two, you would be better off buying a steer and feeding it for a month or two before butchering it. I think you would be happier with the meat.

It's pretty simple. If the meat is so tough you need a power saw to cut the steaks or if you have a large extended family you are supplying meat to or you are donating the meat to charity. We've done all three.
And believe it or not, there are folks that prefer burger to steaks or roasts.

 

[greatgerts]

My brother worked as a butcher. He told me about this time a guy came in with a steer and asked that all the meat be ground into hamburger. My brother said they cut the steer up normally with some hamburger, but also roasts, steaks, and other normal cuts of meat. They then took hamburger from another steer and gave all hamburger to the man. The butcher shop sold the steaks and roasts from his steer, and the man got all hamburger, and everyone was happy.

I do not understand why someone would want all hamburger rather than getting some other cuts, such as steaks, roasts, briskets, ribs, and others that cost more than hamburger. It seems you would be throwing away money, or at least value.

By the way, if you are willing to buy a cull cow and feed it for a month or two, you would be better off buying a steer and feeding it for a month or two before butchering it. I think you would be happier with the meat.

I have 4 kids under 5 years old. They don't eat steaks and roasts that much. The younger ones aren't 2 yet, so they really aren't eating steaks or roast. The last steer we butchered, we put in over 90% in burger. The freezer is almost empty (probably 50lbs of meat left), and guess what... only about 10 lbs is hamburger. If you are butchering for yourself, why not get it how you want it? Also, taking meat from another animal that is someone else's is not a very good practice. Shops have been shut down for doing that.

 

[cattle60]

If buying an older cow for butcher you can't have it processed for anything other than burger if it is older than 30 months, no roasts ,steaks , etc... Supposed to be under 30 months for that.

When I buy or put a cow in the lot for hamburger, I always feed for 45 days or more to get past the withdrawal period of any possible medicine it may had been administered.

If you buy a 3 to 6 yr old, open cow it will make some fine burger and still be close to old cow price.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

My brother worked as a butcher. He told me about this time a guy came in with a steer and asked that all the meat be ground into hamburger. My brother said they cut the steer up normally with some hamburger, but also roasts, steaks, and other normal cuts of meat. They then took hamburger from another steer and gave all hamburger to the man. The butcher shop sold the steaks and roasts from his steer, and the man got all hamburger, and everyone was happy.

And THIS is one the main reasons why most of us/many folks do NOT trust their processor/butcher. This is downright WRONG!


I do not understand why someone would want all hamburger rather than getting some other cuts, such as steaks, roasts, briskets, ribs, and others that cost more than hamburger. It seems you would be throwing away money, or at least value.

If someone is paying good money to have their animal processed/cut-up they way they want it, what difference does it make? Who cares how 'Mr. Jones' wants his steer processed. He's paying for it to be done a certain way, for whatever his reasons are. :roll:

.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

If buying an older cow for butcher you can't have it processed for anything other than burger if it is older than 30 months, no roasts ,steaks , etc... Supposed to be under 30 months for that.

Maybe where you are, that's the case. But most states, anything over 30 months, you cannot have bone-in cuts which involve the spine. You can get roasts, boneless steaks, etc.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

My brother worked as a butcher. He told me about this time a guy came in with a steer and asked that all the meat be ground into hamburger. My brother said they cut the steer up normally with some hamburger, but also roasts, steaks, and other normal cuts of meat. They then took hamburger from another steer and gave all hamburger to the man. The butcher shop sold the steaks and roasts from his steer, and the man got all hamburger, and everyone was happy.

I do not understand why someone would want all hamburger rather than getting some other cuts, such as steaks, roasts, briskets, ribs, and others that cost more than hamburger. It seems you would be throwing away money, or at least value.

By the way, if you are willing to buy a cull cow and feed it for a month or two, you would be better off buying a steer and feeding it for a month or two before butchering it. I think you would be happier with the meat.

I have 4 kids under 5 years old. They don't eat steaks and roasts that much. The younger ones aren't 2 yet, so they really aren't eating steaks or roast. The last steer we butchered, we put in over 90% in burger. The freezer is almost empty (probably 50lbs of meat left), and guess what... only about 10 lbs is hamburger. If you are butchering for yourself, why not get it how you want it? Also, taking meat from another animal that is someone else's is not a very good practice. Shops have been shut down for doing that.

bet the older kids wear some chicken out,,if it were left up to the kids we'd all be outa the cattle business....

 

[cowgirl8]

Check with your processor and make sure they wont take the backbone. Some will if its older...
I wouldn't feed out the cow..I'd just make sure she's healthy and no antibiotics in her system. You can have pork fat added to whatever % you want for your burger which is easier than feeding to make fat. THe likelihood that her steaks are going to be tender is iffy...I might would have some roast cut, but on a old cow i'd go burger all the way too.

 

[greatgerts]

My brother worked as a butcher. He told me about this time a guy came in with a steer and asked that all the meat be ground into hamburger. My brother said they cut the steer up normally with some hamburger, but also roasts, steaks, and other normal cuts of meat. They then took hamburger from another steer and gave all hamburger to the man. The butcher shop sold the steaks and roasts from his steer, and the man got all hamburger, and everyone was happy.

I do not understand why someone would want all hamburger rather than getting some other cuts, such as steaks, roasts, briskets, ribs, and others that cost more than hamburger. It seems you would be throwing away money, or at least value.

By the way, if you are willing to buy a cull cow and feed it for a month or two, you would be better off buying a steer and feeding it for a month or two before butchering it. I think you would be happier with the meat.

I have 4 kids under 5 years old. They don't eat steaks and roasts that much. The younger ones aren't 2 yet, so they really aren't eating steaks or roast. The last steer we butchered, we put in over 90% in burger. The freezer is almost empty (probably 50lbs of meat left), and guess what... only about 10 lbs is hamburger. If you are butchering for yourself, why not get it how you want it? Also, taking meat from another animal that is someone else's is not a very good practice. Shops have been shut down for doing that.

bet the older kids wear some chicken out,,if it were left up to the kids we'd all be outa the cattle business....

About twice a week. They actually prefer beef over chicken. Ive got a couple of steaks I'm going to try with the older ones one night this week.

 

[cowgirl8]

We also had 4 kids and the burger was the most used meat. We'd put a steer in the freezer just in burger to keep up. If you butcher a young calf, like at weaning, your steaks aren't going to be very big anyway. I'd make the ribeyes into rib roast instead, because I could always cut them into steaks, but I cant put steaks back into a roast...but with small steaks, they are better used in a roast. Kids werent roast eaters, so they were kept for special occasions.. One time we put a older cow in the freezer. She weighed 2000 pounds and hung out at almost 1000. Her steaks were bigger than our dinner plates. We'd joke that they were Flintstone steaks....Best meat ever...and I think I still have some of her out there in the freezer. WIth no kids at home, we rarely eat beef.. go figure

 

[Bestoutwest]

The one we just had butchered, we asked for all hamburger for our share. They called and said that it would be easier for them if we'd take some steaks, so I obliged. Our son only eats chicken and the wife isn't really big on steaks. After eating the burger, though, she was drooling and couldn't wait to try the steaks. Best beef I've ever had, wish I had kept more of him.

 

[farmerjan]

The 30 month rule is federal, not state. It involves only the spinal cord/backbone area. You can get bones for soup, and other cuts, just nothing that comes from the backbone. So no T-bones but you still get sirloins with bones, and the T-bone becomes NY strip and Filets. If a butcher that is state or federally liscensed doesn't take out the backbone/spinal cord and the head/brain; and gets caught, they not only can lose their liscense, but pay a fine, lose their business, and possibly do jail time. It is over the "mad cow disease" prions, and it is related to the CWD in the deer and elk. To me it is a very small inconvenience. I do miss the backbones that have alot of meat on them to do like ribs. So I am trying to make sure that my animals get done in the 27 month range. And I do have birthdates to back up my claims.
Sure people can cheat on that, but they have to follow certain protocol with the teeth etc to determine age.

And I see no reason a person should get their animal done any way other than how they want it.

If a good butcher gets caught substituting they also can face some severe penalties. Plus, getting that kind of a reputaion would kill their business in a hurry in my opinion. Hope I never hear mine did that without my express permission.

 

[ky colonel]

ok ill throw this in here. on a older cow i just took she was 5 or 6. i was going to just do burger, but would the brisket be good on her?

 

[willow bottom]

I don't see why not. You cook it low and slow anyway